The Magic of Lemon Drop Pie
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Read between May 13 - May 14, 2025
68%
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Could we make it work long-distance for three more years?
Toni
6 years apart - Rory, you got lucky!!
69%
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love you like a daughter, Lolly. Your mother was my best friend. But Rory is my only child, and I would move heaven and earth to keep him safe and give him all he deserves. I’m sure Rory would be furious if he knew I was talking to you about this. It’s your choice if you tell him about our conversation or not. The thought of you together always made me so happy.”
Toni
Lolly has 3 mother figures in her life and none of them taught her shit except how to make pies. Aunt Gert gives her magic candy and a mean scowl - apparently never gave her much growing up. Nancy has known her since she was 12yrs, was her son's gf and acts like she a stranger. Where was Nancy after Lolly's mom died?
70%
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But if I was honest, I suspected she was right. He was planning to give it all up for me. I couldn’t let him do that. I could see it now, playing out so clearly. He would give it up for the love of me—his dreams, this golden opportunity, the life he’d been planning since he was twelve years old. He’d do it because the alternative was unthinkable. He was loving and loyal. He’d never choose his own interests over me.
Toni
Total fantasy, keep dreaming Lolly
70%
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And for a minute I hesitated. The temptation was almost unbearable, to leave it all, to walk away. No more trying to mother a teenager who didn’t want me meddling in her life, no more accounts and inventory and ever-diminishing profit margins, no more coming home smelling like Danish meat loaf and red cabbage. No more rising early every morning to make those endless lemon meringue pies. I could just walk away. I could be free.
Toni
I thought your goal was to own/run a restaurant since middle school...and you did it so you didn't realize you were living your list? did she ever graduate college and what the fuk did she learn? Not how to run a restuarant or food service that's for sure
70%
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If I left, what would become of the diner, my father and my sister, and my family’s legacy? How would my father cope? The diner was what got him up in the morning. It was his way of carrying on without Mom, of holding us all together. I think it was what held him together too. He would be flattened if I left, and we couldn’t afford to hire someone to do all that I did anyway. The diner was our livelihood too. Without it I didn’t know how we would survive financially. And besides, leaving Dad and Daphne to fend for themselves was unthinkable. Daphne hated me trying to mother her, but she needed ...more
Toni
You mean the dad that was in the Navy, raised 2 kids couldn't fend for himself? We are told dad doesn't talk to his kids nor realize anything going on in his eldest daughters life? When is dad in grief everyday for 10 years? Is he drinking?Abusive? Depressed and never showing up to work in the restaurant that never closes except Monday? Shitty & unrealistic Lolly written by the author
71%
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Almost without thinking I drew back my arm and in one smooth motion tossed the ring as far out as I could into the water. It glinted for an instant in the light of the moon, arcing down toward the waves, and then it was gone.
Toni
Real mature Lolly - run Rory and don't look back!
72%
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We’d always put the Eatery first, the whole family. It was our highest priority. The sense of responsibility had come down from my grandparents, who had put their whole hopes and dreams into making it a success. My parents had taken up that mantle when they took over. It was the life we knew, it was legacy, and we were raised to put the Eatery before anything else. Our family’s success was its success. It was an unspoken but ever-present belief. But now I wondered why we clung so hard to this place. Was it really the best way to spend our lives?
Toni
You say this but the author never shows this...shitty writing
72%
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A ladies’ book club reserved that booth for dinner once a month to eat dessert and discuss the latest celebrity memoir, which, to the best of my knowledge, none of them actually ever read.
Toni
AND this piece of shit book is included. I wish I hadn't read this but I'm just here to rip it to shreds. [Page 248, chapter 36]
73%
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And my father, who woke every morning already in motion, who was the epitome of scrappy endurance,
Toni
really, I thought he's been suffering from grief for 10years
74%
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In its over sixty years of operation, the Eatery had been closed unexpectedly only three times. Once when Magnolia sustained an unheard-of amount of rain in October of 1977 and the entirety of McGraw Street flooded, and once when the power went out completely for three days in 1988. And the third time on the day of Mom’s funeral. That was it.
Toni
really, what about all those family vacations to Hawaii???
75%
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never bake those six lemon meringue pies every morning like clockwork.
Toni
beotch, all you do is say is that you make 6 pies and look at mail!!
76%
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“Sadly no.” Aunt Gert shook her head. She gave me a sympathetic frown. “That was truly the last one, I’m afraid.”
Toni
60 years of holding on to LSD...thank gawd they're all gone.
76%
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She sounded bracingly unsympathetic.
Toni
Aunt Gert is always unsympathetic!!!
77%
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“Yeah, kind of difficult to run a restaurant without a cook.” I nodded. “Julio can’t handle running the kitchen by himself, and we can’t afford to hire a chef. I don’t know what to do.”
Toni
so your dad never had a day off - other than Mondays? I'm surprised he didnt die sooner
78%
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“Well, stress and the Camels he was smoking on his breaks every chance he got.”
Toni
way to help your dad Lolly...with a dumb ass daughter like you, I see why he smokes. He sent you to college and you can't figure out a way to help the family business?
78%
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All the stress of keeping the diner going, all those unmet life goals written in your diary.
Toni
the diary of a 13yr old kid!
78%
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I gaped at her, trying to absorb her words. “I’m trying to keep our family together,” I ground out through gritted teeth. “I’m trying to keep everything together.”
Toni
nobody asked you Lolly - as everyone has by now pointed out to you. Even your subconscious delusions brought on by the LSD candy - you know already
78%
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“She doesn’t know how hard we’ve worked to make it all okay for her.”
Toni
like mother like daughter
79%
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And I was so damn tired of waking up six days a week at the crack of dawn to make those six lemon meringue pies.
Toni
WTF else did you make in the diner?? HOW FUKKN long does it take to make 6 pies in that diner??
79%
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laid my cheek against the cold Formica tabletop, breathing in decades of stale fried potato grease, cold coffee, lemon pie. My history. Our history. Our family the way I wished it still was.
Toni
remind me to never put my head on a diner table...
79%
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Will Always Love You.” The song that always reminded me of Rory, of the first day I’d laid eyes on him, of the star-crossed arc of our young love. The jukebox clicked and whirred to life, and a moment later Dolly Parton’s signature warble
Toni
cheese and crackers...RORY again. Also, all the other song references were from the 80s - why not Whitney Houston's version of the same damn song?
80%
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Which was both gratifying and terrifying because I had no idea how to care for a stroke victim.
Toni
so the hospital didn't provide you with any resources...I think not. Again, another example of a wasted college education on this beotch
81%
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Eve and Daphne wove their way through the crowds, doling out complimentary slices of pie to everyone.
Toni
how many damn pies did you get up at the crack of dawn to make for this shindig Lolly??
82%
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Their dream was to bring people together in the community over a good Danish meal and a slice of homemade pie. And for more than sixty years our family has been doing just that.” A
Toni
I wish I could believe that...6 damn lemon pies
82%
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I’d stashed the unicorn diary in a drawer at home and tried not to think about it.
Toni
obviously you stopped writing in your diary after you got it...very few 16-18yrs keep a unicorn diary with only 5 life goals
83%
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“But how did you manage to do everything you’ve done?” I leaned back against the prep table, still trying to comprehend this unexpected twist.
Toni
like a normal person, that's how
83%
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“Take it from me, Lolly,” she said, her tone surprisingly soft. “There are better things that lie ahead for you. You’re a smart girl, a hard worker with a good head on your shoulders and a kind heart. You’ve got grit,
Toni
NO GRIT and not smart
85%
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I had a sudden flash of memory: my mother’s hand in her floral gardening glove plucking a tuberous begonia blossom and popping it in her mouth before offering me one. I was four or five years old. It tasted crunchy and sour, a little like a lemon Sour Patch Kid. I liked the flavor and sneaked a begonia flower every time I was in the garden for the rest of the summer. I smiled at the memory. I’d loved those times in the garden with my mom. They were my favorite few hours of the week. Monday, our day off, I would get my little hands dirty alongside my mom, listening to her share tidbits about ...more
Toni
when the fuk did mom have time to tend a garden??? that beotch did it all and you learned nothing Lolly
86%
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Two months after my trip to Swansons Nursery, Lolly’s Pops was finally ready to open to the public.
Toni
2 months?? Shit, you couldn't do anything in 20yrs so I'm suppose to believe you got shit done in 2 months?
86%
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My business idea had blossomed in the two months since I’d first decided to make Lolly’s Pops a reality. I’d purchased an old ice cream truck from a woman in Portland and repurposed it for popsicles. I’d had the truck repainted, white and mint green, a nod to the Eatery,
Toni
damn, you grew plants, found, reburb a commercial vehicle for food, got a food handlers permit and commercial vehicle license and started a business in 2 months...got it approve by the state all within 2 months...that LSD was gold
87%
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“I have no desire to see his perfect family and perfect wife and perfect life, especially when I feel like I’m just getting back on my feet again. It would be excruciating and completely unhelpful. I’m doing my best to follow my bliss now, and Rory Shaw needs to stay where he belongs. In the past.”
Toni
PPPaaaalllleeeeaaasssse...you've been simping over this boy / man for over 20yrs and now suddenly you go cold turkey on him.
88%
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At thirteen, when I’d penned them, those goals had been fresh and full of possibility. Now, at thirty-three, with my head stuck in a freezer, surrounded by the pretty frozen fruits of my labors, I realized I was done with lists. No more striving and feeling like a failure.
Toni
damn another 20yr life course correction in the blink of an eye
89%
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“You were always so good at growing things.” He smiled up at me,
Toni
I guess he was in the window watching you & mom in the garden!
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He looked like he’d been through the wringer. I could tell it had cost him greatly.
Toni
HOW can you tell? You couldn't see the woods for the forest
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“There’s a good chance I was either making pies or unclogging a toilet.”
Toni
nice visual. So you bake pies, sat in your small office hiding tax bills from your dad and unclopping toilets.
90%
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“I’ve learned that every ‘What if’ can have its own complications,” I said gently. “It was a long time ago. We’ve lived a lot of life since then.”
Toni
you didn't learn shit "a long time ago"
91%
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told him about Aunt Gert, whom he was eager to meet,
Toni
wait, I thought he was family and Aunt Gert came to visit every couple of years??
93%
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(she was still surprisingly nimble at eighty-eight)
Toni
Aunt Gert is the GOAT
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