“Hi, Mommy! Hi, Daddy!” Riley yelled as she sprinted toward her room.
Dani appeared in the kitchen doorway. “Hi, Riley! I made your favorite.”
“Yay!” Riley called before disappearing into her bedroom.
Travis shook his head and smiled at Kacey. “I wish I had half her energy.”
“Me too. How was your day?” Kacey set her purse on the sofa.
Travis shrugged, his smile fading. “It was about the same as all the other days lately. Disappointing. The interview didn’t go that great.” He picked up a can of Coke from the end table beside him and took a long gulp.
“I’m sorry to hear that. What happened?” Kacey set the bakery box on the coffee table, shucked her teal coat, and set it on the sofa beside her purse.
He raked his hand through his short, light-brown hair. “I think I’m overqualified. Everyone is looking to fill entry-level positions that they can pay less for these days.” He leaned forward and lowered his voice. “I know Dani is going crazy with worry, and I’ve been telling her it’s going to work out. But honestly, I’m starting to lose hope. I just feel like such a failure. I’ve let her down.”
“No, you haven’t.” Kacey walked over to him and sat on a love seat beside his recliner. “You’re doing the best you can, and she knows that. It will work out. Until then I’ll help you as much I can.”
His smile was sad. “We’re both so grateful.”
Kacey’s heart broke for her sister and brother-in-law and their situation. Travis had been a part of her life for as long she could remember.
Dani and Travis met their first year of high school when he and his parents moved to Splendid Lake, and they’d been inseparable since. They even weathered a long-distance relationship when he attended Appalachian State University, and then they married soon after he graduated.
Kacey was grateful her sister had married such a good man. He always worked hard for his family, and his love for his wife and daughters was apparent in the gleam of his hazel eyes when he gazed at them.
“How was your day?” he asked before taking another sip of his drink.
“Busy. Dani is going to have a lot of baking to do tomorrow morning.”
“Well, at least there’s some good news today.”
“Auntie!” Kelly came romping down the hallway, her curly blonde pigtails bouncing and her arms up in the air, waving above her head.
Kacey’s mother followed her younger granddaughter, grinning down at the little girl. “Slow down, Kelly. You’re going to trip and go boom.”
Mom’s light-brown hair was threaded with gray, and her beautiful pale-blue eyes sparkled with love for her children and grandchildren. Mom seemed much younger than her true age of fifty-seven. Kacey had always thought Dani resembled a younger version of Mom since they shared the same eye and hair color, while Kacey’s hair was blonde and her eyes a deeper shade of blue, like her father’s.
Scooping her four-year-old niece into her arms, Kacey kissed her little head. “Hey, snuggle bug!” Then she smiled at her mother. “How were things at the elementary school today?”
“The front office was busy as usual,” Mom said. “I heard you tell Travis that the bakery kept you hopping too.”
“Kace,” Dani called from the kitchen, “could you please help me?”
“Of course.” Kacey handed Kelly to her mother and then slipped into the kitchen, where Dani stood at the sink, pouring a large pot of spaghetti into a colander. “Put me to work.”
Dani shook the colander and then poured the pasta into a large bowl. “So the bakery was busy today?”
“I ran out of cupcakes, most of the cookies, and almost all the cakes.” Kacey scrubbed her hands at the sink.
Dani handed her a large bowl of salad and the bowl of pasta. “Can you take these to the table?”
Kacey walked into the dining room, where Travis and the girls had gathered around the table. Then she returned to the kitchen and found Mom scooping meatballs and tomato sauce from a double boiler into a large serving bowl, and Dani standing at the refrigerator retrieving a can of Parmesan cheese.
Kacey leaned against the counter next to her sister. “Why didn’t you tell me that Drew Murphy was the choir director?”
“Drew Murphy?” Mom spun toward her with her blue eyes wide.
Dani’s brow puckered. “I thought Mrs.Hansen was the director.”
