Page 28 of Dear Ripley

She snorted. “I’m definitely not. But, you know…”

I waited for her to go on. When she didn’t and seemed to be avoiding my gaze, I said, “No, I don’t know. I’ve never watched The Pretty Gift’s videos.”

She huffed, clearly annoyed at having to spell it out. “I might miss something cute she does.”

I smirked at her. “I thought you didn’t have a crush?”

“I don’t. I just like to take in every aspect of the videos I watch.”

“No, you don’t,” I laughed. “I’ve watched too many things with you for you to get away with a statement like that.”

“I actually hate you.”

“No, you don’t.”

“Yes, I do.”

“Oh, so you don’t want coffee? Or cookies?”

She perked up. “You’re going to give me cookies for breakfast?”

“Well, I was…”

“Okay, fine. I take it back. I love you.” She smiled at me. “Now. Give me cookies.”

I laughed, heading into the back again. It was no surprise that she hadn’t eaten breakfast yet if she was up until four pining after some woman on YouTube, but I did wonder whether I should order something more substantial than cookies for her to eat. Morgan would probably say it wasn’t necessary and use it as an opportunity to eat more cookies, but one of us had to look after her health.

She smiled, happy and sleepy, as I placed her mug and a plate of cookies on the small table next to her. “Where’d you get these?”

“Freddie brought them in.”

She paused, her hand halfway towards them. “Freddie did?”

I nodded, looking around in confusion at her tone. Freddie was pretty famous for baking delicious cookies, and they were even more famous for being so generous with them.

“I can’t believe them.”

Still none the wiser, I waved my free hand in her direction. “Want to clue me in on why that’s so scandalous?”

“They came in here, giving you freshly baked cookies, but didn’t have the decency to bring any to bridge?”

I frowned. “I thought you said Marge brought two different cakes and a pie this week?”

Morgan stared at me like that was the least relevant thing I could possibly have thought to say. “And? What’s your point?”

“Over the course of one evening, you wanted to eat two types of cake, some pie,anda bunch of cookies?”

She sipped her coffee, watching me over the rim of the mug. “You’re saying that as if you don’t know me. You think I wouldn’t eat all these cookies, two cakes, and a pie right now if you had them?”

I opened my mouth to speak before my brain caught up with itself, at which point, I hesitated, thinking it through. “Yeah, okay, fair point. I do think you’d do that. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“Neither do I.” She shook her head. “Doubting my dessert-eating abilities. Really, Ripley? Really?”

“My sincere apologies. Truly.”

The door tinkled behind me as someone came into the store. I swizzled on the stool I was sitting on, jumped up, and promptly skittered to a halt, hating the screeching noise my shoes made on the terracotta tiles.

“Jesus, Ripley. Warn a person before you make a noise like that,” Morgan complained from her spot in the chair, clearly unaware of who had entered the store.

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