It was a square, pink box, tied with a bow.
Liam Lowell picked it up, shifted a little to the side, and placed the box between them. "Eighteen now?"
Nancy Warner didn't understand what he meant, but she nodded anyway. "Mhm."
She was very well-mannered. When she talked to people, she would look at them, her gaze attentive and sincere.
Liam Lowell opened the box. Inside a plastic container was fruit arranged in the shape of a cake. There was no cream, just fruit. A circle of deep-red cherries lined the edge, and on top, more cherries were arranged to form two numbers.
Eighteen.
The numbers were crooked and clumsy, the workmanship far from refined.
Nancy Warner looked up, her eyes filled with tenderness. "Did you make this?"
She asked it as a question, but she was certain of the answer.
"The bakeries were all closed, but the fruit stand was still open." Liam Lowell seemed a little embarrassed. "The one the owner offered to make looked even worse than this."
