Chapter Six
Sophie
A clattering from down the hall drew Sophie’s attention to the kitchen. She pushed the cleaning cart into the laundry room and closed the door. She’d restock it after she checked on the disturbance. During her few quick strides, she caught the slow swishing of a black tail in the doorway.Raven.
“Everything okay, Tessa?” Sophie discovered her sister crouched down, collecting balls of cookie dough scattered on the floor, muttering as she tossed them onto the baking sheet at her feet. Raven sniffed at one of the flattened morsels, but otherwise seemed uninterested. She was the only dog Sophie had ever met that didn’t care for people food.
“All good,” Tessa said with a relaxed smile. “Just greasy hands.” Tessa had come a long way in the past year. She’d always been easily agitated when she felt an ounce of pressure, but even with her own restaurant now, Sophie noticed that her oldest sister hardly got worked up anymore. “Lunch service just ended. And it’s only cookie dough.”
“Isn’t that the truth.” Sophie dropped to her knees to pick up the balls that had strayed outside of Tessa’s reach. “Did you want help baking?” She still had another load of linens to wash before she picked Caroline up from school, but it could wait.
When the dropped dough was collected and tossed in the trash, Tessa said, “I still have some dough that didn’t kiss the floor. But can you mix up another set of dry ingredients for the next batch?”
Sophie rinsed her hands in the sink, scanning the counter for flour, baking soda, and salt. “Did you put the salt—” A blur of bright pink caught Sophie’s attention, pulling her gaze. A bouquet of pink stargazer lilies—her favorite—took over the center of the dinner table. She loved how the stark pink petals were outlined in white. Something about that contrast and the shape of the petals made her feel hopeful in the grimmest of situations.
“Oh, those came for you,” Tessa said after washing and setting the cookie sheet to the side.
“For me?” Sophie approached the bouquet, admiring the arrangement up close. Gently, she slid a petal between her fingers. A bubble of dread formed as she feared the flowers might be meant in celebration of a new home. A home she couldn’t afford. Her sisters had been too busy to ask more than a few questions about the showing, but Sophie kept the grim details to herself. “Did you and Cadence do this?”
“Nope. Not us. Think you have a secret admirer?”
Sophie laughed, certain now that the flowers weren’t even for her. She was the only single sister left. “No, I definitely do not.”
“Well, the card says otherwise.”
“The card?”
Tessa let out a quick laugh as she pulled ingredients from the cupboard beside the fridge, setting them on the counter. “Didn’t you read it?”
Sophie stared at the light pink envelope propped in the bouquet’s plastic fork but couldn’t quite convince her fingers to swipe it. She didn’t believe the flowers were for her, despite pink lilies being her favorite.I don’t get flowers. “You’re sure they’re not from Liam?”
“Ha! Liam wouldn’t know how to pick out flowers for me if I told him what to get. He’s romantic in his own way, but not with flowers.”
“Maybe they’re from Ford?”
“Those two are a little sickeningly sweet, aren’t they?” Tessa teased. “No, they’re not for Cadence. They haveyourname on them. Look at the card if you don’t believe me.”
With trembling hands, Sophie removed the card from its tiny envelope. Who could have sent flowers?To Sophie: The beauty of these flowers hardly compares to the beauty of you.She reread the words several times over, flipping the card to look for a signature of any kind. When she didn’t find one, she gently shuffled through the lilies, convinced one had fallen into the rose-tinted vase.
“No name.”
“But who would they be from?” Sophie asked.
“That’s what we’ve been wondering,” Cadence said as she entered the kitchen. She scratched a docile Raven’s head and stole a ball of cookie dough off the sheet.
“Hey, those are for the guests!” Tessa scolded.
“I’ve been in the books all morning,” Cadence countered. “Ideserveone.”
For a moment, Sophie forgot about the flowers and simply reveled in the wonder of the three of them reunited after years apart, bantering in the kitchen as if they were kids again. They’d spent one summer in the Sunset Ridge Lodge with Great-Aunt Patty the year their mom passed. Sophie, the youngest, had been eleven. But they were closer now as adults than they ever were that summer.
It felt amazing to have family.Realfamily.
If only she weren’t living out of a lodge room, she’d stay here, too.
“How did the showing go?” Cadence asked, as if reading her mind. She snuck another cookie dough ball from the baking sheet and scurried to the kitchen table before Tessa caught her.
“It’s a cute house.”
