her later years that—”
“Don’t.” Megs claimed the notepad from Kelly. “You don’t get to pretend that you know what she’d been thinking or feeling these days. You weren’t here.”
Ouch, that hurt a little. But she swallowed the bitterness and nodded. “I know. But I’m here now.” She held out the pen to her sister.
“A bit too late, don’t you think?” Her sister snatched the pen and wrote down a few lines, but crossed them out. And then burst into tears.
Kelly rose from her chair and gently put one arm around her sister’s shoulders. “It’s okay, Megs. Shhh, it’s going to be all right.” With her free hand, she stroked her blond hair, so much like her own, if shorter. They were alike even if they didn’t always admit it. “We can do this together.”
Megs buried her face, crying into Kelly’s jacket sleeve. “I can’t believe she’s gone. I miss her so much already.”
Kelly knelt and pulled her sister into her arms. Maybe Megs wasn’t as strong as she’d thought. She put her cheek on her sister’s head and cooed softly to her. “I know. I miss her, too.”
They clung to each other until the sobs subsided. Megs got up and retrieved a box of tissues. She held out the box, and Kelly took one and wiped at her eyes, then Megs returned to her seat and clutched several tissues in case she should need one again.
“Since you knew her best, I’ll go along with whatever you want,” Kelly told her.
Megs smiled. “She’d want you to sing, you know? Her favorite song.”
“Of course.”
Her sister wrote that down on the notepad. “I know people we can ask to be her pallbearers. Rick, Sam, some of our other regulars.” She wrote their names then looked up at Kelly. “Are you hungry? I didn’t think to ask when you got here.”
“I guess.”
Megs left her alone for a minute and then came back with a mini chocolate cake as well as two forks. “Grammy always said food was medicine to cure a hurting heart. This is one of her favorite recipes from the ledger.”
With an endorsement like that, Kelly couldn’t refuse. The dessert looked fabulous. Dark chocolate enrobed the tiny cake, and when she took a forkful, it revealed four layers of chocolate cake divided by three layers of pink raspberry mousse. Kelly placed the fork in her mouth and closed her eyes at the taste. It was rich, smooth and enticing. She chewed and let the flavors play on her tongue. The sweet chocolate, the tangy raspberry. “Oh my. Now that’s a cake.”
Megs watched her, eyebrows raised. “That good?”
“It’s better than good. What do you call it?”
“Grammy called it True Love’s Torte.”
Kelly took another bite. “Always the romantic. Probably believed you’d meet your soul mate within a day of eating it, huh?”
Megs nodded, and they both smiled faintly. The idea of Kelly meeting her soul mate in Lake Mildred was as likely as meeting the person who would make her dreams of a singing contract come true. She shook her head and took another bite of the cake. But it would be just like Grammy to make both of those things happen even from the grave.
They silently ate the cake, remembering the woman they both loved.
KELLY OPENED ONE eye then another and peered around the bedroom. Purple exploded from every corner, and it took her a moment to realize where she was.
She turned over and looked into the face of Mr. Wiggles, a worn teddy bear who had been her first friend when she was a child. Had she gone back in time? She sat up and fingered the crocheted afghan that lay over her, a gift from Grammy after her father had died. Yes, she’d been transported to being fifteen once again. She snuggled under the covers and brought the edge of the blanket to her nose and sniffed. It smelled faintly of, well, of Grammy.
She wiped her eyes with the afghan. She had to get through the day somehow. Had to be strong. Had to keep moving forward, not just for herself and Megs, but for Grammy. She could almost hear her grandmother whispering, “You can do it.”
If only Grammy really knew.
Her cell phone on the nightstand beside the bed started to buzz and sing a country song. She stopped the alarm, then sat up and swung her legs off the bed. She thought about finding her old bathrobe, to cover up the nightshirt she’d put on before climbing into bed, but figured there wasn’t anything she had that her sister hadn’t seen before. She opened her old bedroom door and sniffed appreciatively at the scent of coffee climbing up the stairs.
As Kelly stepped into the kitchen, the coffeemaker gurgled its last gasps. She took a deep breath and walked to it, but froze when a man beat her to it. She jumped back and grabbed the toaster to defend herself if she had to. He was taller than her, but then it didn’t take much to tower over her own five foot two. And he was built, as in construction-guy built. The back of his flannel shirt strained across his shoulders. He turned and gave her a nod, then poured himself a mug of coffee. “Good morning.”
“That’s all you have to say after breaking into my grandmother’s home?” She raised the toaster higher, ready to take whatever action would be necessary to defend herself and her sister. It might have helped if she’d unplugged it first, so she reached over to do so. She’d taken a self-defense class years ago, and the advice that had been drilled into her repeated in her mind now, just in case she needed it.
He raised one dark eyebrow over his gray green eyes. “I didn’t break in.”
“Are you saying you used a key?” The man was delusional. Hot, yes, but definitely certifiable.
“Yes. Mine.” He dug into his front jean pocket and brought out a silver key ring with a familiar gold key hanging from it.
Grammy was giving out keys to strange men? She’d obviously missed a lot being gone all this time. He leaned on the counter, watching her as she put the toaster down. But she kept her eye on him as she poured her own cup of coffee and added cream and sugar to it. He grimaced. She looked down at the creamy color. “Problem?”
“Good coffee doesn’t need all that stuff. And this is good.” He saluted her with his mug.
She rolled her eyes and sipped from her mug. Steps behind her alerted her that Megs had joined them. “Oh, good. You’ve met,” her sister said.
She glared at Megs. “Who is this guy? He let himself in with his own key.”
Megs put a tea bag into a mug and poured water into it before putting it in the microwave and pressing a few buttons. “Grammy told you she was having work done on the house. This is Sam.”
The way Grammy had spoken about him, she’d think he walked on water as he fixed things at the bakery and at home and had maybe even repaired her grieving heart. She’d mentioned that this Sam was good looking, but Kelly had expected older. Much older. Like Grammy’s age. And her grandmother hadn’t mentioned the muscles. Or those gray-green eyes that reminded her of a river with sun sparkling off the surface. Or the smile that sent shivers
