Free The Cottage on the Corner by Shirlee McCoy Page A

mattered.
    She pressed her lips together and kept her thoughts to herself.
    Facts were facts, after all.
    And the fact was, she had about three hours of baking to do in two hours.
    â€œStay here for a minute, Zuzu.” Zim hurried from the room.
    Charlotte eyed Zuzu, wondering if she planned to start screaming again.
    Zuzu eyed her right back.
    She’d been doing fine since Zim’s arrival, but they’d spent the majority of the morning making deliveries. When they hadn’t been doing that, Zim had been entertaining the little girl.
    Charlotte had always wanted children. Now that she had a child standing in front of her, she realized that she had no idea what to do with one.
    Fortunately Zim reappeared, Charlotte’s old sweater in one hand and one of her old coats in the other. Somehow he managed to get Zuzu into both garments. “Here we go, doll! We’re all set.”
    He rolled up the sweater sleeves and zipped up the coat. Fabric puddled at her feet and the shoulders of the coat slipped down her arms.
    â€œWell,” Zim said with a frown, “it’s not the best result, but we’ll make it work.”
    â€œZim, I really don’t think—”
    â€œYou just get those cookies done and let me worry about Zuzu.” He took Zuzu’s hand, but the little girl tugged away when he tried to lead her to the back door.
    â€œWhere’s my coat?” she asked, her little hands planted firmly on her hips.
    â€œI think your . . .” Father? Max? “You forgot to put it on this morning.”
    â€œWhere’s Mommy?” Zuzu responded.
    Another question Charlotte didn’t know how to answer.
    She glanced at Zim. He didn’t seem to have any bright ideas either.
    â€œShe’ll be back soon, Zuzu,” Charlotte finally said, and hoped to God she was right. For the kid’s sake. She deserved better than to be pawned off on two strangers.
    â€œI want Mommy,” Zuzu insisted, her chin wobbling, her eyes filling with tears.
    â€œDon’t cry, doll,” Zim murmured, patting her on the head. “We’re going to go have fun. Before you know it, your mommy will be back.”
    He met Charlotte’s eyes. Maybe looking for assurance that he was right.
    Charlotte had no idea when Zuzu’s mother would be back. She didn’t know where the woman had gone or why she’d decided to leave her child with a man she hadn’t seen in years. Even if Max was Zuzu’s father, he was as much a stranger to Zuzu as Zim and Charlotte were.
    â€œI’m sure she will be back soon, Zuzu,” she murmured even though she wasn’t sure of anything except that the fact that she was behind on her schedule. Very, very behind and getting more behind every minute.
    â€œGood. Great.” Zim nodded and scooped Zuzu into his arms. “Let’s go get on the swing for a while. You like swings, right?”
    â€œYes,” Zuzu said, but she still looked like she might start crying again. She shot Charlotte a reproachful look as Zim opened the back door, then stuck her thumb in her mouth and turned away, her nose as high in the air as it could get.
    She’d learned attitude early. It would probably serve her a lot better than Charlotte’s easygoing nature had served her . Too bad her mom hadn’t taught her to stick her nose in the air and leave in a huff. She might not have wasted so many years on Brett.
    She looked down into the bowl of butter and sugar. Had she added vanilla? Was there baking powder in the dry ingredients?
    She couldn’t remember for sure, and she couldn’t deliver flat cookies to the PTA. Great. Perfect. She dumped the bowl of dry ingredients and started over, carefully measuring everything, chopping dark chocolate, mixing it all together. Outside, Zuzu was giggling, the high-pitched sound drifting through the single-pane glass windows.
    She was having fun, but she was freezing in the