Sage Creek Read Online Free Page A

through a single night since the day she found out about Ned and Cassandra.
    Today it had felt good to wake up early, tiptoe down to the ranch kitchen, and bake. To be alone with the mixing bowls and muffin tins, the sun peeking out over the foothills in a burst of glimmering amber.
    She’d put on a pot of coffee and slipped joyously into the ritual of measuring out flour and sugar and baking soda, of mashing bananas and adding walnuts and cinnamon, milk, an egg, and salt.
    She’d had precious little chance to do much baking these past few years, even though it was her passion for baking—thanks to Gran—that had inspired Sweet Sensations in the first place. But the business had grown so much, so quickly, it had become just that—a business. Work.
    Sophie had found herself so consumed with the need to hire more staff, her time so eaten up meeting with managers and accountants and suppliers and corporate clients that she no longer had time to do any hands-on baking in her own company’s kitchens. She hadn’t baked so much as a coffee cake in months, much less anything fancy like her lemon mascarpone layer cake, or pumpkin orange cheesecake with sugar-dreams frosting.
    In Lissie’s bright cherrywood kitchen, Sophie set the table and poured coffee for herself while decaffeinated green tea steeped for Lissie. Lissie took out cream and sugar, then whisked a sky blue platter of muffins onto the table, moving gracefully despite her bulk.
    “So this is me, Soph. Spill.” Leaning back in a kitchen chair, Lissie stretched out her legs and popped a bite of muffin into her mouth. “How are you really doing?”
    “Trust me,” Sophie said with a grimace. “You don’t want to know.”
    “That bad, huh?”
    She mustered a smile, which might have fooled anyone except Lissie. There was no sense hashing over how stupid she’d been, trying to hang on to something with Ned that had apparently been gone for a very long time.
    “I can’t let Ned and his baby mama ruin the rest of my life. That’s all I know. I won’t let them.”
    “Good.” Lissie’s brown eyes were soft with sympathy. She hesitated. “I know how horrible this whole thing must have been for you. I’m sorry.”
    No, you don’t know, Liss, Sophie thought. You might think you do, but you can’t imagine what it feels like. And I hope you never do. Seeing your husband with his pregnant mistress. The shock of your heart blowing up. The pain, tearing everywhere. Like shrapnel.
    Sophie pushed back her chair and paced across the kitchen. She stared out the window at the patio and Lissie’s pretty, airy garden. In the distance, lavender gray mountains gleamed against the cobalt sky. But she saw instead a doctor’s waiting room. The man she loved holding the hand of a woman whose belly was rounded with new growing life.
    She squeezed her eyes closed a moment, trying to block the image.
    It’s too bad there isn’t a recipe for happiness, she thought. I’m a whiz at following recipes.
    When she turned back toward Lissie, the old cheerleader gleam had entered her friend’s soft brown eyes and Lissie spoke with determination.
    “You’re going to get through this, Soph. You’re going to be happy again. Things will be better than you can even imagine.”
    “Liss, I don’t need a pep talk—”
    “Just you wait and see.” Lissie sailed on as if she hadn’t spoken. “You’re going to meet a wonderful man and have a beautiful family and all of your dreams and wishes are going to come true—”
    “I hate to interrupt you, Fairy Godmother, but right now I’d settle for getting through the next forty-eight hours without throwing something.” Sophie grinned wryly and returned to the table as Lissie held up both hands.
    “That’s okay. Just give me fair warning so I can duck.” She plopped another muffin onto Sophie’s plate.
    “How’s Tommy?” Sophie seized the chance to change the subject. “He must be counting the seconds until the baby.”
    “You