Page 30 of The Strawberry Patch Pancake House

Oh, she liked that. Her face lit up. ‘A little cutie, little mouse bite,’ she sang.

‘Hey, wait a minute! Does this mean I don’t get your piece anymore?’ Iris said in mock outrage and Olive giggled.

‘You get your own piece,’ Olive said, leaning her elbows on the counter. ‘What are you doing now?’ she asked Archer, ignoring Iris’s huff of outrage over her decreased portion.

‘I’m going to season the steak. Do you want to help?’

Olive’s eyes widened. ‘Yeah!’

Archer looked like he might float away from shock and happiness, but he held it together and slid the salt dish across to Olive. ‘We need a big pinch of salt. Can you do a big pinch?’

Olive made a little pinching motion with her fingers. ‘Like this?’

‘Bigger.’ Archer took a liberal pinch of salt and sprinkled it over the steak. ‘Like that. Now you.’

‘Like this?’

‘That’s perfect! Very good.’

Olive beamed at her father and their matching dimples nearly killed Iris. She took another sip of wine and watched the twosome make dinner together, with Archer explaining everything along the way and Olive soaking in the attention. By the time they ate, Iris was amazed the food could fit past the lump of emotion in her throat.

She was glad she’d trusted her gut. These two needed her and they needed each other, and she was helping bring them together. And just like Mary Poppins, once they didn’t need her anymore, she would just put up her umbrella and float right on out of here.

But after tonight’s cooking demonstration, she wasn’t so sure it would be as easy as she’d originally thought.

ChapterThirteen

Afew nights later, Iris was heading back to her room from the bathroom when she nearly collided with Olive in the dark hallway.

‘Olive! What are you doing up?’

The little girl didn’t answer; she just kept walking down the hall, her blankie trailing behind her. She had a vacant look on her face that reminded Iris way too much of a horror movie. Was her head about to start spinning on her neck?

‘Olive, where are you going?’ Iris followed her back out to the main living space. Archer was cleaning up the kitchen and he looked up when they entered.

‘What’s going on?’

Iris shrugged. ‘I’m not sure. Hoping it’s not a poltergeist situation.’ God, she was totally right. Children were scary. Just when she thought she had this one figured out, she’d got possessed by the devil. Or something like that.

‘A what?’ Archer shook his head. ‘Olive, you should be in bed.’

The girl didn’t respond or even look at him, just made her way to the front door and started fiddling with the knob. Iris and Archer looked at each other in confusion.

‘What the hell is she doing?’ Archer whispered.

‘Trying to escape? In her sleep?’ Iris suggested.

‘You think she’s sleepwalking?’

‘Honestly, I think that is the least horrifying scenario right now.’

Archer crept up behind her and Iris followed him. He was Olive’s dad. He could get murdered first.

‘Hey, Olive,’ he said softly. ‘Let’s go back to bed.’ He put his hands on her shoulders and tried to steer her away from the door.

‘Be careful,’ Iris hissed. ‘Aren’t you not supposed to wake a sleepwalker?’

‘I don’t know,’ he hissed back. ‘What happens if I do?’