“Yes thanks, mum,” Devi replied easily. She didn’t feel nearly as awkward about it, mainly because, although her tea-drinking preferences had been fairly consistent, she had been so changeable in other things over the years that she could hardly blame anybody for expecting her to change her mind. “Don’t scrimp on the sugar.”
Devi leaned forwards. “But she said yes eventually,” she commented. “So what happened? What changed her mind? What did you do? Did you wear her down with your persistence or did you slip her a love potion when she wasn’t looking?”