Gray tugged on his leash. “Well, I’d better get moving. Gray doesn’t like to get slowed down on his morning walk. I’ll see you soon.” She waved and let the pig set the pace. He took off in a scamper down the sidewalk as if he was in a hurry to make sure no one else stopped them all the way home.

Once she got Gray settled in for the day, she hopped in her SUV and drove over to The Cake Factory. Usually she’d walk or ride her bike when the weather was pretty like it was today, but she had a cake she needed to personally deliver this afternoon.

She went inside, put on her apron, and got right down to work on the finishing touches on the multi-tier cake for the grand opening of the new bookstore in the next town over. It had been a big undertaking with a lot of design work, including specific book covers. She’d spent several hours on it, starting some of the decorations over a week ago, but these were the projects that made her love her job every day.

The last hour was always her favorite, when everything finally came together. This time, even better than she’d dreamed.

Sara walked in just as Kelly made one last check for imperfections.

“That might be the most creative cake you’ve made yet,” Sara said. “It’s gorgeous!”

“Thanks.” It had turned out even prettier than what she’d had in mind. She liked being a part of everyone’s special moments.

Sara stepped closer. “Those books look so real.”

“I hope it gets there in one piece. Dad’s going to drive my SUV so I can sit in the back with it. I’m a little nervous. You know how the roads are over to Farmington.” Kelly swept her hair behind her ear. “That’s an awful road.”

“You’re right,” Sara said. “I hate that drive.”

Kelly and Andrew used to drive from Bailey’s Fork to Farmington to go to the gourmet kitchen shop and ogle the high-dollar cookware and utensils, then pore through all the specialty food items and ingredients. They could blow a whole paycheck in an afternoon in that place. It had never felt like an extravagance, though, but more like an investment in their future. They’d challenged one another. Keeping their creativity and craft sharp. But on that ride back, it never failed that they’d tease they should’ve ridden horses instead of driven because of those bumpy back country roads—the only way to get to Farmington from there unless you swung all the way up to Richmond and took the highway over.