“Honey, people are trying to be considerate. But sometimes you have to help them, too,” Aunt Melissa told me.

Poor Mrs. East looked a little like she might cry. Kelsey looked at me expectantly.

“Yeah, you should hear Kelsey complain about Aunt Melissa,” I joked.

Kelsey opened the cash drawer and smiled. “Yeah, but she’s got nothing on Nans, and you basically live with Nans.”

We laughed, but Mrs. East still stood there, silent. I could tell she still felt awful.

“That’ll be five fifty, please,” said Kelsey, and Mrs. East suddenly looked down and realized she still had the donut money in her hand.

“Oh thank you, honey,” she said.

She took the donuts to the boys, who shoved them into their mouths in five seconds flat. Then she walked back over and grabbed some extra napkins.

“Sometimes you take things for granted,” she said to me, I guess as an apology. “How was your summer, Lindsay? You excited for your first day at Bellgrove Middle School? Oh and the big Fall Fling is soon, right? Did you do any dress shopping this summer?”

Fall Fling is, I guess, a big deal. It’s the fall dance at the middle school, and everybody goes. I think they go because there’s not much else to do, but kids start talking about it around the Fourth of July.

My BFF, Casey, had already started looking online for a dress, and she’s been poking me to go shopping. The thing is that shopping for school is a little weird these days. Usually Aunt Melissa takes me and Kelsey to the mall that’s an hour and a half away and we stock up, or we just order stuff online.

“I’m not ready to start thinking about school,” I said. “It’s still summer!”

“You’re right!” laughed Mrs. East. “You enjoy every last drop of summer!”

Then she went over to try to wipe the boys’ faces, which were covered in donut icing. It was also in their hair.

“So did you pick out a dress yet?” I asked Kelsey.

“Not yet,” she said. “I found a few online that Mom said she’d order so I can try them on. Here, I’ll show you.”

She grabbed her phone from behind the counter, which was a big no-no. Grandpa did not let anyone have a phone when they were “on the floor,” which meant out in the open in the restaurant.

“You have to pay full attention!” he’d say.

I hated this rule, because if there was some downtime, it could get really boring.

Dad came over then. “Are you girls doing okay?” he asked, eyeing the mess the Easts were making.

“Yep,” said Kelsey. “We’ve got it, Uncle Mike.” She slipped her phone into her back pocket.

“Kelsey, you know the rule,” said Dad. “And if Grandpa catches you, it won’t be pretty.”