“We’ve got time for a two-minute stop at Baking Divas,” Mrs. Alswang said.
“To get us snacks for the plane?” I asked.
“To get a present for Jeep and Nana,” Mrs. Alswang said. “Charge it to our account, Sam.”
“I’ll go with him,” I said. “For added speed.”
Our friends Jonique, Pip, and Lucy Rose were at the worktable putting sugar eyeballs on Wiggly Piggly cupcakes. When they saw us, they raced to the front.
Lucy Rose and Jonique stood on boxes and leaned over the top of the glass case. Pip rolled over to the cash-register counter.
“My mom’s paying us to work two hours a day,” Jonique said. Her mom’s a Diva.
“We’re going to be rolling in riches and lolling in loot,” Lucy Rose said. “Are you green from envy?”
“Nope,” I said. “We’re going to Florida.”
“You’re making that up,” Pip said.
“Go ask my dad,” I said. “After we buy a cake for my grandparents, it’s adios, girls. Bonjour, airport.”
“I’m green as lime Jell-O,” Lucy Rose said.
“Lincoln Logs travel well,” Mrs. McBee said.
She meant the cookie, not the toy. Because what would my grandparents want with wooden sticks?
Sam picked Pound for Pound Cake.
Pip tied red-and-white string around the box. Then she pulled up her backsack that hangs on her wheelchair. She fished out a dollar.
“Here,” she said. “It’s from my mom for carrying her groceries. I keep forgetting to give it to you.”
“I told her not to pay,” Sam said. “Due to what happened to the eggs.”
“She said to put it in your dog fund,” Pip said.
“Thanks,” Sam said. “Only forty-three bucks and ninety-two cents to go.”
“All you have is six dollars and eight cents?” Jonique said. She has math talent.
“He had more,” I said. “We had to give up twenty dollars because of the situation with Mrs. Lee’s porch light.”
“Your mom’s beeping the horn,” Mrs. McBee said.
“Keep in touch with us from Florida,” Pip said.
“I’m sure Jeep and Nana will let us use their phone to text you,” I said.
“Mom, can they use your phone number if they want to text us?” Jonique asked.
Mrs. McBee nodded and gave us her number and her email, just in case.
“And you know my email and Sam’s,” I said. “Since you’re at Baking Divas so much, we’ll send your emails here. Then you can all read them at the same time.”