Eleven-year-old Tokunbo “Bo” Marshall listens to her mother, Lola, and Bill Saunders, Lola’s partner, laugh together down the hall. Bo knows Lola and Bill are serious and will probably get married soon, but she is still uneasy with the idea of Bill as her stepfather.

Bo pulls out a folder titled “Bo’s Bakes” from the bookshelf. The folder contains mother-daughter recipes that Lola has been collecting since she was pregnant with Bo. On the shelf among the rest of the books, Bo finds a new, in-progress recipe titled “SUNSHINE SURPRISE SMILECAKE” (5). Bo is excited at the thought of her mother planning a surprise and decides not to spoil it.

Bo steps out to run some errands for her mother. She also plans to pick up some ingredients and test-bake the Sunshine Surprise Smilecake in secret. Bo’s neighbor, Dougie, whom Bo has been babysitting for the past year, asks if he can come along.

When Bo goes to ask his mother Dawn “Mrs. Dougie” Douglas about Dougie coming along, Mrs. Dougie launches into a conversation about Bill. She is impressed that Bill runs a bookstore and is neighbors with Sunflower Rogers, who is “Black culinary royalty” (10).