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Miss Laverne was right, there was plenty of room right close to the house, and I slipped right on in.

“Everybody’s going to love the cakes you baked,” she told me. That, too, was another phrase that was on repeat.

“I promise, I’m not nervous anymore.”

“Then why are you still sitting there, since you turned off the engine three minutes ago?” the older woman asked.

“Did I ever tell you that you notice too much?”

“You might could have once or twice,” she said with a smirk.

I laughed. “You wait there, I’ll open your door, and we can each walk in carrying a cake.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Before I even had the passenger side door open, the back gate was open, and Graham came outside. He’d volunteered to set up early, and I was running late on the baking so that was why he couldn’t pick us up.

“It’s about time you got here, Doll. Miss Laverne, you look pretty as a picture.”

Graham swept in and kissed her on her cheek, and she gave him a soft slap on his chest. “You are good for an old woman’s ego.”

“Everyone’s been asking for you.”

“Well, we’re here now. You’re going to have to convince your young lady that this is a pool party. She is covering up her swimsuit.”

Graham gave me a heated look, and I found myself blushing.

“Are you wearing a bikini?” he asked hopefully.

I shook my head.

“It’s better,” Miss Laverne piped up.

He looked at me, intrigued. “I can’t wait to see it.” He took my pineapple upside-down cake from my hands, and I carried in the chocolate marble fudge cake. Miss Laverne walked in between us. As soon as we made our way through the back fence, a chorus of cheers erupted.

I saw two Avery sisters descending. Trenda reached us first. She was the oldest sister and the tallest. She embraced Miss Laverne. “You made it!”

“Don’t hog her,” a shorter woman said as she hip-checked her sister. “Miss Laverne, my boys adore the quilts you made for them.”

“Evie, dear. You’re good for an old woman’s ego.”

Trenda sidled up to me. “Piper is around here somewhere. She is so excited that you’re going to be here today. You were in the same class in high school, weren’t you?”

“Joy!” Piper Avery ran toward me. She stopped suddenly. “Somebody take the cake from Joy’s hands so I can give her a hug.”

Two large men, one bigger than Graham, walked up to me. One was blonde, the other had the unmistakable look of an Avery stamped on his features. “I remember you,” the Avery man said. “You’re JoJo.”

I blushed. “You must be Drake.”

He pulled the cake out of my hands. “I am. I’ll put this in the kitchen. Now hug my baby sister before she explodes with anticipation.”

Piper grabbed me up in her arms, and we both started babbling to one another. We hadn’t seen each other since graduation. We tried to fill in six and a half years' worth of information in five minutes. Then we started laughing.

“Come to the kitchen, I’ll introduce you to everyone,” Piper finally said.

Evie and Trenda were now in the kitchen, peeling, chopping, and putting out trays of munchies for the horde of people.

“You probably don’t know Karen, do you?” Piper said as she pointed to a graceful woman with beautiful eyes who smiled at me. “I’ve heard a lot about you, Joy. Little Grandma has been singing your praises.”