“People usually don’t bake for me.”

Dani chirped, “I know, that’s why I thought you might enjoy it. The novelty of it.”

Siobhan frowned.

“What’s wrong?” Dani asked.

“I’m trying to remember if I’ve said anything salty enough to warrant you trying to poison me.”

Dani rolled her eyes and took out the second part of her offering, which she poured in one of the pie shop’s glasses. “This is a bottle of fresh whole milk I got from the Hickens family’s farm on the way over here.”

“Thank you for your business!” Jimmy called from the booth.

“The milk is unpasteurized and un-messed-around-with,” said Dani. “Which I find terrifying on a microbial level, but I understand that’s how you prefer it. I would leave it out in a wooden bowl, but I don’t have one handy.”

Siobhan lifted her scraggly gray brow.

“This is as close as I get to leaving out a traditional fairy gift of bread and milk. I can’t bake a decent loaf of bread to save my life. My Gramma’s was amazing, but mine always turns out all chewy. The yeast just doesn’t seem to like me.”

Siohhan lifted the glass lid of her baking dish. “Is your Gramma the one who taught you to bake?”

“I grew up on an apple farm. We always had extra, getting ready to go bad. Gramma was constantly coming up with ways to make sure they weren’t wasted. Apple butter, apple pies, apple jelly, cider. We sold some in the farm store, but our poor next-door-neighbor got so sick of applesauce that he went into a panic if he saw her carrying a jar. And this is her famous apple crumble.”

Siobhan took a fork out of a nearby napkin roll and dug into the sugary topping.

“No slicing, huh?” said Dani. “Just going to dig right in . . . nope, I respect that. I wouldn’t share, either.”

The brownie lifted a forkful of baked apples and cinnamon to her mouth, chewing thoughtfully, like an epicure tasting wine. She tilted her head and seemed to stare off into the distance. And then Siobhan did something Dani never expected. She wept—not just gentle tears rolling down her wizened cheeks, but deep wracking sobs of grief that shook her bony shoulders. The regulars sprang up from their booth, clearly unsure of what to do in the face of the unprecedented spectacle of Siobhan crying and reaching across the counter to clutch Dani’s hand.

Siobhan waved the older men off, hiccupping softly. “Oh, don’t fuss, I’m fine! I’m fine!”

The regulars returned to their seats, giving Dani a mild case of stink-eye. Dani stood stock-still, not quite sure if it was safe to move. Siobhan squeezed her hand gently. “You must have missed your grandmother very much when you were making this.”