“Yes! Destiny iseverything!” she declared with hammy melodrama.
Gabe wasn’t certain he agreed with that. But he had a hunch Eden was leading up to something. Her mistake was in broadcasting it even a little, because kids could pick up on that stuff the way animals could sense an impending trip to the vet.
“So what do you think the new donkey’s destiny is?” Eden asked. Casually but not casually enough.
“Um... to be cute and to help kids learn things,” Annelise declared. As though it were a flash card quiz.
“What do you think Peace and Love’s destiny is?”
“To be very soft and purr a lot and love me and you.”
“What do you think broccoli’s destiny is?”
The trap was laid.
Annelise and Eden eyed each other like a pair of gangsters, each aiming a pistol at each other’s hearts.
“To smell like bad breath and farts,” Annelise declared mutinously.
“ANNELISE HARWOOD.” Eden issued this through gritted teeth.
Annelise sighed and looked down at her plate wretchedly.
Eden shot a glare at Mac when he snickered.
He blinked and clammed up instantly.
Judging from Eden’s expression, this vegetable thing was a huge and ongoing source of anguish.
“You know what I think, Annelise?” Gabe said thoughtfully. “I kind of think it’s your destiny to be brave.”
She swung her head toward him. “You do?”
“Yeah. You know, I just get that feeling. And I’ve known a lot of brave people in my time, so I can tell.Lotswhen I was in the navy. Your Uncle Mac here knows a lot of brave people, too. But I’m not positive about you, yet.”
“Why not?”
“Because, frankly, you have to be real brave when you first try broccoli—which isdelicious, by the way. I heard Caitlynn Pennington tried some broccoli, but I don’t think she actually ate it. Just put it in her mouth. But even that takes guts, boy. It takesrealnerve to chew and swallow something for the first time. Think of all the people who had to try stuff for the first time. Chocolate. Cotton candy. Pepperoni. Someone had to be the first person to try all those delicious things. Someone had to be a pioneer.”
Eden was absolutely motionless. She was staring at him, fascinated.
When he’d imagined Eden Harwood hanging on his every word, it hadn’t been about broccoli.
But he’d take it.
Annelise stared at him with shrewd little blue eyes, looking for a way to poke a hole in that argument.
And he could see it waskillingher, killing her that Caitlynn Pennington had done it first.
Gabe took a bite of broccoli and closed his eyes in bliss. “Wow. Just...wow. Am I right? Your mom doesn’t want you to miss out on something wonderful, is all. Isn’t that right?”
“He’s right, Leesy.” Eden swiftly took a bite of her own. Tipped back her head and closed her eyes. Gave her shoulders a little shimmy as she chewed. “Oh,maaaaannn...” she sighed. “So good.”
Gabe’s head went light. He carefully laid his fork gently beside his plate. He studied his own plate again, awash in an inconvenient tide of lust.
Pretty sure he was going to add that to his inventory of Eden moments.
Annelise’s eyes remained narrowed, investigating all the adults for evidence of perfidy.