Morning arrived like courage with coffee.Ava opened the back door to the courtyard and let the day in. Sunlight combed the string lights, the stage waited like a held breath, and the hand-painted sign from last night—Please let us be lovely—leaned against the wall as if it had slept there.Ruth was already in the kitchen, humming and measuring. “We will be lovely,” she said to the flour, the sugar, the air. “And if lovely ain’t enough, we’ll be lawful.”“Lawful and lovely,” Genevieve repeated, floating in with a basket of rolled napkins. “The most intimidating combination.”Rory checked the delivery, counted oysters, and counted blessings. “Trial clock starts at six,” he said. “We run through the set list at four, doors at five-thirty, first note at six-oh-five, second note at ‘turn it down, please,’ third note at ‘thank you for your feedback.’”“Optimist,” Delphine teased, sliding beneath the heat lamp to steal a fry. “We won the city. Now we have to win Ms. Harriet’s right ear and
最終更新日 : 2025-11-22 続きを読む