Page 3 of Bobbing for Bodies
“I know that, but he’s not culled from the usual bunch. The fact our mother is openly deviating from her usual pool of suspects makes me think that she might be serious about this guy.” It’s true. My mother has dated the same four men for as far back as the year after my father passed away. Oh, how I loved that man. And not just because he was the fireman who found me swaddled in a blanket on the cold floor of the firehouse. As much as I’ve struggled with abandonment issues sponsored by my birthmother, at least she didn’t leave me in the woods to freeze to death. Joseph Lemon was a saint. I don’t think I can say the same for the four clowns that my mother has switched out like a crop rotation since his untimely demise. But this new man, with his steely silver hair, his tall sturdy frame, his unyielding handsome features, he seems a lot more sinner than he ever does saint.
“Who cares?” Lainey’s phone rings and she pulls it out of her purse. “Mom really likes this guy, and so should you. I’ve met him, and he seems pretty decent. You’re going to love him.” She holds out her phone, and my younger sister, Meg, waves manically our way on the other side of the screen.
“Congratulations, Lottie!” Meg laughs wildly as she looks past us into the room. “Can you believe it? All of your dreams have finally come true!” Meg looks a bit jarring with her harshly dyed jet-black hair teased every which way, and those signature yellow contact lenses of hers makes it feel as if Halloween were already upon us. “I gotta run, but eat some cookies for me, would you?” she roars menacingly into the screen, mostly to entertain us and quite possibly to get her in the mood for the rest of the night. Meg is a superstar on the Vegas female wrestling circuit. When she first started, Mom, Lainey, and I took a road trip to Nevada to see her in action. Seeing my little sister in that ring was the most frightening and yet empowering thing I have ever witnessed. Suffice it to say, Madge the Badge put on one heck of a show.
I spot Mom near the entry to the Honey Pot and glower at the man she has plastered to her side. Just as I’m about to bring up the boyfriend grievance to my sister’s attention once again, a watery-eyed woman steps in front of me, and I blink a few times trying to process where I’ve seen her before.
“Micheline?” I take a half-step back just taking her in like this. I’ve known Micheline Roycroft for the better half of my life. She dated Hunter off and on while I dated Bear. I used to tease that we were clawing for the same life raft while on two different sinking ships. Her hair is longer, darker, her eyes a touch red and glossy, and she looks a bit forlorn. “My goodness, I’ve missed you!” I wrap my arms around my old friend. “Where have you been? Welcome to my new bakery!”
Her lips tremble with a smile. “I was living in Hollyhock for a while, working at the bank. I just transferred to Honey Hollow Savings and Loans. I moved back about a month ago.” She gives a side-eye to the crowd. “Have you seen Hunter? I thought he’d be here since he helped with the construction.”
“Oh, he’s here somewhere. Are you two trying to work things out again?” I’m almost sorry I asked, considering the fact she seems on the verge of tears.
Micheline cranes her neck into the crowd and mumbles something aboutlaterbefore threading herself into the thicket of bodies.
Mom dances her way over with open arms. “Here you are!” She offers a firm embrace before pulling forward the man of the hour—more to the point, the man of my discontent. “Wallace, this is my middle daughter, Lottie. It’s her special day, and I can’t believe I’m alive and breathing to witness it!”
“Gee, thanks for the depressing endorsement. It’s nice to know you believed in me so strongly.
She swats me. “You know I do.”
It’s true. I do.
Her gentleman caller extends his hand, and I can’t help but frown at the over-sized mitt before I give it a shake. “Wallace Chad.” His voice is warm and deep, and yet despite the equally warm twinkle in his eyes, I can’t help but distrust him. “My pleasure to finally meet you. You have an amazing mother, as you both know.” He nods a quick hello to Lainey.
Mom lifts a finger as if a thought just came to her. “Lainey, I’ve been meaning to tell you to make sure that garage of yours is locked up tight at all hours of the day. We heard Becca Turner just tell a crowd in the Honey Pot they’ve had a rash of burglaries right here in Honey Hollow.” She taps her fingers over her lips as if the thought were unspeakable, and it is. That homicide we had last month was pretty unspeakable, too. It’s just too much to wrap my head around. My heart still bleeds for Merilee.
Mom tugs at her new beau’s lapel. “We’d better work the room. I’d hate for my friends to miss the opportunity to meet one of the kindest men on the planet.”
Wallace leans toward Lainey and me. “I’m a financial planner by trade, so if there’s anything I can ever do for you, it would be my pleasure to be at your service. Free of charge, of course.”
Mom squeals as if we just won the lottery. “Free!” she shrills, making crazy eyes at both Lainey and me. “Isn’t that something? You never get anything free these days.” She looks to her silver fox of a boy toy. “Now you’re just far too generous to me.”
“Only because I can’t begin to repay how generous you’ve been to me.”
They blend back into the crowd, and I turn to Lainey and gag.
“I don’t even want to think about how generous our mother is being. If you’ll excuse me, I need to check the ovens and make sure nothing’s burning. God knows I’ve been a little distracted today.”
I take off for the back, and the scent of fresh devil’s food cupcakes cooling on the rack has me swooning. Those delectable delights have been flying off the shelves—or trays as it were, so I’ve been baking them nonstop. It was Nell’s idea to have an all-you-can-eat dessert bar. She said that would be a surefire way to get everyone addicted to my tasty treats, and when the shop officially opens for business tomorrow, I’ll have a line out the door. She was also gracious enough to pay for all of the ingredients I’d need to pull off a feat such as this.
Lord knows I wouldn’t be anywhere without Nell in my life. She’s the one who gifted me my precious cat, Pancake. She happens to own Pancake’s brother, Waffles, and our shared affection for the adorable, yet severely aloof, Himalayans is just another facet of our inextricable bond. I’m pretty bonded to Pancake, too. In fact, I’m going to collapse on my bed with my arms wrapped tight around him tonight.
Technically, it’s not my bed. I’m still holed up in Lainey’s guest room, but once I get a little time on my hands, I’ll be back to apartment hunting so I can get out of her hair. We get along well enough, but we’ve never made good roommates.
The back door is open, and I meander over for a quick breath of crisp autumn air. The fog is still rolling in thick, unfurling like batting, and I’m momentarily drawn to it. No sooner do I get to the back porch than I’m stopped in my tracks by the sound of shouting voices escalating to my left. Not far off in the alley, I spot Bear and Hunter going at it, both men red-faced and angry. It looks pretty volatile, so I quickly step back into the shop. I know for a fact Bear blamed Hunter for that scaffolding incident this morning, but I wish he wouldn’t hammer into him like that. It was an accident, and everybody involved survived.
I head back into the bakery, picking up a tray of creamy white cake pops swirled to look like mummies, complete with chocolate chip eyes. The kids especially love those and, sure enough, every last one of them is snatched from me before I have a chance to set the tray down.
Everett comes up and bumps his shoulder to mine as we inspect the wild crowd. “That went fast. But then, so is everything else. Bear’s brownie bar is a pretty big hit, too.”
“Don’t I know it. At least I can count on the fact they’ll love my brownies.” It was in honor of Bear that I put up the brownie bar to begin with. It turns out, he put this project at the top of his construction roster just so he could complete it as soon as possible.
“They’ll love everything,” Everett assures before nodding to the entry that leads into the Honey Pot, and I hike up on my tiptoes to see what he’s motioning to.
I suck in a quick breath at the sight of Cascade Montgomery, Merilee and Mora Anne’s cousin. And here I thought she was the one who stabbed poor Merilee in the back, but actually it was her sister, Mora Anne.
“Well, I’m glad she’s here. Actually, I’m glad everyone’s here.”