“I know.” Vivian stretched. “It’s my own fault for picking out a three-thousand-dollar wedding dress. My choices were to either blow the budget on that and have nothing for the guests to eat, or chip in.” She grinned. “At least I’m getting a fabulous wedding cake for free.”

“Lucky you.”

As a sister of the bride, Gracie had volunteered one of her masterpieces for the reception. She eyed the calendar tacked up on the wall. The wedding was exactly five weeks from today. A smarter woman would have hidden out until the last minute, then shown up with the cake, enjoyed the celebration and left. But frantic phone calls from their mother, Vivian and Alexis, their other sister, had churned up enough guilt in Gracie’s acid-prone stomach that she’d agreed to come home to help with the planning.

Her reward was baking all the cakes she had on order in a strange oven she wasn’t sure she trusted and being tortured by old ladies who insisted on talking about Gracie’s questionable past love life.

“Not my idea of a good time,” she mumbled into her coffee.

Vivian grinned. “Did Mrs. Baxter mention that Riley Whitefield is back in town?”

Gracie glared at her. “Don’t you have to be somewhere?”

Vivian laughed as she raced toward the stairs.

Gracie watched her go, then opened the newspaper and prepared for a quiet morning. That afternoon she would be moving into the house she’d rented for the six weeks she would be in town, but until then, there was nothing to occupy her time except-

The back door burst open.

“Oh, good. You’re up.” Alexis, Gracie’s older sister by three years, glanced around. “Where’s Vivian?”

“Getting ready to go to the hardware store.”

Alexis frowned. “I thought she’d be gone already. Doesn’t the sidewalk sale start at eight?”

“I haven’t a clue,” Gracie admitted.