Page 58 of Donut Disaster

“No, Lottie. I didn’t think I’d kill him. But he started flailing. The effects of the drugs were almost immediate. His gun slipped out of its holster, and I was alarmed. I had forgotten all about the gun when in fact he was just showing it off to those girlfriends of his earlier in the evening. I watched as Cassie held it. She thought it was all fun and games, pointing its laser willy-nilly into the woods. It could have gone off. There could have been people out there.”

My heart bounces into my throat.

There were. Noah and me. He took us to the ground trying to protect me.

So that’s why the gun had Cassie’s fresh prints on it.

“Once it dropped, I tried to pick it up, but he beat me to it and pointed it my way so I deflected and he shot himself in the chest. Of course, I ran. I ran right back to the party and told Drake everything.” She sighs heavily. “He assured me it would all play out. It would look like a suicide, and it did.” She looks my way. “Until now.”

“Let’s go back to the party, Sandra. Let’s get some food in you. It’s clear you’re not at fault,” I say, trying to coax her up by the arm. I’m willing to tell her whatever she wants to hear at this point. The only thing that’s truly clear is that she’s one sandwich shy of a picnic.

“I can’t go to the party like this.” She dips her fingers into the small fanny pack wrapped around her waist. “Let me freshen my lipstick.” She pulls something out quickly and jabs me in the arm with it.

A mean rush courses through me, and I feel dizzy and heavy, and strangely good.

“There, there, sweet Lottie.” She smiles as she rises up and grabs ahold of my feet. “I think it’s time you took a nap with the fishes.”

She drags my body toward the lake, and the last thing I see are the stars hung low over Honey Hollow—so low I could touch them.

The world fades to black, and I’m consumed in its delicious darkness.

Chapter 19

“Lottie.”

When I think of my life, I think of long, colorful jags of happiness. All those years living as a charge of Joseph and Miranda Lemon, my sisters as my partners in crime, those were the halcyon years, yellow as sunshine.

Then Bear came into my life, later in high school, broke my heart and chased me to New York where Curt finished the trauma for him. Those years were navy blue, deep with regret and hard-won lessons. Then came my time at the Honey Pot Diner as the official head baker, working hip to hip with Keelie, with Nell once again. Those were tangerine years filled with friendship and good hard work.

Then came Noah and Everett all at once in one big violent burst of scarlet. It’s been nothing but Valentine hearts,fragilehearts, and pure love that I drink down daily as if it were the exact elixir my soul craved all along.

“Lottie, wake up for me, baby. Come up. I know you’re in there. I love you. God, I love you.”

Noah. I’d recognize that voice anywhere.

“Lemon!” That thunderous howl. I can feel the vibrations against my skin. “Wake up! Come back to me.”

My eyelids struggle to open. I take a breath, and my body bucks with a cough.

“There you go,” Noah whispers as my body is lifted off the ground.

I can feel myself slipping back into that beautiful oblivion.

It’s so easy.

So very easy.

Time passes. This I know.

My lids flutter open and I’m met with bright lights far too caustic, so I close my eyes again and try to get my bearings.

“Lottie?” My mother’s voice spikes with concern. “Oh, I think she’s coming to.”

“Lemon, you’re safe.” A soft kiss falls to my cheek. “I love you.” The words sear hot in my ear.

It takes everything I’ve got to pry my lids open, and the world around me blinks in and out of existence.

A small cheer breaks out in the room, and I groan as I try to move my head.