“No worries. Sky and I’ve been going over today’s specials. Haven’t we, hon?”
“I want the sprinkles, Mommy. They’re my favorite.”
“Sprinkles are your favorite?” Olivia asked, her voice animated.
Skyler nodded importantly.
“You know who else’s favorite is sprinkles?” Olivia continued.
Skyler shook her head and glanced up at me.
“Esmerelda the llama,” Olivia said. “She sometimes escapes her enclosure and comes all the way to this bakery hoping for a frosted sugar cookie with sprinkles.”
“We live with the llama now,” Skyler told her.
“That’s what I heard,” Olivia said. “Esmerelda’s owner, Dr. Holloway, buys her cookies every week.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said. I’d read about the llama’s love of cookies on the Tattler, the town app, but I found it hard to believe Ben indulged it. “Mr. Health Food himself?”
Olivia grinned. “Our veterinarian has a big, fat soft spot for animals.”
“That’s no lie,” I said. Ben had always been quiet and reserved…until it came to animals. “We’re living in a zoo, aren’t we, kiddo?”
“He hasn’t been in for a few days to replenish Esmerelda’s cookie supply,” Olivia said. “I can send some with you if you want.”
“I could do that. If he does it anyway, I could save him the trip. Not that a trip to Sugar is a hardship.”
“Right?” Olivia took out a cookie for Skyler, then raised her brows at me. “What would you like today?”
“Do you have my favorites?” I asked as I perused the display case.
“Of course. I’ve got two-dozen fresh-baked chocolate cherry bombs. How many?”
“Just one, please. We had waffles for lunch.”
“Sugar makes the world go round,” Olivia said matter-of-factly as she rang up our cookies, bottled waters, and a dozen extras for the household and…the llamas.
“Amen.” I paid her and directed Skyler to the girls, who’d pushed two bistro tables together. “You can sit next to Harrison,” I told my daughter, then helped her get situated between me and Hayden’s two-year-old, who mostly stared at Skyler as he chewed his cookie, his face an adorable mess of frosting.
“Chloe said you moved in with Ben Holloway,” Hayden said before I could even sit down.
“The kids and I are staying there for a few weeks,” I said to emphasize that it was temporary. I explained about Kizzy spreading her wings and finding love and selling the house and how I was looking for something to buy.
“It’s a tough time of year for that,” Hayden said empathetically. “Nice of Ben to take you in though.”
“He apparently likes to rescue people,” I joked after swallowing a heavenly bite.
Olivia pulled up a chair to join us while there were no other customers.
“You two must be close,” Sierra said. She was Hayden’s best friend and lived in Nashville, so she wouldn’t know any of our history.
“He was Blake’s best friend growing up. We all went to school together.”
“He’s the veterinarian,” Chloe added. “Single dad of two, right?”
“His wife passed away too,” Hayden said. “Sadly something you two have in common.”
“He’s really awesome to open his home to us,” I said carefully, “but I’m not going to lie. It bothers me more than I expected to depend on someone’s generosity so much.”