Happily Letter After(60)
“See . . .” Sadie smiled.
Birdie’s eyes brimmed with curiosity. “So, what kinds of things did your dad cook for you?”
“My dad has a really big garden, so he’d make all kinds of things with vegetables. Tomato sauce for homemade pizza, fried zucchini . . . stuff like that.”
“Zucchini!” Birdie scrunched her nose. “I don’t love vegetables. I only love olives.”
“Birdie wishes her dad would grow cookies in the garden, right, sweetie?” I said.
Sadie pointed her finger to her chin. “Hmm, we’ll have to find some creative ways to get you to eat your vegetables, Birdie.” She raised her brow. “Do you like shakes?”
“I love them. Especially with ice cream.”
“I’ll bet you I can sneak vegetables into a delicious shake, and you won’t even know they’re there.”
Birdie looked skeptical. “Really?”
“Yup. In fact, I make them all the time for myself, and I can’t even taste the spinach.”
Her mouth dropped. “Spinach?”
You’d think Sadie had uttered an obscenity based on my daughter’s reaction.
“Yup. Wanna bet it’s good?”
“Can you come over and make it tonight?”
Sadie looked at me like she wasn’t sure how to answer that.
“I think Sadie has to work tomorrow,” I said.
Sadie looked a little disappointed that I’d closed the door on her coming home with us. It wasn’t that I didn’t want her to. I just worried I might mess up tonight in front of my daughter. But I really did want her to head back with us, even if for a little while. So I added, “But if she wants to come over and make you a shake for dessert, I’ll make sure she gets home safe.”
I signaled to her with my eyes that I really hoped she came over tonight. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I needed her to come over so that I could at least kiss her good night.
Sadie smiled at me. “Okay, maybe I can stop by there for a little bit.”
Birdie jumped up and down in her seat. “Yay!”
On the way home, we stopped at a market so that Sadie could buy the ingredients for what she dubbed her “magic shake.”
Once we got to the house, she laid all the ingredients out on the counter.
“Now, I shouldn’t even be giving out my secret recipe, but since I really like you, Birdie, I’m gonna show you exactly how to make my special shake.”
Birdie watched with excitement as I got the blender out for Sadie. Then I rolled up my sleeves and leaned into the counter to just enjoy watching the two of them interact.
Sadie peeled a banana. “So the first magic ingredient is a really ripe banana. Because that makes the shake super sweet without having to add too much sugar.”
Birdie looked up at her. “I love sugar.”
“I know, Miss Cookie, but sugar isn’t that great for you. I promise you that this will taste just as sweet as sugar, okay?”
My daughter shrugged. “Okay.”
Sadie opened up a jar of peanut butter. “This is the next secret ingredient . . . which does have some sugar in it . . . but I’ll let it slide.” She winked.
“I love peanut butter. Especially peanut butter cookies,” Birdie said.
“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Sadie chuckled.
My daughter eagerly hopped up on her toes. “What’s next?”
“Next is a cup of vanilla almond milk.”
Birdie scrunched her nose. “Milk made from almonds?”
“Yup. And it tastes kind of like vanilla ice cream.”
She looked skeptical. “Hmm.”
“Are you challenging me, Miss Birdie?”
My daughter giggled. It was nice to see her this engaged. Sadie made her so happy. She made me so happy.
“The next ingredient is . . . frozen blueberries.” Sadie ripped open the bag of fruit.
“I love blueberries!” Birdie squealed.
Sadie walked over to the ice maker and placed a cup under it. “Next, I’m adding a few ice cubes to make the shake extra cold. Then, last but not least, comes the most important ingredient.”
“What’s that?”
“Have you forgotten? It’s spinach, silly, remember? Veggies?”
“Oh yeah. I was hoping you’d forget.”
“No such luck.” Sadie added a handful of raw spinach to the blender.
“Are we done?”
“That’s it!” Sadie put the top on. “Are you ready to blend it all up?”
“Can I?” Birdie asked excitedly.
“Yup. You do the honors.”
Birdie pressed her little finger down onto the “Blend” button and watched as all the ingredients turned into a dark-green color, almost a purple with the blueberries.
“You know what I call this drink?” Sadie said.
“What?”
“The green monster.”
“That’s so cool.”
Sadie stopped the blender and grabbed a plastic iced-coffee cup and straw from the cupboard.
“Are you ready to try it?” Sadie asked as she placed the cup on the counter.
My daughter nodded.
Sadie poured the concoction into the cup and fastened the lid before adding the straw. She slid it down the counter to Birdie.