Page 31 of Shadows of You

“I made your favorite…” I tried enticing her.

Cady’s eyes fluttered open. “Cady pancakes?”

I chuckled. “Cady pancakes all the way.”

She beamed. “Today is the bestest.”

I tapped her nose. “I agree. You want to eat first and then get ready?”

Cady bobbed her head in a nod, and I helped her sit up. I slid on one slipper and then the other. Grabbing her robe off the hook on her door, I got her into it.

She stumbled slightly as she made her way down the hall, and I couldn’t help but laugh. Waking up was always a challenge. Chauncey hurried over to greet her, and she patted his head as she slid into her chair.

Cady grinned down at her breakfast. A stack of two pancakes made to look just like her. Raspberries for her red hair. Green grapes for her eyes. Strawberries for her mouth. Nose and eyelashes drawn on with chocolate syrup.

“I almost don’t want to eat it,” she whispered.

“Well, that would be a waste.”

Cady giggled and cut off a bite. Then she paused. “Do you think Mr. Grizz has someone to make him pancakes?”

My heart clenched. “I don’t know. He can probably make them himself.”

But that was a lonely proposition, day in and day out. And I knew how that felt.

Cady’s lips pursed. “We should invite him next time. Pancakes would make him less grumpy, for sure.”

I choked on a laugh. My girl always told it like it was.

* * *

“I miss my glitter boots,”Cady said with a sigh as we pulled up to the school.

I bit my lip to keep from laughing. “It’s going to be pretty muddy out on the playground since the snow is melting. Do you want to risk ruining your favorite boots?”

They were already getting too small for her. I would have to hunt for something similar that wasn’t ridiculously expensive.

“Mud doesnotgo with glitter.”

This time, I couldn’t hold in my chuckle. “No, it doesn’t.”

I climbed out of my station wagon, dreading that I needed to stop by the mechanics’ to get it looked at. I opened Cady’s door, and she hopped out.

Catching sight of the woman walking toward me, I winced. “Morning, Katelyn,” I greeted with as much warmth as I could muster.

She scrunched up her nose at me as she tossed her perfectly curled blond locks over one shoulder. “That car sounds horrible. Doesn’t look much better.”

I didn’t let my smile dim. “It gets us from place to place.”

The woman rolled her eyes, looking more like her six-year-old daughter than an adult.

Heather looked up at her mom. “Susanna and Lainey can come play after ballet, right?”

“Of course, honey,” Katelyn said, ushering her daughter toward the school building.

Cady’s shoulders slumped, and I had the sudden urge to deck a six-year-old. It wasn’t that Cady wanted to be friends with the mean girls, but they were all in her ballet class, and they made a sport of excluding her.

I crouched low, getting to eye level with Cady. “Remember what we talked about?”

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