Page 4 of Christmas Fudge Fatality
“I didn’t have to steal him—you locked him out emotionally.” Stacy takes a bold step in and Lainey quickly squeezes between them.
“Hey, hey”—Lainey holds her hands out in an effort to separate the two—“let’s be civilized.”
“No use in that,” a deep voice strums from behind as Scott Gray himself comes up looking winded and all around irritated by the situation at hand. He takes Stacy in his arms and pulls her in close before dotting a kiss to her cheek. “Is she bothering you again?”
Tamara huffs, “Are you kidding? You’re concerned over the fact that I’m botheringher? It never fails to amaze me how I ended up being the bad guy in this scenario. Honestly, the two of you deserve one another. But I’ll tell you what you don’t deserve—one square inch ofmyland. I’m not caving, Scott. I’ll drag this thing out in court for decades if I have to.”
“You’ll bankrupt us both!” he bellows so loud everyone in the vicinity turns to stare.
“And I’ll be glad to do it!” she shouts right back.
Bonnie and Joyce scuttle over and pull Tamara off toward the woods.
Scott stumbles back with Stacy in his arms. “Don’t worry. She’s not getting an ounce of dirt from me. I broke my back in those fields while she sat around staring at her phone. It’ll be over my dead body that I hand over the reins to the farm. If she thinks she’s going to drain me financially, I’ve got news for her. I’ll drain her.” They take off and Lainey quickly latches onto my arm.
“He’ll drainher?” Lainey shudders at the thought. “That sounds ominous. I think maybe both Tamara and Stacy should get a restraining order on him.”
“He’s just worked up.” I shake my head as I watch him and Stacy take off for the woods themselves, and suddenly I’m glad that Noah called for backup. “What were you thinking letting Stacy anywhere near Tamara tonight? You know they have a dicey relationship.”
“I know, I know, but Stacy said she had something she needed to ask for and wanted me there as a buffer.”
“What did she ask for?”
“She didn’t have a chance. You showed up with Mr. Sexy and cast a spell on Tamara’s friends.”
“Speaking of which,” I turn around to see an entire blob of women surrounding the tall, far too comely for his own safety judge, “I’d better free both him and Pancake.”
“Does that mean you’re finally making a decision between Noah and Everett? Is it Mr. Sexy for the win?”
“I’m not choosing. I mean, I’m not ready to choose.” I grimace as the crowd of estrogen surrounding him only grows by the second. “Let’s just say I’m weighing my options. Which is not an easy task when both options are pretty stellar.”
“Well, I’m glad you’ve got this gargantuan decision to make and not me. I’m lousy at decision-making—and I’m greedy. I’d probably choose both. Speaking of choosing both, Mom and Meg are somewhere trying to choose the tree for the B&B. If I don’t help out, Mom will probably have a tree for every room in that haunted place before the night is through.”
She takes off and I make my way toward the crowd of estrogen surrounding my favorite legal eagle. Not shocking in the least. Everett gets the attention from both the young and old everywhere we go.
It’s not as easy as it looks plucking Everett away from fifty hormonal women who all seem to want to buy the good judge a drink.
I take him by the hand as I try to navigate us back to Noah and that impossibly long line that only seems to be growing in both directions.
“You’re not thirsty, are you, Everett?” I tease as we head back with Pancake curled in his arms and sleeping.
“Only if you’re buying. Better yet, why don’t you come by for a nightcap? We can quench our thirst together.”
We come upon Noah and Waffles before I can answer and I bite my lip as I shrug up at Everett instead.
About forty minutes drift by with the line moving so painfully slow I feel as if I owe both Everett and Noah a drink for asking them to stand in the snow with me just so my cats can get a picture with Santa. I’m about to tell them exactly that when I spot Stacy speaking with Joyce and Bonnie, and not a sign of Tamara anywhere.
“You know”—I take Waffles from Noah—“my legs are going numb. I think I’m going to take a quick walk.”
“I’ll go with you,” Noah is quick to offer. “Everett, I think it’s your turn to hold our place in line.”
Everett holds Pancake close to his chest. “There are some people and pets that I’d risk hypothermia for.” He frowns over at Noah. “Good luck losing him, Lemon.”
A tiny laugh bubbles in my chest as I lead Noah off in the direction Stacy stands with Tamara’s friends.
“That’s funny,” I say. “They seem to be having an amicable conversation. But where’s Tamara? Her ex was fuming at her earlier. It got pretty ugly.”
Noah shakes his head at the thought. “I never understood how two people who were once so in love could let things turn so ugly.” He winces a moment as if he regrets his words. Noah and I have let it get ugly a time or two—granted not to this degree. “Where did you see Tamara last?”