“Filthy,” Mikey answered.
“Miss Bella’s not filthy,” Sally stated crossly.
“Filthy rich, cutie pie,” Mikey amended.
Sally looked to her father as Isabella reluctantly resumed her seat next to the girl. “What’s that mean?”
“It means Miss Bella has a lot of money, baby,” Prentice answered, eyes on his daughter.
“Then Miss Bella can buy me a horse!” Sally shouted, turning bright eyes to Isabella.
Isabella turned irate eyes to Mikey. Mikey grinned.
“She’s not going to buy you a horse,” Prentice stated.
“But –” Sally began.
“No,” Prentice’s tone was firm and unyielding.
Sally’s face drooped into a pout and Isabella decided she’d conk Mikey on the head before stabbing him and then she’d push him over a cliff.
But before that, she had to make it through the night.
She turned to Sally. “I can’t buy you a horse, honey, but you can help me make the custard.”
“I like custard but I like horses better,” Sally retorted through her pout.
Isabella wrinkled her nose and replied, “Horses smell funny and they eat a lot. Custard smells yummy and you get to eat it.”
“Do you have a horse?” Sally asked and Isabella shook her head. “A dog?” she went on and Isabella kept shaking her head. “A cat?” Sally continued and Isabella grinned but kept shaking her head.
“I had a fish once,” she told the girl.
“You can’t pet a fish,” Sally returned.
“This is true,” Isabella murmured.
“And you can’t ride it, unless it was a dolphin. Was it a dolphin?” Sally asked.
“It was a goldfish and you couldn’t ride it. But it had a frilly tail and I named it Goldie.”
Sally gave herself a moment to consider this information.
Then she concluded, “A horse is better than a fish.”
Isabella’s grin widened to a smile and she leaned into Sally. “You got me there. A horse is definitely better than a fish. But horses are still smelly and eat too much. Now, do you want to help with the custard or not?”
Sally’s gave herself a moment to consider this as well, the pout disappeared, her eyes lit up and she awarded Isabella with a small grin.
“I wanna help with the custard,” Sally answered.
“Good girl,” Isabella whispered then looked at the table.
Jason was watching them with a goofy grin on his face.
Mikey was watching Prentice with a satisfied grin on his face.
Prentice was watching Isabella with an unreadable expression on his face.