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“I’ve had a lot on my mind.” She avoided looking at Hailey, but she could feel her cousin’s gaze on her.

“Anything I can help with?” Corina asked.

Allye shook her head. “No. But I’ve had a lot of senior photo sessions lately, plus I’ve been working on my photos and knitted items for the Wool Fest next weekend. I’m trying some new ideas this year, and they’ve been more involved than I expected.” All true, though neither of those were the real reason she was struggling. But now was not the time to go into all that.

“Let me know if you change your mind.”

“Same here,” Hailey said. Her tone held a slight undercurrent, but no one besides Allye seemed to catch it.

She bit back a sigh. Though she appreciated the offer, there was nothing either of them could do to fix her real problems—and delegating anything festival related would require more mental energy than she had to expend.

“Don’t stress too much over it. Your displays are always stellar,” Bryce said.

“Thanks.” Despite the enormity of her other issues, she hoped he was right. She loved the annual weekend festival and hated that things weren’t coming together like they usually did. Or maybe they were, but it really didn’t feel like it.

She picked at her food as the conversation turned to other things, but she wasn’t hungry anymore. Well, she hadn’t really been hungry all day. Unfortunate, because this tasted great.

Allye glanced around the table. Everyone seemed to be fully focused on predictions for the upcoming football game, which she had no interest in. But she didn’t mind—and she much preferred this topic to the previous one.

Hailey added a spoonful of mashed potatoes to Jenna’s plate of soft foods. Without releasing the bit of roll in her hand, the baby stuck two fingers in the new option, tasted it, and flung the bread over her shoulder. Houston, who had strategically positioned himself near the high chair once the guys stopped feeding him,caught the scrap midair. Allye stifled a smile. The dog was smart. He knew where the most food was likely to fall.

Jenna raised goopy fingers in greeting when she caught her watching. Allye lifted her hands above the table and signed,You like mashed potatoes?

Grinning, the baby mimicked the sign forpotatoes, then started babbling at her in an adorable baby version of ASL, with quite a few distinct signs in the mix.

Allye’s gaze drifted to her cousin. Hailey was watching the exchange with pride. As she should. As soon as Jenna had been diagnosed with congenital hearing loss, Hailey had begun poring over ASL books and videos. Allye and the rest of the family had learned a few signs, some of them getting further than others, but Hailey had thrown herself into it and made sure to expose Jenna to the language as much as possible.

Hailey caught her eye and signed,You okay?

She nodded.

Her cousin made a sign she didn’t recognize, but if her expression held any clue to the meaning, she’d probably signed a sarcasticReally?or something to that effect.

Now was not a good time for this conversation. Making sure no one else was paying attention, she finger spelledL-A-T-E-R.

Hailey responded withYesand a sign that Allye suspected meantlater.

She didn’t want to talk about it later either, but later was better than now. She lifted her fork and took another bite of her steak. It was starting to get cold, which didn’t help her lack of appetite. She swallowed, then pushed the plate back. Maybe she’d just plastic wrap it and take it home.

“If you’re done, we going to get to try that pie?” Bryce pointed his fork at the dessert she’d brought.

She removed the foil cover from one of the pies and reached for the spatula she’d grabbed from Corina’s kitchen earlier.

“Oooh, what is that?” Corina asked.

“Peach crumble pie.”

“Sounds good,” Eric said.

“I hope it is. Haven’t tried this recipe before.” She usually made a traditional crust for her pies, but that would have taken more energy than she had to spare today. This recipe used the crumble mixture for both the bottom crust and the topping. Simple, easy, fast. And hopefully, still tasty.

She served each of the others a large slice, but only cut a small one for herself.

Before Allye got a bite into her own mouth, Corina exclaimed, “This is wonderful!”

Eric swallowed and nodded enthusiastically. “I take back what I said. It’s not good—it’s amazing.”

Wesley and Hailey echoed the sentiment. Bryce only winked at her and grunted, but at the rate he was clearing his plate, he shared their approval.