“You could.”Zoe nodded.“Nothing wrong with it as it is.”
“But it might give it just a little more jazz.”
“At some point, sis, it’s okay to admit something is fine as it is and quit trying to improve it.”
She frowned.“I don’t do that.”
“Yeah.You do.You edit proposals until the last possible minute before the deadline.You tweak a recipe every single time you make it.You’ll mop the floor then rinse it again.”
Sofia winced.“I’m that bad?”
“You should ease up on yourself.Sometimes good enough is good enough.”
The words stung a bit, but she wasn’t sure there wasn’t some truth to them.
After they were finished eating, they turned on the webcam and set up a video call.
Their mother, Cynthia, looked tired but happy, holding one of the twins.Their stepfather John held the other baby, and Delores, their half-sister, was pulling two pies from the convection oven.
“They’ve grown since last week,” Sofia exclaimed.
“But they haven’t slept,” Delores protested.
Sofia missed the mayhem, and sometimes the video chats made it worse.The family still lived in the humble house where Sofia and Zoe had grown up.She remembered the zany years of too many people in too few rooms.
At first, after her alcoholic father had abandoned the family, things had been horrible.Instead of just working as a server for a local caterer on the weekends, Cynthia had taken a full-time job and had started baking pies and cakes for local restaurants.
After juggling it all as a single mother, she’d met John McBride at a local hall where he’d been repairing the building’s air conditioning.She’d offered him a bottle of water, and he’d been smitten.Cynthia had insisted she had no time for men, but John had been persistent.Her divorce had been long and messy, but John had stayed by her side.
And when it was over, he’d married her then adopted both Sofia and Zoe, moving them from a one-bedroom apartment into the small house and providing his new family with stability while Cynthia had built her own catering business.They’d had three kids together, all girls.
Even though Sofia felt sorry for John, being surrounded by all those children and estrogen, she’d never heard him complain.He’d worked hard all his life, and he’d spent a lot of his evenings driving the catering van for his wife.
“Are you coming to town this week?”her mom asked.
“Yes.Tuesday.I have a meeting with Cade Donovan.”
Delores swung to face the camera, a pie still between her hands.
“They’re hosting a centennial celebration at the ranch this fall.”
“No shit?”Delores asked.
“Language,” John scolded.
Though Sofia had never heard him utter a swear word, somehow all the girls had developed colorful vocabularies.
“I was planning to stop by afterward to see the twins.”Up until Delores had given birth, Sofia had often stayed overnight when she was in Corpus Christi.But now, with the twins, the only place left to sleep was the pull-out couch, and since the twins rarely slept for long periods of time, it was occupied almost all night.
“We’d love to see you,” Cynthia said as she moved her tiny bundle to her shoulder.
“I’ll let you know.”
Cynthia frowned.“Zoe Michelle, what is that on your neck?”
“Nothing, Mom,” Zoe said quickly as she moved her hair forward.
John squinted at the camera.
