Page 23 (1/2)

As I tried to convince rown quiet Andright behindwith you, Roxie"

"You too, Leo," I said "Good painting"

Good painting? Good grief

"Good painting to you," he said with a laugh "I’ll see you around, I’m sure"

"It’s a small town," I replied "Maybe you’ll show up at ain"

Leo shook his head as he turned to go, and I could hear hi as he went down the stairs I still didn’t have the heart to tell hirinned at Logan, slapped hio have some snacks!"

Chapter 7

That week sped by, and before I knew it, I was helping my mother pack for her reality show And that’s a sentence rarely uttered The producers had given her a list of things she couldn’t bring, including a phone or laptop She’d need to be totally cut off fro on at home, and while that would have driven h her final to-do lists withI needed for the diner for the suo

The trait that annoyed me the most about o with the flow Growing up, it was frustrating as hell to haveI wished for the kind of s like per lunches packed for field trips But her flight-of-fancy brain also caused her to wake ht toChrists as we barreled up the highway because she just had to go to an antique fair in Albany she’d just read about

This same attitude o on and truly see it as an adventure I watched her buzz about the kitchen, searching for a chopstick to stick into her hair bun while aited for the car that was picking her up and taking her to the airport Aunt Cheryl lived in Dayton, Ohio, and washer in New York City Since Aunt Cheryl was short, squatty, and cantankerous, the two of thereat television

"Okay, is there anything else you need froot the phone nuet hold of them, and did you ever find the insurance papers in that stack I showed you on the desk?"

"I do and I did We’re good, Moet--if the walk-in see, just shove a feels under there and it’s good to go It usually only does that on really hot days, and you kno it can get in July," she said, buzzing by in a cloud of neroli and pepper fan of essential oils Hht just be a little nervous

"I got it, Mo her the passport she’d just set down and now couldn’t find again

"Oh, thank you, dear, thank you" When a horn sounded outside, she almost juo!" She hooted, then ran out the front door I couldn’t help but laugh as I watched her excites into the car I doubted any of the other contestants would be traveling with a vintage army knapsack embroidered with the phrase Make Biscuits Not War on the side