last one.”
Kelsey glances at me with a little shrug, as if to say, “Okay with me, if it’s okay with you.”
“I’ll talk it over with Dad,” I promise Bella, not exactly loving the idea of my daughter chasing storms but knowing Archer and Kelsey will watch over her like the overprotective hawks they’ve always been.
“Is your grad student Zach going along?” Bella asks Kelsey a little too casually.
“Yes, but if Uncle Archer sees him talking to you…” Kelsey’s voice trails off ominously as she packs up her things and stands. “There will be a whole different kind of thunderbolts and lightning.”
“I thought you liked that guy Jake,” I say to Bella.
“Nah, I’m done with him.” She shakes her head and makes a noise of disgust. “Turns out he lies and doesn’t know how to wait for a girl.”
Kelsey and I exchange glances, both of us pleased but unsurprised that Bella wants nothing to do with a boy like that. After all, when Dean and Archer West are your male role models, you quickly learn to set your expectations very high.
“Mom, did you get my text?” Bella asks after Kelsey leaves. “Kylie and a few others are going to the mall and movies tonight. Okay if I go?”
“Yes, if you finish your chores first.”
Bella rolls her eyes, but nods her agreement. She picks up a tray filled with a teapot and several sprinkled cake pops, then heads into the Munchkinland Room.
“Hey, Liv, can you take this to table three?” Allie pushes through the kitchen doors, balancing a tray of sandwiches. “The girls are going to be here any second, and we have to pick up Brent by two or we’re going to hit a bunch of traffic.”
“Sure.” I round the counter to take the tray.
After delivering the sandwiches, I return to the front counter where Bella is ringing up a customer’s order of brownies.
“Hi, Aunt Liv.”
The simultaneous chorus comes from the front door, which opens on a rush of hot summer air. Allie and Brent’s twin daughters come barreling into the café, all long-legged, energetic nine-year-old girls with their auburn ponytails swinging like flames behind them.
“Hi, Bella,” they say in unison as they clamber onto stools at the counter. “Is Mom here?”
“She’s getting her stuff together.” Bella pours two glasses of root beer and places them in front of the girls.
“Have a great time,” she says. “I love Door County.”
“Mom said in the fall we all might be able to go together,” Sophie suggests. “Nicholas, too.”
“Definitely,” Livvie adds. “He said he’d go with us on that bike trail this year, the one that leads to the apple farm.”
Both girls give happy little sighs at the thought of trekking through the fall foliage and picking apples with Nicholas.
“Did you get a copy of Uncle Dean’s newest book for us?” Livvie asks me.
“Yes, ma’am.” I take a slim paperback out of my bag under the counter and pass it to them. “Be sure you let him know how you like it.”
“Oh, we’ll love it, I’m sure.” Sophie admires the cover, which contains a cartoon image of a young knight beneath the title Sir Cumference: The Knight Who Made the Round Table.
Dean’s Daze of Knights series of chapter books, each one centering around a different young apprentice—Sir Prize (the knight who always does the unexpected), Sir Loin (the knight who really wanted to be a gourmet chef), Sir Kull (the knight who always goes back to where he started), and Sir Real (the dreamy, artistic knight)—has proven extremely popular among the under-ten set, and Professor West has become something of a local celebrity with his frequent visits to school classrooms and libraries. Sophie and Livvie remain his most loyal and devoted fans.
“I’m ready.” Allie bustles through the kitchen doors. “Girls, we have to swing by the house and get your father’s shaving kit, so let’s hustle. Liv, Ruby’s order is all set to go. Thanks so much for holding down the fort.”
“No problem. We’ve got it covered.”
The twins clamber off the stools to hug both Bella and me goodbye before they follow Allie out the front door. Bella and I continue working until our shifts end, then we gather up boxes of cakes and cookies and take them over to the pottery shop, Mrs. Potts’ Place.
Half of the building is an art gallery where local artists display and sell paintings, pottery, and sculptures, and the other half is a working studio.
“Hi, Ruby.” I set the boxes down on a long table where Ruby Potts