Confectionately Yours #4: Something New by Lisa Papademetriou Read Free Book Online Page B

making my whole store smell like a burrito!”
    “Oh, dear!” Gran says. Chloe reaches for the flowers, and Gran hands them over, then pours Mr. Malik a cup of tea. I automatically reach for a madeleine — Mr. Malik’s favorite — and place it on a plate.
    “Thank you, my girls,” he says. “A rose by any other name may smell as sweet, but a rose that smells like salsa is …”
    “Un-Shakespearean,” Rupert finishes.
    “This is what happens when business owners aren’t locals!” Mr. Malik grumbles.
    “They aren’t locals?” Chloe asks as she arranges Gran’s roses in a vase.
    “No, dear,” Gran explains. “The restaurant is run by two businessmen in Boston.”
    Mr. Malik harrumphs. “It’s really quite rude. But whenever I call to complain, I have to leave a message! I’ve complained to the manager, of course, a very nice lady, but she can’t do anything about the vents without the owners’ permission.”
    “Dreadful.” Gran shakes her head. “Do have another madeleine, Umer.”
    “Mark my words — if they do this thing badly, they do everything else the same way,” Mr. Malik pronounces. “I wouldn’t eat at that restaurant for a million dollars.”
    That settled, Mr. Malik and my grandmother turn to discussing the news. My feet are starting to hurt from standing, so I give up frosting my monstrosity and head over to join Meghan at her table. “That looks good,” I say, pointing to her poster.
    “Artie gave me a few ideas.”
    “Really?” I think I mentioned that Artie and Meghan aren’t exactly besties. “Well, it looks great.”
    Meghan leans back in her chair and stretches. She nods approvingly at the green-and-yellow posters. They really pop. “I’ve been doing this for over an hour,” she says. “Want to take a walk?”
    “Are you going for a walk?” Chloe asks, looking up from the book she just settled in to read. “Would you take Tessie? I’m just dying to finish this chapter.”
    “Sure!” Meghan says just as I let out a groan.
    “You’re doing the after-dinner walk,” I tell Chloe. “And the one right before bedtime.”
    “No problem,” she says, waving her hand at me.
    Honestly, whatever happened to “I’ll take care of the dog”? But, to tell the truth, I’m kind of glad that Chloe is sticking me with a bunch of the dog walking. That way, I can complain to Mom, and I know we won’t get a permanent dog.
    I’m very mean, I know.
    I’m sorry.
    But who likes picking up poop?

“I can’t believe how lucky you are!” Meghan chirps as she bounces down the street with my new-used lazy Susan. She’s doing her bouncy-beach-ball walk. I don’t even know how she does it, but it’s like a little hop with each step. Like Tigger.
    “You’re even more excited about it than I am. Is it heavy?” Meghan insisted on carrying it, since I’m holding Tessie’s leash.
    “No — hardly anything. I just can’t believe it! It was right there at a tag sale! It’s, like, your Lazy Susan of Destiny! Look what Hayley got!” Meghan commands when she spots Marco walking toward us.
    He snaps a photo of Meghan holding out the lazy Susan. “Cool,” he says. “It’s a plate.”
    “You can turn it,” I explain to him. “It makes frosting cakes easier.”
    “Every home needs one,” Marco jokes.
    “Hayley found it at a tag sale for two dollars!” Meghan goes on. “Isn’t that amazing? Isn’t she lucky?”
    “Yeah,” Marco agrees. “Is that where you got the frog, too?”
    “What frog?” I ask, and Marco points downward.
    I look at the guilty-faced dog at the end of my leash. She is carrying a neon-green beanbag frog about the size of a lime. “Did you just shoplift that?” I ask Tessie, who just peers up at me with two neon-green legs sticking out of her mouth.
    “She stole it from the tag sale! We’re gonna get arrested!” Meghan cries.
    Marco takes a photo of the dog with the frog. “Haven’t you two been in trouble with the law before?” he