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“All right, baby, that is gold! I mean it, Sonya. I want to go order a new yoga outfit, a new mat, and I feel a sudden need to start lifting weights.”

When Sonya laughed, Cleo pointed at her. “I actually mean it. I mean, naturally, about the outfit, as I’m due for one. But your arms are happening, and I think I want mine to.”

“They are?” Frowning Sonya looked down and flexed. “They sort of are.”

“Anyway, show me the rest.”

She went through in-store ads, billboards, signage.

She ended with an image that spanned ages and interests from a little girl on a tricycle to a group of seniors doing tai chi in a park.

Ryder Sports

For Any Age, For Any Interest

For Everyone

“You sure as hell sold me. And you ended with the bang. A number of bangs. Tone down the tech stuff.”

“Got that.”

“Do you know who from the Ryder family’s going to be there?”

“No. I know Burt will—Burt Springer, and I owe him for even having this chance.”

“Make eye contact. During your presentation, make eye contact, especially if any of the family’s there. You know how to give a presentation—you’ve done plenty of them. Do what you do. The work is gold, Sonya, absolute honesty.”

“Thanks, I can polish it up a little more.” Pacing, she nodded. “Yeah, just a little shine up here and there, let most of the tech stuff go unless asked. And I’ll know when that’s done, it’s the best I can do. It won’t be as slick as By Design, but—”

“Maybe not. You went for the heart.” Cleo laid a hand on her own. “In my book, heart wins. If they go with slicker? Their loss. Now, how about putting all this away for the night? We’ll have leftovers and a nice, fluffy movie.”

Clover had Ariana Grande and Victoria Monét singing about besties in “Monopoly.”

“You may be Sonya’s grandmama, but you’re our best friend, too.”

The air suddenly carried the scent of wildflowers in a meadow. A mix of sweet and spice, just drifting.

“Do you—”

“Yeah.” Sonya gathered her laptop, tablet. “I do. Every time I worry too much about an entity I won’t name tonight, I think about Clover and Molly and Jack, and the other six brides, and whoeverelse is here. I think about Collin and my dad, and this house. I think about you and me doing our best work and eating leftovers for dinner.”

“Me, too. Let’s go down. Since I fed Pye and Yoda before I came up, we’ll let them out while we get those leftovers ready.” Cleo glanced over her shoulder as she started downstairs. “She hasn’t used the litter box.”

“I don’t know if your continued success in that area is you, the cat, or the manor.”

“Why not all three?”

Halfway down, both their phones signaled a text.

“It’s from Corrine Doyle. An invitation to dinner on Sunday.”

“Same here,” Cleo said. “That sounds like fun. We’re saying yes, right?”

“We’re saying yes. Do some juju so my hair appointment on Friday doesn’t make me look like a freak.”

“Would Anna use a salon that does that?”

“No, but things could go wrong,” Sonya said darkly. “Maybe I should—What are you doing?”