“You can get in the car in your pajamas!” Nans said, exasperated. “I just can’t leave you here alone while I run Lindsay to work!”

Skylar rolled his eyes. “Well, can I at least get a donut while we’re there?”

Nans sighed. “Sure,” she said with a grin. “On Saturday.”

It probably seems weird to eat breakfast before you go to work in a restaurant, but working in a restaurant is hard, and you don’t get a lot of breaks. It’s not like you can stuff snacks in your apron pockets either. You’re on your feet the whole time and running around, and you can barely sip a drink, let alone eat. During slow times the staff will grab a plate in the kitchen, but as soon as you have a customer you have to put it down, so no one ever has a leisurely burger or anything.

Nans jingled her keys, and Skylar sighed loudly and pushed back his chair. I took one last look in the mirror before we left, and then Nans drove down the curvy road toward the restaurant.

I could ride my bike to work, especially in nice weather, but Mom would never, ever let us ride on Park Street. She said people went too fast around the curves.

It’s kind of weird that even though Mom died, some of her rules are still here, and nobody has tried to get rid of them. At first we did things like staying up really late because everyone was so distracted, and nobody seemed to notice. Plus, there were, like, hundreds of people at the house and stopping in at all hours.

But one night at dinner, Dad said, “Okay, life as we know it is going to be very different, but there are ground rules that stay the same.”

After that we had bedtimes and regular meals and all the old rules seemed to kick back in.

When we pulled up to the restaurant, it was six fifteen. You could tell Nans was torn, because she wanted to go in and check things out and get a few things done in the office, but Sky was scowling.

Nans glanced in the back seat. “Sky, do you want to go say hi to your dad?”

But before he could answer, Dad came bounding out of the restaurant. “A fine family morning!” he bellowed, smiling at me. “Look at this wonderful employee on her first day at Donut Dreams!”

He actually looked really proud, and I kind of blushed a little.

“She’s going to be spectacular, as always!” said Nans, smiling.

“And I get to see my boy!” said Dad, reaching in to give Sky a squeeze.

“I had to get up early,” Skylar whined.

“Good practice for when school starts!” said Dad. “And since you made the very big effort of getting into the car, I have a little treat for you.” He handed Skylar a bag.