The Little inside her was actually feeling kind of guilty. Would she push one of her stuffies to the back of the shelf if it got a smudge on it or a torn ear? No way.
As the tour guide ushered all the passengers back out to the bus, Ellie looked at Sue and Riley. “I feel kind of sad now for all the rejected cupcakes.”
Sue and Riley both nodded in agreement. They looked equally appalled.
“We probably need a new policy for bad cupcakes.”
Just then Tarson stepped up to the counter. “Why the long faces?”
Ellie shot him her most pitiful look. “We need to deal with bad cupcakes better. We’re hurting their feelings!”
Tarson’s eyebrows shot up to his forehead and then he shook his head and turned back toward the kitchen, muttering, “Littles.”
Chapter Two
Two minutes before the clock matched the closing time posted on the door, Ellie stood with her hand on the sign ready to flip it over and lock the door. At the sight of Daisy running toward her with an armful of flowers that seemed to point in all directions, Ellie opened the door.
“Look at this mess,” Daisy shook the flowers in her arms. Pink petals tumbled from the blossoms to scatter on the floor. “These just arrived from the distributor. I can’t use these. They look like they’ve been part of a roller derby.”
Ellie flipped the sign and locked the door. “Come in at your own risk. This has been a disastrous day.”
“Oh, no! Not for you, too!”
Riley walked in with three large bottles of a chocolate-flavored mixed drink concoction. “I just happened to have these mudslides in my car. You know—the chocolatey alcoholic drink? Anyone want a drink?”
“Love them. Pour me a big one,” Daisy jumped at the offer and dropped her flowers onto a nearby table.
“Me, too,” Sue called.
A knock on the window made them all turn around. Lark stood at the door with a huge stain on her crisp white suit. She waved and pressed her hands together as if she was begging to come in.
Ellie flew to the door and unlocked it for her. “What happened to you?” she asked the usually immaculate realtor as she stepped inside.
“Someone just splashed me with mud. They didn’t even stop or yell sorry. I think they did it deliberately,” Lark fumed.
“We’re drinking. Want to join us?” Riley called as she poured generous drinks into Styrofoam coffee cups marked with the Little Cakes logo.
“Make mine a double!” Lark requested.
Walking past the table of destroyed flowers, she picked one up and threaded it behind her ear. “Does this make up for the muck?” she asked, striking a very model-like pose.
“Ooo, I want one, too?” Ellie said, pulling off her scarf and adding it to her rumpled hairdo. From the look on the other women’s faces, the bandana had not created a flattering hairstyle as her hair had dried. “Bad, huh?”
When everyone nodded, Ellie said, “Better make mine a double, too.”
“Little girls and double alcohol don’t mix well,” Tarson said, standing in the kitchen doorway. “What happened to the flowers, Baby girl?” he asked as he winced. Even though Daisy’s Daddy worked at Little Cakes farther down the strip mall, Ellie knew he kept a keen eye on his own Little girl’s business.
“They came that way. They sent me shabby flowers that can’t be used,” Daisy said with a grimace. She walked over to pick one off the pile and shook it at Tarson.
“Look how broken the stem is. These are going to die before morning,” Daisy snapped off the broken greenery and stuck the flower in her hair.
“One drink, Little girl,” he allowed before looking at Riley, who was liberally filling the cups.
“Not a double,” he ordered.
“Whoops!”
“I’ll just drink a small amount,“ Daisy promised.
