“You’re all here, aren’t you? Violet, Asher, Caden, you two brats.” She pointed at me then Rose as she went down the list, naming us all. “Levi and Jude. Shoot, I did forget about Holly. Don’t tell her,” she mumbled as she turned around and left the kitchen.

“She’s a crazy woman.” Rose rolled her eyes. “Hey, do you want some of this lasagna?”

I headed back to my barstool and sat down. Rose was at the fancy chafing dishes my mom had set up on the counter.

“I’m waiting for the apple crumble,” I said as I stuffed my face. I was stress-eating my way through the hors d’oeuvre platters. When one is stress eating, bite-sized food is a must, along with dessert of any type. “Where is Holly anyway?” I asked through a mouthful of quiche. They were tiny, perfect for stuffing the whole thing in.

“Check her blog or her Instagram. She posted this morning. She’s in Washington, hiking the Pacific Crest Trail.”

I shuddered. My younger sister Holly was athletic; she loved running and climbing things and going on long hikes that lasted for days. I hated all those things. We related to each other over our mutual love of all things geek like Firefly and Star Wars.

“All that walking? Yuck. I’m tired just thinking about it,” I said as I stuffed a blanket-covered pig into my mouth. “Though, I’m tired all the time lately. Calla is against sleeping more than three hours in a row.”

“Want me to come stay with you tonight?” Rose offered as she sat in the stool next to mine.

“No thanks. I don’t want to get used to that kind of thing.”

“Lily, quit being stupid. I don’t mind helping. I’m off all summer too, remember? Being a kindergarten teacher is the best thing I ever did. Summers off!” She took a bite of lasagna and reached out a hand for a high-five.

Laughing, I smacked her palm. “No thanks, we have to get used to it being just the three of us.”

She sighed. “It’s not just the three of you and it never will be. Why are you so stubborn? Just let me help.”

“You helped enough already. You were there for a lot of my bed rest when I was pregnant. Between you, Jane, Mom, and Violet, and Trevor stopping by and helping out, I was never alone.” Trevor had been Will’s partner on the police force. His son Mikey was Dylan’s best friend. Hopefully, he would drive down sometime over the summer, and the boys could visit and play. Trevor was from this area anyway, somewhere near Portland. The boys could have visits whenever Trev visited his family.