Ava Carmichael was worth twelve and a half billion dollars. Billion. With a B.

She could afford a Rembrandt. Or a Van Gogh. But instead, she had a framed inspirational poster hanging on the wall behind the desk where her receptionist sat. Cori wasn’t sure why that annoyed her. But it did.

Cori studied the poster and thought about her sister. Maybe the poster annoyed her because it read INSPIRATION and was a photo of a guy hang-gliding and she knew for a fact that Ava had never gone hang-gliding.

Or maybe it was because Cori was 99 percent sure that her sister had no idea what poster was hanging behind the front desk at Carmichael Enterprises. The stupid thing had probably been hanging there when Ava had taken over as CEO five years ago.

And yes, that was what irritated Cori about it. Ava had been so determined to follow in their father’s footsteps that she hadn’t even replaced the wall art in his office when he’d moved to Bumfuck, Kansas and put her in charge.

“Oh, Ms. Carmichael!”

Cori straightened from where she was leaning on the tall front desk as the receptionist, Sarah, came rushing around the corner with an armful of file folders. She dropped the stack in the middle of the desk, folders sliding precariously.

“I’m so sorry! I didn’t know you were here! I didn’t mean to keep you waiting.”

“No worries. I just got here,” Cori said with a smile. “Just didn’t know which conference room we were meeting in.” That was a bald-faced lie. Ava had texted her an hour ago that it was Conference Room A.

But there was no way Cori was showing up for that meeting on time. Being on time—or God forbid early—for this meeting would make it seem important. And she did not want it to seem, or to be, important. For her or for her sisters.

She was going to stroll into the enormous conference room with the table that could seat fourteen and the floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked Manhattan, as if it was just one more thing she had to do in her day and was hardly worth a second thought. She’d even worn black jeans and her black T-shirt that said Sorry I’m late, but I didn’t want to come under her red leather jacket. All of which would completely exasperate Ava.

But better Ava be exasperated with her than anxious about the documents the lawyer was going over with them today. Exasperated with Cori was a normal state for Ava. And Cori was determined to give her sisters—both of them—as much normalcy as she could as they listened to the lawyers go over the paperwork.

Yeah, the paperwork. Also known as their father’s will.

“They’re in Conference Room A,” Sarah said. “Do you need some help getting everything down there?”

Cori grinned as she picked up the two cardboard trays of coffee cups, balancing one on top of the other, along with the whipped cream dispenser she’d set on the front counter. “Nope, I’ve got it.”

“Okay, fourth door on the right,” Sarah said.

“Thanks.” Cori started down the long stretch of gray carpet. Gray. Of course it was gray. She hadn’t visited the offices of her father’s company in years, but she definitely had memories of lots of gray and white and black. Clean, professional, sterile colors for the décor that screamed money and intimidation and perfection.

She reached the conference room far too quickly, so she paused for a moment before stepping in front of the glass wall that separated the conference room from the hallway. She took a deep breath, dug for her this-is-no-big-deal-I-can-make-anything-fun side, and pasted on a huge smile. Then she tucked the stainless-steel canister full of whipped cream under her arm, balanced the trays in one hand, and reached for the door.

“Good morning!” she said brightly, as she stepped into the room.

Ava was standing near the windows looking every bit the CEO she was, in her black pencil skirt, white silk blouse, gold jewelry and Louis Vuitton sling-back pumps—the only part of her outfit Cori would have ever borrowed. Her other sister, Brynn, was at the table, a notebook and pen laid out in front of her. She wore blue capri pants that clashed with the salmon-colored cashmere sweater she wore. The white T-shirt underneath was wrinkled, her hair was pulled back in a haphazard bun, and she had glasses perched on her nose. No doubt she’d been immersed in something in her lab when she’d remembered, at the last second, that she had to be across the city and in her sister’s office by nine a.m.

Cori felt the tension from Ava and the worry from Brynn immediately, as if she was feeling it herself. She had no idea if all sisters felt each other’s emotions that way or if it was because she, Ava, and Brynn were triplets, but she struggled to hold on to her smile as she set everything down on the gleaming mahogany tabletop and began pulling bottles from her pockets.

“You stopped for coffee?” Ava asked.

Dammit. It was only Brynn, Ava, and some guy sitting at the end of the table. A very good-looking guy. There was no way for Cori not to notice that. Despite her nerves jumping with the need to get this meeting over with, the urge to bolt coursing through her veins, and the determination it was taking to act nonchalant about it all.

He wore a white button-down shirt, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, no tie, no jacket. He had a folder in front of him and a notebook next to it, but there was nothing written on the page. Maybe because the damned meeting had clearly not started yet. He sat back in the leather chair, one forearm resting on the tabletop, one ankle propped on his opposite knee. And he wore blue jeans. Cori was shocked by that. Surely he wasn’t an intern. No way would Ava let an intern wear jeans to the office. Maybe he worked for the legal team that was coming in. He could be a notetaker—what were those people called again?—or something, she supposed. He had dark hair, light eyes that could have been gray or blue behind dark-rimmed glasses, and a tanned, muscular forearm.

Cori tore her attention away from him. It was so typical that she’d be distracted by some cute guy while she was trying to help her sisters through this meeting. She always had good intentions, but her predisposition for frivolousness was often stronger.

Where were all the freaking lawyers? If they got the meeting started, she would be able to concentrate. She’d really thought being twenty minutes late would ensure everyone else would be present and that they would have covered at least some of the information by the time she got here. She didn’t want to sit through the whole thing about Ava inheriting the business, and Brynn getting her research funding, and Cori not getting anything. This was all just some formality, and she hadn’t been shocked to find out that she was required to be there, but she did resent it a little. She didn’t really need to be told in a formal, legal document that her father had given up on her. That had been pretty clear for a long time.

“Of course I stopped for coffee,” Cori said with a big smile.

She’d intentionally been late so she could make an entrance. She’d hoped the interruption would break up the tension that would have already built in the room. And she’d intentionally shown up with treats. Because that’s what she did. She made things sweeter, sillier, and more fun for her sisters. That was her role in their triad and really the only thing she could offer here today.

She’d behaved every day since finding out their father had died. She’d bit her tongue when people talked about how great he was. She’d refrained from scoffing when people said how proud he’d been of her. She’d pretended that she knew his favorite church hymn when the funeral director had asked—hey, everyone liked “Amazing Grace”, right?

But she’d be damned if she’d sit in this office and act sad listening to lawyers milk their hourly rates while doling out her father’s possessions.

It was no coincidence that there was not a single World’s Best Dad mug among those possessions.

So what if a few of the tears she’d shed had felt real? There was plenty to mourn when it came to her and her father. His death was not even number one on the list.

“The meeting was supposed to start at nine,” Ava told her.

Cori nodded as she pulled one of the cups from the tray, grabbed the whipped cream gun and one of the plastic bottles, and rounded the table. “I got your texts.”

“And it’s now nine thirty-five,” Ava said, accepting the cup with a frown.

Okay, she was thirty-five minutes late. She’d still beat the stupid lawyers. She took the lid off of the cup Ava held, tipped the silver can, and added a swirl of whipped cream to the top of Ava’s chai latte, then shook a few tiny cinnamon cookie crumbs from the plastic bottle onto the top of the cream. “Well, I felt bad leaving the people in line behind me without whipped cream, so I let everyone else go first. And it was a long line.” Thankfully.

“Then you stole the whipped cream gun?” Ava asked.

“Of course not. I bought it from the guy.” She was aware that the man at the end of the table was watching her with a bemused expression, but he hadn’t moved or said a word.

“Why?” Brynn asked.

“Because if I’d added the whipped cream to our drinks there, it would have melted by the time I got up here,” Cori said. She removed the lid from the mocha latte she’d gotten Brynn and added a tall swirl of whipped cream. Then she chose another of the plastic bottles she’d brought and shook chocolate sprinkles over the top. She handed it to her sister. “I hate that.”

Brynn took it, almost as if she was at a loss for words. She dipped her finger into the whipped cream, catching a few sprinkles with it, and stuck her fingertip in her mouth. And smiled. And that was all Cori needed to see. She took a deep, satisfied breath.

“You brought a lot of coffee,” Ava commented.

She was already sipping her chai and Cori hid her smile. She might frustrate her sister, but Ava needed her. In the midst of a very not-fun meeting like this, Ava needed a latte with little cookie crumbs on top. She just didn’t know it until Cori showed up.

“Sure. For the lawyers. It’s all just black though,” she said with a shrug. “Figured boring was probably the way to go with lawyers, right?”

“Actually, I love a good caramel macchiato.”

Cori’s gaze went to the only guy in the room again. “Do you?”

“Definitely.”

“Cori, this is Evan Stone. He’s the attorney from Kansas,” Ava said. “Mr. Stone, our sister, Cori. And now that we’re all here, let’s continue. I’m sure we all have other places to be.”

Well, that wasn’t untrue. Cori didn’t have anywhere else specific to be, but she could think of at least twenty places she’d rather be.

“Please call me Evan,” the lawyer said.

The lawyer. Of course he was. But he liked caramel. And his eyes were definitely blue.

The only thing that matters is the lawyer part. Knock it off.

“It’s nice to meet you, Cori,” Evan said. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

Yeah, she couldn’t deal with that right now. Cori looked at Ava. “The attorney. As in, just one?”

“Just one,” Evan confirmed. “But don’t worry, I did have my assistant spell-check everything.”

She’d pictured a room full of lawyers, some for her father, some for Ava, talking through multiple points regarding the transition of power of Carmichael Enterprises. Ad nauseum. She’d downloaded a new romance novel onto her phone just for the occasion. She wasn’t going to get to start that today either.

Cori resisted sighing. Why was it when she prepared for something, actually spent time thinking it through and making a plan, it never turned out the way she’d imagined it anyway? Oh yeah, because plans sucked. She was much better at spontaneity and going with the flow.

Fine. There was one lawyer. Maybe that would mean the meeting would be shorter. And hey, he was wearing blue jeans. For some reason that made her like him a little bit. Sure, maybe in small-town Kansas that was typical dress code for lawyers, but she doubted very much that Ava had ever met with an attorney wearing denim before.

Feeling a little happier at the thought that even Ava couldn’t have been fully prepared for this meeting, Cori took another of the cups from the tray and removed the lid. She swirled whipped cream on the top, picked up another bottle, squeezed a drizzle of caramel over the top, and took it to the end of the table.

“Caramel macchiato,” she said, handing it to Evan.

He took it, one eyebrow arched. “You had a caramel macchiato?”

“My favorite,” she said with a nod.

She headed back to her collection of cups that held only straight-up black coffee now. She took one and began doctoring it with sugar packets and creamer tubs that she also pulled from her jacket pockets. Then she squirted a copious amount of caramel syrup into the cup, stirred, added whipped cream, and drank.

It was only as that first swallow passed her tongue that she realized the room was quiet and that her sisters and Evan were all watching her.

She swallowed and asked, “What?”

“If you’re finished?” Ava asked. “We can continue.”

Cori dropped into the chair next to where she’d been standing. “Yes. Oh my God, please continue. Does that mean you’ve already started?”

“We did,” Ava said.

Yes! Maybe not every one of her plans was going to crap.

“When you didn’t answer my texts asking where you were,” Ava added.

“My hands were full,” Cori said. She’d felt her phone vibrating in her pocket, but she’d known it was Ava and exactly what Ava was asking. “But you can just fill me in on whatever pertains to me later.”

She swiveled the chair, which was more comfortable and cost more than many beds she’d slept in over the past few years, so that she could prop her feet on the chair next to her. She cradled her cup in both hands and rested it on her stomach, settling in to pretend to listen, but to actually just enjoy watching Evan Stone. She could happily ogle his firm jawline and his broad shoulders and the long, thick fingers that wrapped around the coffee cup while he went over…whatever he was going to go over.

“Well, there are several things that pertain to you,” Ava said.

There were? “Like what?” Maybe they just needed her to sign something that said she understood she didn’t get anything. That was cool. She was all over that.

“Like going to Bliss,” Ava said.

That little crease between Ava’s eyebrows is getting deeper, Cori thought distractedly. Good thing for Botox. Then Ava’s words sank in. That wasn’t legalese. And it wasn’t “sign here and move on with your life.”

“What?”

Ava sighed. “You missed a lot, Cori. There are some…stipulations in the trust. Things we have to do to inherit.”

Oh, well, that was no big deal. “I don’t want to inherit,” Cori said, waving that away with one hand. “None of that matters to me.”

Ava crossed her arms, that forehead crease deepening again. “We all have to meet all of the conditions.”

Cori frowned and shook her head.

“The company is being divided into three equal shares,” Brynn said from across the table. “And we each have to follow the stipulations to inherit our third or none of us inherit anything.”

The sip of coffee in her mouth turned bitter and Cori struggled to swallow it. “But I don’t want a third of the company,” she finally managed. She looked at Evan. “Can’t I just give my part to Ava and Brynn?”

“You can do what you want with your third,” he said. “After you inherit it. Which won’t happen until the conditions of the trust are met.”

Cori opened her mouth, but had no idea what to say. She was going to be forced to inherit part of her father’s company? There was no way that was right. It was totally unfair to Ava and Brynn, for one thing. Ava had worked her ass off for the company since she’d been sixteen. Brynn had no interest in the business beyond the research and development branch where she worked as the lead scientist for their pharmaceutical companies, but she could at least fund her research with her third. But Cori…well, Cori not only had no interest in Carmichael Enterprises, but she had no talent, skill, or knowledge to bring to the company, and she didn’t have any world-changing projects that she’d earmarked a few billion for.

Ava took a deep breath. “This is all or nothing, Cori. We all have to do it or it doesn’t matter.”

Cori focused on Evan instead, hoping he could make some sense out of this. Surely Ava was misunderstanding. Or overreacting. Or something. Because if that was true, then Cori was stuck. She’d do anything for her sisters. Which Rudy had, of course, known. And would have used if needed. She narrowed her eyes. “Can Dad actually make us do a bunch of stuff we don’t want to do?”

Evan nodded and Cori felt her heart drop.

“It’s perfectly legal for him to put any stipulations on the distribution of his assets that he wanted to.” Evan paused and looked at each of them. “You don’t have to do any of it, of course. But,” he continued just as Cori tried to take a deep breath, “you then all give up all stake in the company and have nothing more to do with Carmichael Enterprises.”

Which was exactly what Cori wanted. But that didn’t matter. If she had to jump through a couple of hoops for Ava to inherit, she’d jump. And she’d freaking smile while she did it too. So there, Dad.

Cori practiced one of those I’m-totally-good-with-whatever smiles right then. “Okay, fine. I’m always up for anything. What are these stipulations?”

“Here.” Brynn slid a piece of paper toward Cori.

For a second, Cori flashed back to calculus class in high school. Brynn was a master note taker. And Cori…wasn’t. But it took only a quick glance to show that the handwriting on the paper was not Brynn’s. It was their father’s.

Instantly, Cori’s throat got tight. That was stupid. It wasn’t like he’d written her lots of—or really any—cards and letters over the years. But maybe that’s why seeing his handwriting hurt now—because she hadn’t seen a lot of it over the years. And now she wouldn’t be seeing it again. She cleared her throat and shook that off. “What’s this?”

“Dad’s note,” Brynn said. “The way this all got started. It’s actually a pretty good summary.”

It was a fairly small piece of paper, and Cori felt a little better. He couldn’t have fit too many demands on something that size.

“There are a lot more details and, of course, it’s written more…officially…in the trust,” Evan said. “But yeah, that’s the first note your dad made about all of this. And it does cover the basics.”

Cori looked up, hearing a gruffness in Evan’s voice. He seemed a little choked up. Okay, that was unexpected. She hadn’t realized that the attorney had been close to Rudy personally, but it seemed clear that Evan was feeling sentimental about the note.

She swallowed hard and made herself focus on the paper.

It was definitely Rudy’s handwriting. But there wasn’t anything like “My dearest Ava” or “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I was sick” or “I wish we’d had more time.” It was, more or less, a list. There were five main numbered points. Then there were some small notes written around each. Some words had been underlined or crossed out in red and other words were highlighted in yellow.

It took only a few seconds to read. And then a few seconds more for her to realize that she’d been wrong. He’d fit a lot onto that four-by-six-inch piece of paper.

1. Move to Bliss. 1 year. Live in house together.
2. Run pie shop. Profit by year end.
3. AVA- kitchen, baking, all products. NO business! Date a guy from Bliss. Give it 6 mos. Have fun. No checklists!
4. BRYNN- customers/waitress. Time with people, get to know them. No kitchen, no business. Date 6 guys from Bliss.
5. CORI- books/accounting. No baking. Leave customers to B. Make a commitment. But NO DATING for 6 mos.!

Cori read it three times. Finally, she looked up. She had no idea which thing to focus on first. It was all equally bizarre.

Except…it wasn’t.

Not completely. Not the part about Ava having fun. And the part about Brynn spending time with people. And, yeah, even the part about Cori making a commitment. None of that was bizarre. It was all stuff that she and her sisters were not so great at.

The only thing that made it weird was that Rudy had realized it.

“You’re telling me that this is what Dad said we had to do before we can inherit?” she asked the room.

“Yes. Basically,” Evan confirmed. “Like I mentioned, there are a few more details in the trust itself, but…yeah.”

Cori looked at her sisters. Ava looked pissed and Brynn looked worried. Dammit, she’d brought whipped cream and sprinkles to avoid those looks today. She glanced at Evan. He looked concerned and maybe just a little…curious. About her reaction? She wondered what he’d expected.

“You actually put all of this—” She pointed to the note. “—into a legal document?”

Evan glanced at Ava, then back at Cori. “Um. Yeah.”

“And we have to do all of this or we lose the company.”

“Yes.”

Cori looked at the note again. Rudy wanted her to do accounting and not date? She wasn’t really the sit-at-a-desk-with-spreadsheets type. And she definitely wasn’t the sit-at-home-with-Netflix-on-a-Saturday-night type. She had a tendency to, well, not stick. Not to jobs, not to places, not to relationships. She kind of understood why a typical, concerned father might feel the need to do something drastic to change all that. Like tie her sisters’ happiness…and twelve and a half billion dollars…to her settling down for a year.

Then again, Rudy had never been a typical father.

Her gaze settled on the yellow highlighted part under her name. Make a commitment. Since that was followed immediately by BUT NO DATING! she had to assume that he didn’t mean to a guy. Which left her sisters. Or a job. Or both.

Had Rudy known that when she saw her sisters, it was for forty-eight hours or less and involved doing something fun and ridiculous that neither Ava nor Brynn would ever do with anyone else? Cori blew into town, usually without much notice, dragged her sisters out for a fun, extravagant weekend, and then left before they got sick of her. And stayed away for at least a couple of months so they had a little time to miss her. But that wouldn’t be possible in Bliss, Kansas. Living in the same house. Working in the same pie shop. That would require her to get serious. And stick around.

But make a commitment were not the only highlighted words on the page. Have fun was highlighted for Ava and time with people was in yellow after Brynn’s name. Rudy wasn’t wrong about those either. Ava did need to relax and have more fun, and Brynn needed to spend more time with people than with microbes and bacteria—or whatever she had in her lab. Her sisters were brilliant and successful and could do or have anything that they wanted. The fact that they chose to spend all of their time working was a concern of Cori’s as well.

Dammit, Rudy, now we have something in common? Now that you’re dead?

Cori felt tears pricking at her eyes again and she quickly blinked. Nope, there was not going to be any crying here today. She also couldn’t be pissed off or worried. Ava and Brynn had those covered. Cori was the girl with the whipped cream gun. As always. Of course, usually that whipped cream gun was figurative.

“Okay, well, I guess it goes without saying that I can be ready to go first thing in the morning,” Cori said.

“You…can?” Ava asked, clearly stunned that was Cori’s answer.

She gave Ava a look. “I can always be ready to go first thing in the morning.”

She didn’t typically just pick up and go. She gave notice at work and let her landlords know when she was leaving town. Usually. But she could just decide to take off. She made sure she took jobs that were fun and different…and where it didn’t matter if she screwed something up or decided to suddenly quit. At least, that it didn’t matter in a cosmic, people-truly-depending-on-her way like her sisters’ jobs did. She supposed there were some irritated restaurant and clothing boutique managers here and there, but overall, Cori’s absence didn’t change the course of history or leave any gaping holes. Exactly the way she wanted it. And yes, she realized that not being dependent on any of those jobs to pay her bills was definitely one advantage of having a trust fund that had kicked in when she’d turned eighteen.

Ava pulled a breath in through her nose and let it out slowly. “Well, don’t worry about that. I’m going to do everything I can to find a way out of this. I will speak to my lawyers as soon as we’re finished here.”

Because of course you don’t want to spend a year in Kansas with me and Brynn.

The thought flitted through Cori’s mind unbidden. Whoa. Dammit. She didn’t really want to live in Kansas for a year either. It was good that Ava could snap her fingers and have some of the best lawyers in the country looking for ways out of this.

But for just an instant Cori wished she could see Ava Carmichael in small-town Kansas. Sure, she was stereotyping a bit, but there had to be some truth to the idea that there were towns where everyone knew your name within five minutes and all of your business within six. Where the idea of twenty-four-hour sushi was something they only saw in the movies. Where it would only take you a few minutes to get to a place where there were no other people, no noise, no lights. Yeah, she’d give some of her hefty-maybe-almost inheritance to see her sister in a place like that.

Cori glanced at Brynn. Hell, a place like that could be great for Brynn too. Where Ava managed hundreds of people, was on conference calls and in meetings all day, and even tied her social life to her work, Brynn could go days without speaking to another human being and be completely fine with it. She preferred her test tubes and microscopes to anything involving people and human interaction. It might be good for her to be in a place where she couldn’t just blend into the crowd on the sidewalks or disappear into her lab for days.

Cori looked down at the note again. Yep. She was seeing a point to what Rudy had scribbled on this paper.

Okay, now she had to do her job here and make this not only no big deal, but maybe even fun. She had to figure out a way to add a few figurative sprinkles. But honestly, there were a few things in Rudy’s note that could qualify as a good time.

For instance, the idea of Ava baking. Her sister was absolutely not domestic in any way. Seeing Ava outside of the boardroom and out of her pencil skirts, with some flour in her hair, and pie filling on her Gucci pumps would definitely be fun.

Also, the idea of Ava dating a small-town boy from the middle of America who, if there was a God, drove a pickup and would call her ma’am or darlin’. There had to be some hot guys in Kansas besides Evan Stone. Guys that worked outside, with their hands, in blue jeans and boots. Guys that wouldn’t be impressed by things like Ava’s investment portfolio or that she could get last-minute reservations at any five-star restaurant in New York City. Yeah, a hot, country boy could be good for her buttoned-up, workaholic sister.

And for her brilliant, nerdy, microscopes-and-books-are-my-crack sister too. Cori reached over and snagged Brynn’s notebook. She wrote SIX GUYS! and drew a heart and then some googly eyes. Brynn looked at the doodle and giggled slightly. Cori felt a surge of accomplishment at the sound. The idea of Brynn launching a social life was definitely fun now that Cori was thinking about it. Cori could help her with her hair and makeup. And hell, Brynn could borrow Cori’s entire night-on-the-town wardrobe. She wasn’t going to be needing it.

And there was a fourth fun thing on their father’s list. Pies. It was really hard to not have good feelings about pie.

“I don’t know, Ava,” Cori said, summoning her come-on-you-can-trust-me smile and her I-dare-you tone of voice. That smile and tone of voice had gotten Ava Carmichael out of her one-piece swimsuit and into the Gulf of Mexico bare-assed naked two years ago. “This could be an adventure.”

Ava gave her an I’m-allergic-to-adventure-remember? look. And Cori did remember. Adventures with Ava required a lot of spontaneity—i.e., not letting her think about it very long or hard—and a good amount of vodka. And proposing the plan while in a shoe store was even better. Preferably Gucci, but Louis Vuitton worked too. Shoe stores were about the only place on the planet where Ava Carmichael was at all frivolous and out of control. This alcohol-less meeting in a conference room that reminded Ava she was responsible and in charge was really working against this whole idea.

“What’s this thing about a pie shop?” Cori asked Evan. “We have to open one?”

Evan had been watching her and Ava and Brynn quietly. Seemingly just studying their reactions and interactions. Now he leaned in again. “It’s your dad’s shop. He wants you to take over running it. As a team. You each have something particular to be in charge of.”

“Our dad’s shop?” Cori repeated. “You mean like a huge pie company that distributes to restaurants and grocery stores nationally or something, right?” The word “shop” brought to mind a quaint little place with a glass display case and chalkboard menu and air that smelled like cinnamon and sugar.

Evan shook his head. “No, it’s just a little shop on Main Street. He made a few pies a week and mostly served them to his friends.”

Cori stared at him as Main Street echoed in her head. There was a Main Street in Bliss. A slide show of Norman Rockwell paintings suddenly flashed through her mind. “Our dad, Rudolph A. Carmichael, CEO of Carmichael Enterprises, billionaire, owned a pie shop in Bliss, Kansas?” Cori asked. “Where he made the pies. And had friends.” Cori wasn’t sure that she knew of anyone she would have called her father’s friend. He had a lot of acquaintances. Tons of business colleagues. Hundreds of employees. But friends? She couldn’t think of one.

Evan nodded. “Yes.”

And for the life of her, Cori could not picture Rudy in a kitchen even making a sandwich, not to mention making a pie. “Why?” That was maybe not the most important question at that moment but…it was really the one she was most fascinated with.

“Well, there was nowhere else to get pie in town,” Evan said. “And it was his favorite dessert. So he decided to solve the problem by opening his own shop.”

That made sense. She supposed. And pie was her father’s favorite food. She hadn’t known that. She had no idea what her father’s favorite…anything…was. A stab of sorrow hit her in the chest again.

“And he must have really loved the town.” She hadn’t been expecting to say that but it seemed clear. If he’d found a place that made him happy, where he’d been content to run a pie shop versus a worldwide conglomerate, and where he’d had friends, that really was nice. Strange. But nice. And now he wanted his daughters to know this place. Hell, that was almost fatherly.

Evan didn’t respond immediately, but after a second, he shifted and sat forward in his chair. “Bliss was very important to your father,” he said. “He felt that living in the town changed him, for the better.” Evan removed his glasses and took a deep breath. “Rudy had a lot of regrets at the end. The cancer progressed very quickly, and he realized that he had run out of time to say all of this to you himself. He believed that living in Bliss would help you see and learn the things he did and that this was the only way to get you there and for you to really give it a chance.”

Cori couldn’t respond right away. The words “cancer” and “a lot of regrets” and “at the end”, and hearing them from Evan with that note of gruffness in his voice, made Cori’s throat feel tight.

“That means his dying wish was for us to move to Bliss, for a year, and make pies,” Brynn finally said. She looked at Cori and Ava. “Together.”

“It was,” Evan said.

Cori groaned internally. Brynn had to use the term “dying wish” didn’t she? And yet the “together” made Cori’s heart thump just as hard. She glanced down at the note again. Number one was Move to Bliss. 1 year. Live in house together.

Together was underlined in red.

And that part suddenly didn’t seem crazy either. A little scary, for sure. Twelve months straight with her sisters was a big commitment for Cori. There were a lot of things she could screw up in that amount of time. But…Ava and Brynn would have to stay there with her anyway. Maybe that had been part of Rudy’s thinking too.

“This is just all so over-the-top,” Brynn said softly. “It’s like you’re talking about a stranger rather than our dad. He never did anything…dramatic.”

Maybe once you knew you were dying, you started not caring as much that your actions might be perceived as a little over-the-top. Cori felt her heart thump again with the thought.

Over-the top was her specialty. It was how she did most things. So there was something else she and her father had in common. Now. Ironic, that. His demands of perfection and her tendency to overdo and not respect limits and rules had always been a wedge between them. And now he was the one doing something crazy. Well, she supposed it made sense that she was the one thinking they should go ahead with the whole thing.

Evan rubbed a hand over his face and for a flash, Cori thought really hot before he pushed his chair back and got to his feet. Evan stepped around the corner of the conference table, and Cori was again distracted for a moment. He was tall, probably six-two, his jeans fit very nicely, and she couldn’t help but notice the way his arms and shoulder muscles flexed against the dress shirt as he tucked his hands into the front pockets of those jeans. And he was wearing tennis shoes. Had a pair of tennis shoes ever touched the carpet in this office before? But she quickly decided no way. And this guy clearly didn’t give a crap. She might not normally be attracted to a guy in glasses who studied and practiced law, no doubt surrounded by leather-bound books and fountain pens, but she was definitely a sucker for guys who didn’t give a crap.

“I didn’t know Rudy prior to his car breaking down in Bliss five years ago,” Evan said, his voice low and even. “All I knew was the eccentric, funny, incredibly generous man who came into my friend’s diner looking for a mechanic and a cup of coffee. He got both. The cup of coffee from my best friend, Parker, and the best mechanic in four counties, my buddy Noah. All he got from me was some conversation, but it was enough to forge a friendship. Over the three days it took Noah to fix Rudy’s Cadillac, Rudy fell in love with my town. I had no idea that he was rich until he came to me asking for help with his trust. For four and a half years, he was just this goofy guy who made everyone smile and treated Bliss like it was his hometown.” Evan’s voice got a little gruff. “He was a friend of mine. Someone I watched die with regrets. Someone I miss every single day. Someone who, in the last couple of months, wished he could have done a lot of things differently, especially with his daughters. I tried to talk him out of some of this stuff. But in the end, when he asked me if I would be sure that you all knew the things he wished he’d said to you and shown you himself, I couldn’t say anything but yes. Which means, I’m here to be sure that you all know exactly what he wanted and why.”

Wow.

The man was nerdy hot, was from small-town Kansas, and had worn blue jeans to an important meeting on Madison Avenue. But in that moment, Cori realized that he was absolutely going to be sure that her father got his way. And that determination was very attractive. She also admired his defense of someone he considered a friend. Even if it was her father. Funny? Generous? Goofy? How could this be the same Rudy Carmichael who had said “Seriously, Cori?” more times than she’d ever heard him say anything else?

“Dad was paying more attention than we ever thought,” Cori said.

Evan’s expression softened slightly. “He loved you all very much. He realized he hadn’t done a good job of being there for you, but he paid very close attention, especially over the past few years. He did a lot of soul searching, and talking with…local counselors.”

“He saw a therapist?” Cori asked. That might have been the biggest shock of all.

“Well, he had coffee every morning with a group of guys who were fathers and grandfathers and involved in their children’s lives in ways he never was,” Evan said.

Then his lips turned up in a half smile that was full of humor and affection, and Cori felt a little tingle. Dang.

“So a bunch of old guys in Kansas helped him see what a crappy father he was?” Cori asked.

“Pretty much,” Evan agreed. His smile grew bigger. And her panties grew warmer.

“Alright,” Ava interrupted, clearly out of patience. “Is that everything?”

Evan looked over at her, almost as if he’d forgotten she was there. He nodded. “It is. In a nutshell. You have the documents.”

“I do.” Ava turned on her heel and started for the door. “And I’m calling my lawyer. Dad was clearly out of his mind. Maybe it was the chemo or the cancer or whatever but I’m going to have Kevin look into his medical records and figure out a way—”

“Miss Carmichael.”

Cori didn’t know if Ava paused because she was surprised by Evan’s tone of voice or because the low, firm, I’m-in-charge-here quality had sent goose bumps skittering over her body the way it had Cori’s, but Ava stopped with her hand on the doorknob.

“Yes, Mr. Stone?” Ava asked, finally turning back stiffly.

“It would be in your best interest to understand a couple of things before you contact your attorney.” Evan hadn’t shifted his posture a bit, but his expression was now one of fierce determination.

Ava crossed her arms. “And what are those?”

“The first is that I took my job with your father very seriously and, while I may not have agreed with everything he wanted to do, my job was to make this trust what he wanted it to be. You are free, of course, to have your attorney look it over, but I can promise you that this document is well constructed and not something that you’ll be able to have overturned.”

Ava swallowed hard but didn’t say anything.

“The next thing you need to know is that I am fully prepared to take the stand in a court of law and testify that he was of sound mind when he wrote it. As will a number of people in Bliss, including his physician, our Mayor, and a district judge. His mind was absolutely not impaired by his cancer or his treatment, and while I understand that you all had a complicated relationship with him, I won’t allow you, or anyone else, to disparage him.”

Cori shifted in her chair. Damn. That was hot too. She didn’t often see people taking Ava down a peg, and typically she would have rushed to put herself between one of her sisters and anyone who dared challenge them. However, Evan was right. Ava was frustrated and Cori got that, but going after their father’s mental capacity because she didn’t like what he’d mandated in his trust was low.

“And finally,” Evan said when Ava took a breath that might have been fueling a heated response, “I think I should point out that the time frame in your father’s trust doesn’t begin until you and your sisters move into the residence in Bliss. Which means that if you take several weeks, or even months, questioning this document or the stipulations within, and then realize that you are, indeed, bound to it, you are only prolonging the time it will take for you to resolve the terms and claim your inheritance. So it seems to me,” he said, lifting a shoulder, “that your best move here is just to get your butt to Bliss and get this all over with.”

No one said anything for several ticks.

Then Ava raised her chin slightly and said, “Thank you for making all of that so clear, Mr. Stone. But if you’ll excuse me, I would like to consult with someone who is perhaps a bit more objective about the situation.”

Cori watched Evan. It looked like he tensed his jaw, but finally he gave Ava a nod. “Fine.”

“Fine,” Ava agreed. Then she again turned on her three-inch, seven-hundred-dollar heel, jerked the door open, and then shut it quietly behind her.

Wow, that right there was a really good example of how Cori and her sisters were different. Ava would shut a door firmly, but quietly, always the picture of poise and professionalism. Brynn would never stomp out of a room in the first place. And Cori would absolutely have slammed that thing. Maybe after a good, loud, “Fuck you.”