Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 95756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 479(@200wpm)___ 383(@250wpm)___ 319(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 479(@200wpm)___ 383(@250wpm)___ 319(@300wpm)
“Yeah, but Jed won’t let me anymore.” Daisy sighed sadly.
“Gigi was just about to start off with the delicacy that is cheese in a can,” Eden told her.
Oh, yeah. She’d nearly forgotten. Crap.
“You can do this, Gigi. We believe in you,” Daisy cheered.
“Maybe we shouldn’t push her,” Abby worried. “What if she hates it? Macca won’t be happy if we make her sick.”
Eden snorted. “If she’s sick it won’t be from that. It’ll be from all this junk food.”
Daisy reached for a Laffy Taffy. “Eww, grape. We’re not going to make her eat a grape one, are we?”
“Grape doesn’t taste good?” Gigi asked.
“Grape is delicious,” Abby defended. “It’s a misunderstood flavor.”
Daisy shook her head. “I love candy and even I won’t touch grape Laffy Taffy.”
Gigi looked over at Eden who just shook her head. “Don’t look at me. Not a candy fan.”
Daisy gave an exaggerated gasp. “Oh, the horror. How are we even friends?”
Eden just grinned, not looking upset in the slightest.
“I’ll try the grape,” Gigi said. She didn’t want to offend anyone.
“The grape is not okay,” Daisy said seriously. “Grape is never okay. Grape is an abomination. It should never have been brought into existence and it should be taken right on out.”
“You really don’t have to eat that if you don’t want to,” Abby told her, pointing to the can in her hand. Abby was a total sweetheart.
Gigi took a deep breath. “I’m going in. How do you eat it though?”
Eden shrugged. “You can put it on a cracker or piece of bread if you want.”
“Just tip it up and squirt it straight in your mouth,” Daisy suggested, popping some taffy in her mouth.
Gigi shook the can and tipped her head back, squirting the liquid cheese into her mouth. This just seemed wrong. The only thing she’d squirted straight from a can was whipped cream or chocolate mousse.
But cheese?
She swallowed hastily.
“How was it?” Daisy asked.
“Are you okay?” Abby rubbed her back lightly.
“She looks like she’s gonna be sick. Someone get her a bucket,” Eden said urgently.
She waved a hand. “I’m fine. I’m fine. I just. . .that was, umm, different.”
The three women all looked at each other and then burst into laughter. Gigi smiled, then started giggling as well. Abby wrapped her arm around her waist.
“Well, Gigi, you just passed your initiation by liquid cheese,” Eden said dryly. “And now on to your next treat. Better get in there quick before Daisy eats it all by herself and then gets her butt roasted by Jed—”
“Hey,” Daisy protested. “Only if he finds out.” She grinned cheekily at Gigi, looking totally unworried about that possibility.
Gigi reached for a Snickerdoodle. Okay, those were good. She went through, sampling each sweet thing. A few of them she thought you could get in Australia, like Twinkies, but she’d never tasted them. Her budget hadn’t stretched to many treats.
“He’ll find out,” Abby said. “That man is scary. I swear he can read minds.”
“Sometimes I think they all can,” Eden added. “Far too observant for my peace of mind. I swear Zeke must have a camera in my car. Every time I go over the speed limit I get in trouble. What’s the point of driving if you can’t drive fast?”
“I have no interest in driving,” Gigi told them, picking up an Airhead. “Even if I had a license.”
Daisy grabbed a handful of Gushers, popping them all in her mouth at once. Her cheeks poked out as she chewed them.
Gigi looked over at Abby with wide eyes. Should they maybe cut Daisy off?
Abby bit her lip. “I think I’ll put all this away now, okay?”
Daisy’s lower lip dropped out in a pout but she sighed. “All right. Jed’s just so miserly with the candy. And I can’t find his stash anywhere. I’ve searched the whole cabin. I spent two hours the other day turning the place upside down when I was supposed to be working. Then I had to explain why I was behind and had to work late that night. Jed wasn’t happy. I ended up having to write lines and have a nap the next day. Naps suck.”
They sure did. She loved having people around her who understood her relationship with Macca.
“So how are you liking living here, Gigi?” Abby asked her. “Are you settling in all right?”
“Do you miss home?” Daisy asked.
“Not really,” she told Daisy. “It’s different here. So beautiful though. And everyone has been so welcoming. I didn’t have any friends or family back home. Just Penny, Macca’s grandmother.”
With Penny gone, she had no ties back home. Moving here with Macca, a man who loved her exactly for who she was, wasn’t exactly a hardship. Kent, Macca’s boss, had generously let him have some time off to help her settle in.
Abby reached across and squeezed her hand. “It must have been so hard on you both, losing her.”