The door swung open and Ashley found herself face-to-face with Paula. The older woman wore an expression of surprise. “Ashley?”

Ashley gave a wide smile. “Hi Mrs Carlin. I was looking for Spencer.”

“She’s not home yet. She’s at cheerleading practice. Do you want to come in and wait for her? She should be back soon,” Paula said, beckoning at Ashley.

“Um, okay,” Ashley said hesitantly as she stepped into the house. “Uh, Mrs Carlin? Something smells like it’s burning.”

Paula looked at Ashley blankly for a moment before realization dawned. “My crepes!” she cried, rushing into the kitchen. Sure enough, a disc of burning crepe was slowly getting crispier on the stove. Ashley couldn’t help but laugh at Paula’s frantic actions. Paula sighed. “I can’t even get crepes right.”

“I can make crepes,” Ashley offered.

“You can??”

“Yeah, I learned how to cook when I was in Paris. It’s easy,” Ashley said, as she scraped off the burnt crepe in the sink. She expertly poured some batter onto the skillet and spread it evenly. Before long, crepes were piling up on the counter.

“This is delicious, Ashley. Are you sure you don’t want to move in here? We’ve got spare rooms and God knows I can’t keep feeding Spencer frozen food,” Paula joked.

“Speak of the devil!” Spencer shouted as she came into the kitchen. “I could smell these all the way from the hall and I followed my nose and- Ashley? What are you doing here?”

Paula looked from one girl to the other as the tension in the air thickened. She was confused; the girls were getting along when Spencer first introduced Ashley to her. She decided to interject. “Spence, don’t be rude. Ashley made us crepes. You would be having another meal of frozen dinner if it wasn’t for her.”

“You made these?” Spencer asked, her blue eyes round as saucers.

“Uh, yeah. I learned how to cook when I was in Paris,” Ashley repeated.

“Try some, Spencer,” Paula said, trying to force-feed Spencer.

“Not now, Mom!” Spencer whined. “What do you want, Ashley?”

“Um, can we talk?” Ashley asked lamely.

Spencer glared at Ashley. “Fine,” she huffed. Ashley followed Spencer to her bedroom. The events from the other night came flooding back and Ashley couldn’t help the blush that crept up her neck. Spencer motioned for Ashley to sit on the bed. “I’ll be back. Um, make yourself at home.”