“I…Sherry is my partner—at least in the eyes of everyone else—so she’s like the owner too.”

“So, you expect the customers to ask about the ownership and the staff’s private relations before they order a coffee?” She got a pan out of a cabinet.

Madison expected Rita Mae to say more, but she simply turned on the stove. Then she heated a pan with a dollop of butter and cut vegetables into it.

What did Rita Mae want to hear from her? Should she pretend to be a common waitress? Wait! Hadn’t Grandmother Eileen talked about Sherry being a common waitress back at Lillian’s birthday party?

God, I’m just like her!

“Rita Mae?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think I’m a snob?”

Rita Mae shook the pan and walked toward her. “Do you really want to know what I think?” When Madison nodded, she said, “First of all, I think you should keep peeling and cutting if you want to finish on time.”

Madison studied her half-peeled potato and the little potato peeler in her hands. Determined, she continued.

“Now, you think yourself better than us. But the only thing that sets you apart from us ordinary people is your money.”

And education. Madison paused. Even that she had gotten through her money, and it didn’t make her a better person. “I’ve never pretended to be something better.”

“No?” Rita Mae went back to the stove and shook the pan again. “Could have fooled me. By the way, who’s picking up Jake today?”

Oh, shit! Madison dropped the potato peeler and the potato. “Me. Sherry asked me to because she’s working longer today.” She rushed out of the kitchen. After putting on her shoes and coat, she peeked around the corner at Rita Mae and pointed toward her cutting board. “You sure you can handle this alone?”

Rita Mae snorted. “I’ll try.”

Sherry closed the apartment door and yawned. Danielle had promised to bring her home at six, but it had been almost eight before they could depart because the beer dispenser had malfunctioned and needed to be fixed.

She hung her coat up and went to Jake’s room. After her long day, she more than deserved to look at her sleeping angel. But when she drew near to his room, she heard quiet voices through the half-open door.

“‘But why did you do that?’ the frog asked and ribbited loudly.”

Madison? Why was she reading to Jake? Where was Rita Mae? There was no light in the living room, so she had to be in her room.

Sherry looked into Jake’s room and had to rub her eyes because she couldn’t believe what she saw.

Madison was sitting on the edge of his bed, immersed in the fairy tale book in her hands. She caressed Jake’s head and smiled brightly at him when he joined in the fairy tale he knew by heart.