“From Lark,” he says.
“Is it handmade?” she asks.
Ryan starts to say, “Does it matter?” but I cut him off. “It is, actually. I made it myself.” My face heats again. I wish I could curtail some of the blushing.
She smiles and starts to open it. Then she stops and takes in a breath, covering her chest with her palm. She pulls the silver barrettes out of the box and holds them up. “You made these?”
“Well, I added the jewels,” I admit. I bought the silver barrettes and then I added two gemstones, one for Ryan’s birthstone and one for Mick’s. “It’s their birthstones,” I tell her.
“How did you know my birthday?” Mick asks.
I roll my eyes. “Facebook,” I say. “Duh…”
He grins. “Well played.”
Mrs. Shepherd pulls the barrettes she’s already wearing from her hair and replaces them with mine. “How do they look?” she asks the boys.
“Beautiful,” they both say at the same time. “And you don’t look a day older,” Ryan adds. “In fact, I think you look a day younger with those on.”
She pulls the dishtowel from her pocket again and slings it at him. He ducks and laughs.
“They don’t even look cheap,” Samantha says.
“They’re not,” I tell her, though she can’t hear the growl in my voice.
Mrs. Shepherd makes me very happy when she hugs me, and then she goes to show off her new barrettes. Ryan kisses me on the cheek and says, “She likes you.”
“You think so?” My heart is still racing a mile a minute.
“Yes,” Mick says. “You’re in.”
I heave out a relieved breath. “Whew!” I wipe my hand across my forehead and pretend to sling off sweat.
But suddenly, Mrs. Shepherd starts to gasp. She holds her throat and her lips begin to turn blue. “Mom!” Mick calls out, and Ryan runs to the house and comes back immediately with an injectable pen. She falls to the ground and they stick her with the pen, but her breathing doesn’t improve. Someone calls for an ambulance, and Ryan, Mick, and their dad try to keep her stable, but it’s not working.
“Oh, my God!” Samantha says. “Were there nuts in the cookies you brought?”
“Mom is allergic to nuts,” Ryan says. He’s frantically trying to keep her awake, and she’s struggling to breathe.
“You knew there were nuts in the cookies!” I tell Samantha.
“How would I know that?” she asks, standing up taller in mock outrage.
“Because I told you!”
“You might have thought you did, but your signing isn’t very good,” she says.
I hear the sirens outside and I wait with the others as they load her into the ambulance. Ryan and Mick leave together in Mick’s car to go to the hospital, and I go to my car with my security guard. “You told her,” he says to me.
“I know I did.”
“Conniving little bitch,” he mutters.
“Yep.”
“You want to go to the hospital?”
“Yes, please.”