Bliss didn’t comment, and Katie raised her hands as if to ward off physical blows. “I know, I know, you probably hate her for what she did.”

“Hate’s too strong a word,” Bliss admitted.

“But you have to resent her.”

That much was true. Wiping away a drip of coffee from her cup, Bliss said, “Let’s just say I loved my mom a lot. She might not have been perfectly suited for my dad, but she deserved him to be true to her. It’s him I’m having the problem with.”

“Me, too,” Katie admitted before taking a long swallow from her cup. “I just hope we can all work this out and be friends.” She grinned. “I know, that’s beyond optimistic, but it doesn’t make sense for anyone to hold any grudges. What would that accomplish?”

“Nothing, I suppose,” Bliss reluctantly agreed.

“Yeah, so go and tell your heart, right?” Katie laughed without much mirth. “This is one dandy mess.”

“Touché.”

“You know, this is probably hard for you to believe, but my mom wouldn’t hurt a flea. Lord knows, she tried to break it off with your dad several times—or at least that’s what she said—but they just couldn’t stay apart. Every time she married another guy in an attempt to get over your father, she swore she’d have nothing to do with John Cawthorne, but then the marriage would begin to fail, probably because her heart wasn’t in it in the first place, and John would come back to Bittersweet and it would begin all over again. I was too young and out of it to notice.”

“I don’t want to hear this,” Bliss said, her heart squeezing for her mother and the family they’d been.

Katie pursed her lips. “Sorry. Tacky of me. My brothers say that I don’t know when to keep my mouth shut, and I guess they’re right.”

“No, I wanted to know, but it’s . . . I don’t know.”

“Painful. I get it. You feel like your dad betrayed your mother and therefore he betrayed you. I understand. I didn’t mean to open up any old wounds.”

“No, no, it’s all right.” The last thing Bliss wanted was to alienate Katie, her half-sister, a woman as unlike her as day was to night. But she found Katie Kinkaid refreshing and outspoken, relaxed and honest. No false pretenses. No worries about decorum or what the neighbors might think or say. In short, Bliss found herself warming to Katie whether she wanted to or not.

Katie sliced Bliss a curious look. “I don’t mean to pry, but since we’re getting to know each other, I wanted to ask a couple of things.”

Bliss’s back stiffened. “Such as?”

“You visited here when you were growing up, didn’t you?”

“The summers—Well, some of them.” Unease knotted Bliss’s already tight stomach.