Page 5 of Donut Disaster
“Of course.” He broadens that perpetual grin of his. Pastor Gaines is a relatively attractive older gentleman with half-moons for eyes and a calm air about him. There’s just something I can’t pinpoint with him, something that makes you feel as if he knows more than he’s letting on, and it unnerves me a bit. But I’m sure once I get to know him better, I’ll think he’s the best guy ever for my sweet mom. My mother has had all sorts of boyfriends since my father passed away, from kinky to kooky, and secretly I’m wondering where this one falls in the mix.
“How about early evening?” he asks. “I have a few counseling sessions I’m bound to until six.”
“Six is perfect.” Mom looks to Meg and me. “Be there at six o’clock sharp. Bring friends. We’ll make a party of it! Lottie, why don’t you bring a platter of baked goods? I’ll get up early and load all their things that I’m storing in my garage and bring them over to their new house.”
“I’ll help.” Noah comes up from behind. “I’ve got a truck. I can help you load it.”
Everett grunts, “And I’ll show up at the house and help unload it. I have a full day at court tomorrow, but it would be my pleasure.”
Mom’s shoulders shimmy—an action not uncommon to her when she’s unusually excited. “I do love to be surrounded by handsome strong men. Hook, you can come, too, if you’d like. Lainey and Forest are due back in a few days, and I want to surprise them by having most of their belongings in place.”
Someone calls Noah from behind and he excuses himself.
“Excuse us, too,” I say, tipping my head in that direction as I take up Everett’s hand. “Rumor has it, there’s a lost puppy out here somewhere.”
Everett and I are quick to find Noah surrounded by friends.
Alex, Morgan, and Colin—although it doesn’t feel right not referencing them as Dr. Dawson and Dr. Drake. And next to Morgan stand a couple of girls, early twenties, I would guess, both stunning brunettes. One has long hair and light eyes that look as if they glow, and the shorter one has a razor cut bob with her hair curling under just around her jawline. Her eyes are large and wide-set, which makes her look all the more youthful, and she’s wearing cut-offs and a bikini top with her arm staked through Morgan’s. She must be the girlfriend.
“Hi, ladies,” I say just to be polite as we break into their circle.
Morgan lifts a finger our way. “Everett, Lottie, this is Anika Bram, a friend of mine.” He nods to the girl with short hair who looks as if she’s laid claim to him for the night. She has a fuchsia smile and looks friendly as can be. “And that’s Cassie Montgomery, another friend of mine.” He motions to the long-haired girl before winking at Everett as if he were giving him the go-ahead with her, and I get a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach.
“Hi, Anika, Cassie.” I give a halfhearted wave. “I own the bakery down the street, and I happen to have brought all the sweet treats tonight. So please, help yourselves to as much as you like. I’m afraid I might have overdone it.”
A grin twitches over Noah’s face. “That’s because Lottie loves me.”
“That I do.” I cringe a little because I happen to be holding Everett’s hand while saying it.
Alex and Morgan start a conversation about lake fishing, and soon Everett and Noah are chiming in, too. I step in close to the girls now that Anika has dislodged herself from the good doctor.
“So, what keeps you girls busy? Are you from the area?” I ask in my cheeriest voice. Believe you me, it took everything I had not to ask them if either of them once owned a big black dog about yea big, black soulful eyes, dead as a doornail.
Cassie’s chest bucks as she scoffs at Anika, and I can’t help but note a bit of tension between the two.
“I’m a banker.” Cassie holds out her hand and I shake it. There’s something about her, something wicked and vindictive that oozes from her very being, and a tiny part of me likes her all the more because of it. I have no idea why. Maybe because I’ve always been drawn to the villains in Disney movies, and there’s something about those dark heavily arched eyebrows she’s penciled in within an inch of her life that reminds me of just that. Her lively dark hair makes her eyes glow all the more. She reminds me so much of Greer. Greer Giles—the one that haunts my mother’s B&B was gunned down last March. We had met just before that, and she has the same arrogant mean girl vibe about her.
“A banker?” I ask. “Here in town?”
“Leeds.” She lifts her chin as if daring me to think one bad thought about that seedy little town that borders just south of us. Dear Lord, I have trekked to Leeds during many investigations and not once has anything kosher happened. There are more strip clubs and underground casinos in that smarmy town than a mobster or a prostitute can shake a stick at.
“Leeds is lovely this time of year.” I turn to Anika once I spew the lie. “And how about you?”
“Fallbrook.” She giggles when she says it.
“Fallbrook” Thank my unlucky stars I don’t have to shed a half-truth about that place. “I’m more than familiar with Fallbrook. My boyfriend grew up there—one of them, anyway.” Did I just say that out loud? “In fact, his mother still lives there—Everett, that is. She’s got this ridiculously large international airport of a house that you could drop Zimbabwe into and it would still feel empty.” I laugh as if it were funny, but they’re joining me in the endeavor regardless.
Cassie pulls forth my left hand and bounces her thumb off the rock on my ring finger. “You mean your fiancé.”
“Oh, actually.” I pull my hand back and examine the glorious chucky diamond myself. “We’re not really engaged. He told his mother we were and she gave me her own mother’s ring because my finger was a little bare. I’m too afraid to leave this at home, so I wear it everywhere I go. And trust me, it doesn’t thrill Noah.” True story. Everett seems to enjoy perpetuating the lie, but, in truth, he told his mother and sister he was engaged before he ever met me to quell their constant bickering about it.
Anika’s mouth falls open. “Are you dating Noah, too?”
Cassie smacks her on the arm. “Weren’t you listening? She’s got two of them.”
“Oh no, I mean, we used to. Everett wants me to shore up my feelings for him, so I’m sort of accidentally dating both.” The words felt both foreign and wrong coming from my lips.
“Like us.” Anika blinks my way. “I mean, I’m dating Morgan, and Cassie is sort of dating Morgan, too. I get Sunday through Wednesday, and she gets the rest of the week.”