By evening, the wonderful smell of cooking wafted from the kitchen as Lionel brought out the seafood stew. "I just learned the recipe for this. Tell me what you think!"Miranda looked at the table full of her favorite food. There were mashed potatoes with bacon bits, a garden salad, grilled sea bass
Miranda took a huge bite of the strawberry. Her eyes immediately lit up in a bright smile. "It's delicious!"Mindy looked at the smile on Miranda's face and was suddenly reminded of the state she'd come home in earlier. She felt her heart stirring and gently took Miranda's hand in the warmth of her
"Why would you say that I can't write? Don't you know how big of a humiliation that sentence is to an author?"Yes, fine, you're the editor, and I should trust your instincts and your eye for the market trends and whatnot. But those themes and topics aren't my cup of tea. It's too big of a change fr
During that time, Mindy almost fell into a deep depression.Luckily, with help from her husband and daughter, she slowly got better. Since then, though, she stopped using the Internet and only used an old-fashioned cell phone.In ten years, she wrote just one young adult novel. Besides that, she had
Mindy said, "I forgot to pick up the baking powder. Mimi, can you get a packet from that shelf over there?""Sure," Miranda said, knowing her mom was trying to send her away.Once Miranda was out of earshot, Mindy turned to Edith. "I mentioned this morning that I'm still thinking about it.""Still t
"A writer who can't produce work or make sales—are they still a writer?"Mindy got upset. "I have lots of ideas, but you…"Edith cut her off, "Your ideas aren't special or interesting. Writing them would just waste time and not make any sales! Do you still think you're the 'Queen of Suspense'? Hones
Moreover, Miranda noticed that Edith, the editor, wasn't really caring about her mother. Instead, Edith was just pressuring and manipulating her."Can I read those books?" Miranda asked eagerly."Sure, I'll send them to you when we get home. Just make sure you're ready to read all of them!" Mindy re
It was enough that things seemed polite on the surface; no one needed to push further.Hansel usually stayed neutral, avoiding taking sides and pretending not to notice any issues. He never really tried to fix the problems between his girlfriend and his mother.Miranda understood this and didn't for
Going downstairs, Miranda found Aren and Paul still sitting at the same spot as before. They were facing each other over the chessboard, deep in thought. She wondered if she had dreamed of taking a nap. "Mimi, are you up already? Come help me take a look. Paul is something else. He's already beaten
On second thought, Sawyer figured that Sam was Miranda's older cousin. It was normal for him to be annoyed after seeing through his intentions. After all, it was natural for families to feel protective over young women like Miranda. Sawyer quickly put on a smile. "Mr. Cooper, you're right. Since I'
Sawyer answered, "Alright."Soon, Miranda entered the house. "Grandma, did you call for me?""Come here, Miranda." Fiona beckoned her over. "Let me introduce you to the young scion of the Jensen family, Sawyer Jensen. You two probably met during the birthday banquet.""Nice to meet you," Miranda gre
Paul remained silent as he watched Sam walk away.How childish.Meanwhile, Miranda frowned. That couldn't be right. She had picked each one carefully and they all looked sweet. Sam was probably unlucky to eat a sour one. Paul and Sam picked two large baskets of strawberries and handed them over to
However, Sam's mind had long wandered elsewhere. Coincidentally, he stepped out of the study with a bright smile on his face when the maid came to call him. Sam hadn't gone to the office as he knew Miranda would be visiting. He specially came to the Garrison estate to wait for her instead. Sure en
Miranda felt that if she didn't find an excuse to get Joli out of the lab, he could easily stay there for an entire day. Then, he would pull another all-nighter. Did Joli really think he had some kind of superpower? He worked nonstop for two days with barely any sleep and no proper meals. Yet, he s
Miranda began, "Grandma, I—" "Aren, can you keep an eye on the fire for me? It's been stewing for three hours, and I just need this last touch. Make sure it's perfect, okay? It's too noisy here, so I'm going out to talk to Mimi."It sounded like Fiona had walked into the living room since the noise
Paul paused, then chuckled. "Why do you ask?"Miranda responded thoughtfully, "Because I think it's you. Am I right?"After a brief pause, he nodded. "Yeah."She smiled. "I knew it… No wonder you said we should let things calm down before making any moves. You'd already planned this beforehand, hadn
Madison sighed. "You don't get it."Sebastian gave her a puzzled look."I'm so stressed out," Madison wailed."What can I do to help?" When he saw the tears in her eyes, Sebastian panicked."I'm not getting enough sleep… Can I cut the morning run by ten minutes?" she sobbed."Sure," he said.Madison