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Jim Miter: What? No, they just ran into the road. What kinds of things are happening here?

G Singh: Evil, evil things.

A nice place like The Reserved Bean almost seemed out of place in Strawberry Springs. But maybe that was the Strawberry Springs I once knew.

These days, it made sense. Obviously, the people in town had a thirst for coffee. Plus, the interior matched the new and improved exterior of all the buildings in town.

I wasn’t much of a coffee drinker, but I could go for anything if it meant getting the girls out of the apartment.

Agnes and Beatrice stood next to me as we waited in line. Both of them refused to stand still, and I had a feeling that they would soon be destroying something in this nice shop. The plan was to get us all drinks and go to the playground.

I was worried that we wouldn’t get there before something was messed up.

“Why haven’t I seen Jade for a while?” Agnes asked. “When she’s awake, I mean.”

I shook my head. They knew that Jade was making a habit of coming to see me at night, but they’d agreed to keep it a secret, and even mentioning it this one time was pushing it.

Beatrice elbowed her sister. They didn’t have any loyalty to me, but for some reason, they didn’t want Jade to be embarrassed.

“She’s busy.”

“It’s been two days.” Beatrice said it as if it had been weeks.

Just a few days felt like a lifetime to them. It didn’t make sense to me. But then again, most of parenting didn’t make sense either.

“I’ll try to contact her.” As I said it, someone in line turned around. It was Dale, and I knew that this would be hitting the Facebook group soon.

I gave him a tight smile and tried to focus.

That was when the door opened behind me.

I had bad luck, so I had an inkling of who would be walking in now. But when the girls reacted, it cemented exactly who it was.

“Jade!” Beatrice called. In an instant, she was away from my side and running. Agnes followed.

I sighed and turned. “Sorry about them.”

Both girls were clinging to Jade, who looked at me with wide eyes. Obviously, she didn’t expect them to hang off her like monkeys on a branch.

“It’s cool.” She then turned to the girls, asking how they were.

It was tempting to stare, but I forced myself to turn around.

Dale was watching again, and I wanted to take a page from Jade’s book and flip him off. That wouldn’t go well for me, though. I gritted my teeth and gave him a nod instead.

When I got to the front of the line, I was surprised to see Theo taking orders.

I also knew that he could guess anyone’s drink, and I was interested to see what he would choose for me.

“Hey, nice to see you again.”

“You too. Are those two still keeping you on your toes?”

My shoulders sank. “Obviously. I’m really lucky that Jade is entertaining them right now.”

“They don’t seem to hate her.”

“Yeah, by some miracle.” I turned to check on the girls, and they were still talking Jade’s ear off. Then I looked back at Theo. “I hear you’re good at guessing orders.”