Lian was helping her grandpa Ollie make dinner when the doorbell rang. Ooh! She hoped it was Dinah! Or Daddy. She wouldn't mind if it was Daddy, because she was her Daddy's girl, but she hadn't seen Dinah in forever! She knew Mia and Connor wouldn't have rung the doorbell, because they had keys. So did Daddy, but he still rang the bell 'cause he didn't live with grandpa Ollie anymore. She and Daddy had their own apartment, but she spent a lot of time here now with Ollie and Mia and Connor since they'd moved to New York City after Christmas. They babysat her when Daddy had to work.
Hearing the doorbell, the four-year-old scrambled down from her perch on a chair and ran to answer the door.
"Lian, sweetheart, remember the rule," Ollie called after her.
Lian thought about it. Boys were evil? No, that wasn't right. It was something Daddy told her, but... Ollie was talking about not opening the door before she knew it wasn't a stranger. She ran to the living room, and climbed up onto the couch so that she could see out the window onto the street and over to their front steps.
She saw the motorcycle parked in the drive, and Dinah waiting on the front stoop and let out a squeal. "It's Pretty Bird!" she told Ollie in a voice that was louder than it ought to have been. By then, he was in the open space between the foyer and the areas that led to the living room and the kitchen.
"All right, all right," Ollie said. He helped Lian undo the locks on the door, and she flung it open, and then proceeded to fling herself into Dinah's arms, "DINAH!"