“Then the only thing left is fish,” Andrea pointed out.

“I know. I’m going to try to talk her into poached salmon with champagne sauce. Sally says she can do that for a large crowd.”

“I think Mother likes salmon,” Michelle said, but she didn’t look convinced. “Do you think she’ll go for it?”

“We’ll find out in a couple of min . . .” Hannah stopped in mid-sentence when there was a sharp knock at the back door. “That must be Mother now. Andrea? Will you please get the door? And if you’ll pour her coffee, Michelle, I’ll dish up some Chocolate-Covered Cherry Cookies. Maybe a couple of her favorite cookies will make her more cooperative.”

Hannah had just finished plating the cookies when the kitchen door opened and she heard Andrea greet their mother.

“I’ve never been so embarrassed in my life!” Delores Swensen swept into the kitchen with the force of a hurricane. “This is absolutely ridiculous!”

“Sit down, Mother.” Andrea gestured toward a stool at the work island.

“I poured your coffee, Mother,” Michelle said, setting the mug in front of her mother.

“And I baked your favorite cookies,” Hannah added, setting the plate directly in front of her mother.

“I’m far too upset to eat. Or sit. Or even drink coffee, for that matter.”

All three sisters exchanged puzzled glances. Their mother was obviously agitated. Delores Swensen was always perfectly dressed and coiffed when she left her house, but this morning the scarf at her neck was crooked, her blouse wasn’t tucked in all the way, and even more alarming, she wasn’t wearing any makeup!

“You’re not wearing makeup,” Hannah said, commenting on her mother’s less-than-perfect appearance.

“I didn’t have time to put it on. I just rushed right over here to show you. Have you girls seen this atrocity?”

Hannah looked up at the paper Delores was waving over her head like a saber. “Is that the Lake Eden Journal?” she hazarded a guess.

“Yes! And I’m never going to speak to Rod Metcalf again!” Delores named the editor and owner of the town newspaper. “He’s nothing but a . . . a snake in the grass!”

Hannah didn’t want to ask, but her younger sisters were silent and someone had to find out what was wrong. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about, Mother. What did Rod do?”

“He wrote this!” Delores slammed the paper down on the stainless steel surface in front of Hannah. “Just read it and you’ll see what I mean!”

Hannah glanced at the headline. “Jordan High Gulls Win Three Games in a Row?” she asked, reading it aloud.

“Not that one!”

“Loretta Richardson Never Lost Hope That Her Daughter Would Come Home?”

“Not that one, either! Read the article below it. I’ve never been so mortified in my entire life!”

“When Is the Next One? No Body Nose!” Hannah read the heading on the article halfway down the page.

“Yes! That awful man ridiculed us! I don’t know what you girls are going to do about this, but I plan to pull the curtains closed and never leave my house again! I don’t appreciate being the object of public mockery!”