“You know The Aunts don’t consider Virginia the South.” Triumphantly, she pushed the bowl of icing toward me. “Can you take it from here?”

“Sure, thanks,” I replied, but my mind was still on The Aunts. I didn’t know why I hadn’t thought of it before. If there was something weird about the Stark family, they would know it. They knew everything. Seriously, why had I wasted any time searching the internet when I had them? I made a mental note to stop by Aunt Jewel’s on Friday—and to buy more cake ingredients.

Mom and I chatted while the cakes baked, and once they were done, I stuck them in the fridge to cool and went to my room to make myself a little more presentable. That accomplished, I headed back to the kitchen to find Mom frosting the cake for me.

“You’re seriously going to take this to Saylor tonight?” Mom asked, nodding to the microwave clock. “It’s nearly seven.”

“Which is perfect timing,” I insisted. “After dinner, but before people start getting ready for bed.”

Mom looked up, a strange expression flitting across her face.

“Harper, you know . . . you don’t have to prove anything. Not to me, or Saylor Stark, or this entire town. You could just—”

“Chill?” I suggested, thinking of Ryan.

Mom didn’t laugh. “I worry about you. You’ve always taken things so seriously, and—” She broke off with a little laugh. “While I’m proud of all you’ve accomplished, it’s not like the fate of the world depends on dance decorations or when you bring people cake. Or Cotillion.”

I tried to shrug that off. Again, what was wrong with a little dedication? But Mom’s words seemed to lodge somewhere inside my chest. She was right that the whole world didn’t revolve around what I did at the Grove, but she also didn’t know about David. About whatever I was now. What if the entire fate of the world did depend on me taking this cake to Saylor Stark?

With that thought in mind, I decided to pick out one of Mom’s nicer cake plates. Just in case.

“I promise, once Cotillion is over, I’ll start dropping some things. I’ll need to focus on college stuff by then anyway.”

Mom didn’t seem particularly comforted by that, but she helped me move the cake onto the holder. “I hope Saylor appreciates all of this.”

Sighing, I lifted the cake. “You and me both.”

Chapter 14

DAVID’S HOUSE was only a few blocks from mine, so it didn’t take long to get there. People who aren’t from the South imagine we all live in these big plantation houses like in Gone with the Wind, but the truth is, those are few and far between. And if you do see one of those big wedding cake houses, chances are it was built in the past fifty years.