The eat-in kitchen was just as colorful and chaotic. The cabinets were white, but they’d gone with a fiery orange and yellow backsplash of hand-painted tiles from Mexico.

At the turquoise and glass dining table was Kimber, a steaming mug of tea and a half-finished puzzle in front of her.

“You’re officially allowed to join us if you’re sharing that cheesecake,” Kirima said.

“I just so happened to make extra,” Remi said as Lars ripped the plastic wrap off the top.

Kimber was avoiding her gaze. Which was fine. Remi would wear her down. It was what she did.

“I saw my sister was visiting and thought I’d pop in and say hello. I haven’t seen you two in a couple of winters,” Remi said, accepting the teacup Kiri pushed on her.

“What goes with cheesecake?” Lars grumbled as he perused their wine rack.

“Anything that involves a cork,” Remi predicted.

“Kimber, any objections to starting happy hour early?” Kiri asked as she dug out the wine glasses.

“No objections here,” she answered, slipping a puzzle piece in place and still avoiding Remi’s gaze.

Being in good health, the Hynes weren’t on the original welfare checklist, but they’d liked the idea of a little extra company during the long winter and had signed up to be both visitors and visited.

Lars opened a bottle of red and poured, the cheery tinkle of wine glasses filling the room.

“Kimber was just telling us about Ian’s idea for a phone app for playdates,” Kiri said, catching Remi up to speed.

“And I just introduced Hadley to the Sweet Valley Twins series,” Kimber said. “She read the first ten in a weekend.”

“I can’t believe how fast they’re growing up,” Remi admitted. “It seems like just yesterday they were crawling around in your living room, and Kyle was using his law books as blockades.”

Kimber finally looked her in the eye. “That was both another lifetime ago and also yesterday.”

“I remember when you girls were a few centuries younger,” Kiri began. “Do you remember the trouble you two got into when you caught Remi cutting her hair before kindergarten picture day and you cut yours to match?”

Remi winced. “I forgot all about that,” she confessed.

“Mom was not happy,” Kimber reminisced with a faint smile.

“Speaking of, I heard you two are still in trouble,” Lars teased.

“It’s time the world faced it. The Ford sisters are never going to be good at coloring in the lines,” Remi said, raising her glass.

“I’ll drink to that,” Lars chuckled.

“And how’s that husband of yours?” Kiri asked. “Seems like he’s off-island more than he is on this winter.”

Kimber toyed with the stem of her glass. “He’s fine. Busy with work. He caught a few cases that required a lot of extra time. But he’s enjoying it.”

There was a flat, resigned quality to her tone that had Remi’s sisterly radar activating.

Kiri rested her elbows on the table and picked up a puzzle piece. “Remi, how about you? What brought you back to town?”