"Of course," Sookie tells her, bustling about a little more, tidying up dishes she'd used and sorting things out. The cake is cooling, a gorgeous golden color crowned and filled with a thick chocolate fudge frosting.

"The promised beater." She held out one of the two beaters from the electric mixer, coated in some more of the chocolate frosting. "And you can have the bowl, too." One of the mixing bowls still had a thin layer of chocolate clinging to the insides. "And then cake. I'm going to make the cocoa."

Mutual loneliness could easily provide the basis for a new friendship -- it isn't as though Sookie is swimming with friends here in Taxon.