“Oh no! It’s still not there?”
“You should see the tracking history,” Eleanor said with a mirthless laugh. “Apparently it was Texas, then Wyoming, then Maine. Then it was in Boston, which felt promising, and then out for delivery in some town called Whale Harbor in Rhode Island?—”
“Rhode Island is close!” Diana said encouragingly.
“Yeah, but the latest has it in Florida, so who can say what will happen next. I don’t know if they have the craziest shipping situation in the world, if there’s an error in their system, or what.”
“Goodness gracious,” Diana said.
“I confess that I have been thinking some words that would have had my mother washing out my mouth with soap,” Eleanor said with a chuckle. This laugh sounded a little more genuine. Apparently, Eleanor was also benefitting from the reparative effects of complaining to a friend who was on your side.
“It will all work out,” Diana reassured her. “It will arrive eventually. And if it doesn’t, well. We’ll rally the team to get the best bookshelf this town has ever seen. None of us is a carpenter, so I’m not sure how, but I wouldn’t bet against Miriam at basically anything.”
“We will never know the full extent of her powers,” Eleanor agreed, a smile in her voice.
Diana’s computer screen turned black from inactivity; when she moved the mouse to wake it back up, she noticed the time.
“Oh, shoot,” she said. “Ellie, I have to go. I have a meeting with Anthony.”
“Oooh,” Eleanor crooned.
Diana laughed. “What are you, twelve? It’s about accountant stuff.”
“Uh huh.” Eleanor did not sound convinced. “Report back!”
“It’s about taxes!”
“Sure it is, sweetie. Love you!”
And then she hung up, leaving Diana laughing and shaking her head.
She was late, however, so she quickly gathered her things and hurried over to Anthony’s office. When she got there, he was on the phone. She waited in the small entrance area as he held up a finger in the universal sign forI’ll just be one minute.
She waited, smiling when she saw that the side table boasted a picture of Anthony and a younger Eloise. The frame had been decorated with painted macaroni and sparkles.
“This is a masterpiece,” Diana said when Anthony opened the door to his inner office, a welcoming smile on his face. “I assume the asking price is… one billion dollars? I am prepared to pay.”
“Well, one, as your accountant, I cannot recommend that,” he said. “Although, of course I recommend the value of a good investment piece. And, two, I’m afraid that particular multimedia chef d’oeuvre is not for sale.”
“Man.” She snapped her fingers. “Well, sir, that’s a disappointment.”
He laughed and she was struck anew by just howeasyit was to talk to him.
If only her dates could go like this…
She brushed that thought under the mental rug as quickly as it came.
“Well, madam,” Anthony said, his silly grandness making itreallyhard to not think about how much she liked talking to him. “I have something that just might cheer you up despite this blow.”
He beckoned her into the office, then pulled open a drawer…
And pulled out a box from Honey Bee Bakery. A smile spread across her face, and that was before he opened it and revealed a pecan sticky bun and a strawberry donut.
“What’s this for?” she asked, delighted.
“You said you liked our order the other day,” he said, shrugging bashfully. “Or, you said you liked Eloise’s order. But I tried that strawberry donut and, phew, Diana. It’s maybe the sweetest thing I’ve ever tasted in my life.”
“Yeah, exactly,” she said. “That’s what makes it so good.”
