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“Why not? Can’t you take Amy?”
    “Oh, sure. We’d have a nice beach house to use, but it’s so far and not really a time when I want to be traveling. You know. Away from family.”
    Nicole was about to point out that most of Claire’s family—her fiancé and his daughter—would be with her. Then she got it. Claire didn’t want to be gone from her. She didn’t want to leave Nicole alone for Christmas.
    “I’ll be fine,” she said quickly. “You should go.”
    “This isn’t about you,” Claire said, but she didn’t sound convincing. “This is our first chance to be together at the holidays since we were six. I’m not going to Hawaii. I don’t want to.”
    “I don’t believe you.”
    “I can’t help that,” Claire told her.
    “You worry about me.”
    “Sure, but I’ll get over it.”
    Nicole tried to smile, but couldn’t quite make her lips move. She appreciated that people cared, but disliked the need for sympathy. Normally she managed her life such that she was the capable one. The one others looked to for guidance. She wasn’t usually the one they pitied.
    “Speaking of getting over things,” Claire said casually. “Have you talked to Jesse lately?”
    “You know I haven’t.”
    “You have to eventually.”
    “Why?” If Nicole had her way, she wouldn’t deal with Jesse ever again. “Bad enough she slept with my husband. Then she stole the secret family recipe and sold our famous Keyes Chocolate Cake on the Internet.”
    Just thinking about it made her crazy. Drew was one thing, but screwing with the business, too?
    “It’s just like her,” Nicole muttered. “I bet you anything that if I talked to her, she’d have a million excuses. She never takes responsibility.”
    “You threw her out,” Claire said quietly. “She had to make a living.”
    “Exactly. She had to get a job. There are dozens of jobs out there, but did she even try to find one? No. She stole. First Drew, then the cake.” Nicole’s stomach started to hurt. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”
    “It’s not going away until you figure out how to reconcile with her.”
    “Maybe I don’t want to have anything to do with her.” Nicole fought anger and hurt. “There was this kid who came into the bakery last week. He stole a bunch of doughnuts, or at least he tried. When I confronted him, he took responsibility for what he’d done. He felt guilty and knew he was wrong. He worked off the amount he’d stolen. He did such a good job that he’s an employee now. Why can’t Jesse be like that? Why can’t she take any responsibility for what she’s done?”
    “I know she hurt you.”
    “More than hurt,” Nicole muttered. “A lot more than hurt.”
    “You two have to figure this out.”
    “I know,” Nicole muttered. “I will. Eventually. I think about it but then I get so mad I don’t even want to see her, let alone talk to her.”
    “It makes me sad that you’re not getting along,” Claire told her. “You’re family.”
    “Not any family I’d want.”
    “I don’t believe you.” Claire looked at her. “You have every right to be angry and hurt, but I think it’s time to ask yourself how much of your behavior is about teaching your sister a lesson and how much of it is about getting revenge.”

CHAPTER THREE
    NICOLE FELT STUPID and obvious as she leaned on her cane and walked toward the high school football stadium. She was too old to be at a Friday-night game…or too young. She wasn’t a student and she didn’t have a kid in high school. So what exactly was she doing here?
    “It’s what I get for talking to my employees,” she grumbled to herself. She should have just waved and kept on walking. But no. She had to stop and talk to Raoul at the end of his first week working for her. She’d asked how things were going, because she was an idiot. And when he’d mentioned the football game tonight, she’d pretended that she was interested.
    “You could have said no,”