Mia cut the peach cobbler into squares and carefully put each one on a plate, wrapping it in plastic wrap before placing it into the refrigerator. Her mother’s peach cobbler was always a hit with guests, and with a new crop of people coming in tomorrow, she needed to be ready.

No matter how many times she made it, she still had to look at her mother’s recipe, written on a card in her fancy cursive handwriting. She had always been stylish and sophisticated, even for Carter’s Hollow. The town, named after her mother’s great-great grandfather - Samuel Carter - was a tiny dot on the map. The local grocery store only had ten carts because that would’ve been considered a stampede if they were all used at the same time.

But the town was her home and the only place she knew. It was lovely all year round, with four perfect seasons bringing equal parts cold and warm throughout the year. Apple orchards and dairy farms made up most of the landscape, with the blue tinged mountains an ever-present backdrop to her life.

As she tidied up the kitchen, she tried to distract herself from the knowledge of Carl calling her long lost sister. She was itching to know how it went, but sure that he would call her once he knew more.

She knew virtually nothing about this woman, aside from the fact that they apparently shared a mother. As she thought about it, she found herself conflicted, wanting to fondly remember her Momma and being angry that she missed all those years with her sister.

Why had she given her up? Why hadn’t she told Mia in all those years? She knew how Mia longed to have a sibling, but she would just always say that it wasn’t meant to be.

“Good afternoon, bestie!”

She looked up to see Raven, her best friend since preschool, walk through the back door. Raven, sassy since birth, had a thick mane of jet black hair and had recently started wearing a nose ring. She had never fit into the country lifestyle of Carter’s Hollow, with her huge curly hairdo and bohemian fashion sense.

“Hey,” Mia said, as she continued wrapping peach cobbler.

“Ah, Momma’s peach cobbler? I’m gonna need a piece of that.” She reached across the counter and stole an unwrapped piece before swiping a fork from the drawer.

“So, what’s up?”

“Well, I came over to talk to you about that text you sent me last night.”

“Oh, you mean the one where I told you I have a long lost sister?” Mia said, pretending not to care.

“That’s so cool!”

Mia stopped her work and looked at Raven. “Cool? My mother lied to me my whole life!”

“Come on, now, Mia. You know your mother had to have had a good reason not to tell you.”