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___ "If the key to a man's heart is through his stomach...," Ruby started as she prepared the food in the Barry's kitchen.
"Which it is," Mary Jo, Diana's helper, agreed.
"Then we have to make sure that this is the best shepherd's pie that Gilbert has ever tasted."
"Is this a bad time to tell her his favorite pie is apple?" Marigold whispered to her sister, who nodded rapidly.
"Being a good cook shouldn't be very high on the list of romantic attributes, if you ask me. If one was interested in romance, which I'm not, I'd like to be noticed for me, not my dinner," Anne declared, causing Ruby and Diana to start laughing.
"You're so funny, Anne," Diana giggled.
"I wasn't meaning to be funny."
"Oh. So what's on the list?"
"My brain, Diana. My personality. As in, who I am. I'd like to believe that's what truly matters. If romance matters at all. Which it doesn't."
"Yes, it does!"
"If a man doesn't appreciate my writing I am writing him a letter that explains why I'm kicking his sorry butt to the curb."
"Don't you think Gilbert looks even more handsome now that he's sad?" Ruby asked aloud, completely ignoring Mary's comment.
"I didn't notice," Anne murmed, causing Marigold to raise her eyebrows at her sister's forceful attitude.
"He does," Diana agreed.
"I know!"
"Ruby and Gilbert sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-" Minnie May sang.
"Minnie May, we're trying to work."
"I'm cooking."
"You're watching. I told you that the only way you get to be here with us is if you're quiet. Don't interrupt, or you'll have to go sit with Great Aunt Josephine."
"No!!"
"Excuse me, ma'am," Mary Jo tried to calm her down.
"I'm being quiet."
"Then you're the only one," Josephine said as she entered the kitchen, "Cackling hens. Lord help me. Take the boy the godforsaken pie before I suffer a mental collapse."
