She stared at me, her big, blue eyes starting to fill with the tears that had threatened to spill when she’d fallen. “Sorry,” I mumbled, feeling as if I’d yelled at a real toddler. “But, seriously, buckle up.”

I turned back to the steering wheel, mentally going over my to-do list, not getting far before finding something I couldn’t check off. “Crap! Be right back!” I got back out of the car, running into the house to the front door, quickly setting the candy bowl outside of it.

Nancy still hadn’t put her seat belt on by the time I’d gotten back to the garage, which cause a brief wave of annoyance to wash over me. But she was probably just getting back at me for having snapped at her, so I went along with it, reaching in to do it for her, and shutting her door before going back to my seat.