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she’s not trying to judgemental and just helpful and I need to

calm the heck down. I take a deep breath. This isn’t me. I’m

not mean to strangers. Never. That’s the one thing I can’t stand

in the whole freaking universe. When people are mean to other

people they don’t know for no reason at all. When people take

things out on other people even though it’s not their fault.

But no. The girl’s eyes narrow and she’s clearly

judging me.

I seriously have bigger things to worry about. “That’s

fine. No problem. I’ll get the small. And make the coffee

large. Thank you so much.”

She shakes her head at me as I get out my card to pay. I

silently vow never to show my face in the coffee shop again. It

had been one of my favorites up until now, but that’s alright.

There are a thousand others. This is Phoenix, baby.

I take my coffee, slap a lid on it, sprinkle Tildy’s drink

with some chocolate stuff out of a shaker, and pass it over to

her. “Here you go, honey. Make sure you savor that. This is

Auntie’s treat to you for being such a good girl this morning.”

By being, I hope that includes the future tense. I brought paper

and markers, and if that fails, there’s a tablet in my bag.

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Because this is just my freaking day, I have to time

handing over a huge coffee drink that is labeled “latte” for the

whole place to see my shame and basically make it obvious

that I’m resorting to bribing a six-year-old girl to behave, right

as Stephanie De’Silvo walks in the door.

Chapter 2

Stephanie

I recognize Adley James by her clothes. She told me she’d be