LITMIR.BIZ

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David was the first kid to return. Sounds of contentment escaped around his first mouthful of pasta.

      “I agree.” It may not have been quite as cost-effective as boxed mac and cheese, but it was close. And it was tastier, judging by the satisfied looks on everyone’s faces as they devoured the meal. The flavors stood on their own—the whole wheat penne, chunks of hearty turkey kielbasa and crunchy little flecks of green onion.

      When the last bowl had been scraped clean, Sloane said goodbye to the kids, making sure they all had their recipe cards and grocery lists in tow. And then as she was elbow-deep in suds and dirty pots and pans she felt a pair of thin arms wrap around her aproned waist.

      “How you doing, Davon? Everything okay?” Sloane dreaded asking that question with these kids. Their lives were so unstable that she never knew what answer she was going to get.

      Her suspicions were confirmed when he shook his head. “My mom’s been really busy with school and work. And my Big Brother Carl’s moving away, so he won’t get to pick me up from school anymore.”

      Davon had a brother? What bad timing for a move with their mom in the thick of third-year law school. “But you’ll still get to see Carl at holidays and stuff, right?”

      “Naw, Carl’s not my real brother. He’s just a guy from an agency. He has a kid my age and everything. But he was real cool.”

      “It’ll be okay, Davon.” Sloane stifled a wince. “Your mom’s almost finished with school, and I know you’re going to get a new Big Brother soon.” She hated how lame those words sounded, too aware of the emptiness behind the platitude.

      For a moment, Sloane could picture the faces of the people she’d known her whole life looking at her like she was a stranger after the accident, some with pity, but most fidgety and uncomfortable. Everything’s going to be okay, they’d placated her, probably to make sure she stayed quiet. We’re here for you. And then they’d avoided her.

      His eyes widened as his aunt appeared in the doorway. “Don’t tell anyone I said anything, okay?”

      “Okay.” Sloane waved at Davon’s aunt, who picked him up most days while his mom was in class.

      “See you next time, Miss Sloane. And, uh, thanks.”

      Her heart broke for Davon as she watched his aunt hurry him along. He was such a good kid. His mom had done a great job with him as she worked hard to build a better life for them after her husband’s death.

      As Sloane’s hands worked to finish the dishes, she made a mental note to ask around about Davon getting a new City on a Hill Big Brother. Because if things weren’t okay in her little friend’s world, things weren’t okay in hers.

      * * *

      “WHAT KIND OF salad could possibly be so good that you’ve disturbed my reading?” Sloane’s neighbor stomped across the hall to her apartment that evening.

      “Trust me, Mrs. Melone.” Sloane let the older woman in. “It’s life changing.”

      This was their thing. Mrs. Melone pretended to be a crotchety old woman. Sloane played the sort of neighbor with lots of excuses that required the older woman’s presence. But in reality, they were doing each other a favor.

      They both needed someone, anyone, to check in every once in a while.

      Mrs. Melone was the wife of some sort of Old Hollywood producer who was always in LA. She was way too stylish to be crotchety. And if she were half as grumpy as she made herself out to be, she never would have agreed to try the salad that spun Sloane into a dancing fit that could rival the cheesiest of touchdown celebrations.

      Never mind that it took Sloane three tries and ten minutes of coercing to get Mrs. Melone here. When she finally said the word bacon, Mrs. Melone was sold and grabbed her purse faster than Sloane had ever seen the woman move. Way faster than a woman working on her second hip replacement should ever move.

      Sloane took her laptop from its usual spot on the dining room table and guided Mrs. Melone to the chair where the salad was still perfectly posed from its earlier photo shoot, complete with a bud vase of gerbera daisies that made the fresh greens pop.

      The older woman made a big ceremony of shaking her head, dangle earrings clinking as she assembled a bite with the best proportion of romaine lettuce, bacon, bleu cheese, lemon-herb chicken and the creamy date and Dijon vinaigrette, then stuffed it in her mouth. Her eyes lit up.

      Case. In. Point.

      “Good, isn’t it?”

      “This is...so flavorful.” Mrs. Melone shoveled in another bite.

      Sloane grinned and leaned her elbows on the table beside her neighbor. “See, aren’t you glad I made you come over to try it?”

      Mrs. Melone’s stylish silver bob snapped in Sloane’s direction, the scowl on her lined face churning as she chewed her salad. Then her lips curved in the slightest hint of a smile and she took another bite.

      Victory!

      “Did you get this recipe from the Cooper boy?”

      The triumphant sound track came to a screeching halt. “What?” How did she know?

      “Graham Cooper. The restaurant you’re working with.” Mrs. Melone made a clicking sound. “Oh, don’t act surprised. You’ve advertised it to the world on your website.”

      “I didn’t know you read my website.” Sloane crossed her arms, pulling the ends of her cardigan tighter around her waist. As if that was going to help her feel any less exposed.

      “Yes. Ever since Mitzi Mason from the country club told us about a feature they did on you in the Sunday paper. So about—” Mrs. Melone’s eyes shifted in thought “—two years or more.”

      “And you’re just now saying something to me?”

      “It never came up!” Her expression went from stubborn to sly. “Are all the stories about him true?”

      “No.” This had to stop right there. “And to be honest, I don’t want to hear the stories about him.” Grace and Levi had told her enough. At every opportunity.

      Mrs. Melone nodded and took another bite as if it was no big thing. “This is divine. You’ll have to make this for my Bunco club. You’re all they talk about, you know.”

      Mise en Place had page views from countries all over the world. But somehow knowing her neighbor’s inner circle of socialites were among those readers pried open the tight disparity Sloane had created between her real life and her website.

      “Do you want to take a picture of me for your website?” Mrs. Melone had already put down her fork and was applying a raspberry lipstick that only she could have pulled off. “You know, so your mother won’t worry?”

      “I...” She stood and busied herself with packing up the salad leftovers to mask her shock. What, was the woman combing through her website comments or something? “What do you mean?”

      “I may not have children, but I had a mother once. It’s weird what they turn into with a daughter living in a strange city by herself.”

      “You’ve got me on that one,” was Sloane’s weak offering as her mind pictured a younger Mrs. Melone with curls tied in a handkerchief and hat boxes stacked in the back of a classic convertible moving to Hollywood by herself. “But I’m afraid the lighting’s all wrong for a photo now.”

      Mrs. Melone’s nose turned up. “Well, I wouldn’t want my internet debut to take place in bad lighting. I’d never hear the end of it from the girls.”

      Without ceremony, the older woman stood and took the container of salad leftovers, quicker and more agile than Sloane had ever seen her. Maybe it wasn’t just the bacon putting a fresh spring in her step as she walked down the hallway. “I think even my husband will enjoy this when he gets in tonight. And he doesn’t do salads, no

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