Page 5 of I’ll Be There (Montana Fire #4)

Conner rubbed a finger and thumb into his eyes, saw stars. “I don’t know what I can do. I’m on my way to get married.”

“I got that part.”

“Memorial Day. As in three days.”

Silence. A hiccupped breath.

Ah, shoot. “Listen, how about if we connect after—”

“It’s now or never, Conner. I meet with you and end this, or I disappear again, and this time, without your brother’s phone. Clearly, I can stop waiting for his call.”

Ouch.

“Where are you?” she asked.

This was where his better sense started firing. Because although the conversation snarled in his brain, he did know one thing.

The last thing Liza needed was his past destroying her day.

“Where are you ?”

“Canada.”

“That’s a big place.”

“It can get smaller.”

“Fine. Are you anywhere near Thunder Bay?”

“I can be.”

He blew out a breath. “There’s a living history attraction—called Fort William. Meet me there tomorrow, noon. Can you make that work?”

“Yes.”

“How will you—”

“I’ll find you. And Conner...watch your back.” Blue hung up.

Conner just stared at his phone.

“What’s going on?” Reuben asked.

“That was—wait a second...” He opened up his text messages.

Scrolled down— “You’ve got to be kidding me.

Liza sent out a wedding invitation to everyone on my contact list.” He opened it up, read the short note.

Opened the list of recipients. “There are people on this list I haven’t talked to in years. Maybe never.”

He looked up. “That was...someone named Blue. Apparently, she worked with my brother. She had his burner phone and actually thought...” He winced. “She thought it was him calling.”

“What?” Jed said.

“Yeah. Apparently, she didn’t know he...”

“What was she doing with his phone?” Reuben asked.

“I don’t know. She says she has information about who betrayed him.”

Yeah, he’d probably worn the same look that Reuben and Jed gave him now. Hence their worry for him and this impromptu huddle. “She wants to meet me tomorrow...”

“And you believe her?” Jed said. “Dude, you said not more than ten minutes ago that you thought she might have killed your brother.”

Conner blew out a breath. “Yeah. Right. I don’t know. I just...”

Reuben raised an eyebrow. “You’re not thinking of actually meeting her.”

Conner shoved his phone in his pocket.

“Conner—you’re on your way to get married. Three days from now. Your rehearsal dinner is in two days. There’s a list of things we have to get done—”

“Believe me, if I had ducked out on Kate before our wedding, she might not have shown up,” Jed said.

“Listen, guys, I don’t know what’s going on, but if Blue knows anything about my brother’s murder, then I need to find out.”

“Now?”

“She gave me an ultimatum.”

Pete had gotten out of the truck, was jogging over.

“Canada is about an hour’s drive from Deep Haven. I’ll go up tomorrow morning, find out what she has to say, be back by tomorrow afternoon in time to help with that list. And my bachelor party.”

Pete glanced at Reuben. “There’s a bachelor party? Why didn’t I know this?”

“Get in the truck, Conner,” Jed said. “You have ninety miles to figure out how you’re going to tell your bride that you’re not actually showing up for the wedding.”

“What—of course I’ll be there. It’s just—”

Reuben had him by the elbow. “Calm down. Yes. Of course you’ll be there. But that’s why we’re here. To make sure you’re alive to show up for the most important day of your life.”

She didn’t want to call the wedding a disaster, not this early in the game, but...

The Micahs were late, their flight delayed out of Nashville, thanks to a storm center that actually included tornados.

Really, God?

As for the groom, he still hadn’t texted her with an update. Please let him not be turning around, heading back to Montana—

“Is this worth saving?” Raina came out of the kitchen with the crispy, dry German pancake, baked twice through after sitting in the oven for the past two hours.

“Not remotely,” Grace said. “But I have good news. The Lutheran church said they could move the reception to their basement, if we’re willing to haul all the tables and chairs from the community center, set them up, and provide our own cleaning crew.”

Liza sat on the floor, separating RSVPs into two piles while Mona tallied them.

“This might be the only wedding I’ve ever seen where there are no cancellations.”

“That’s not true—I have at leave five here,” Liza said.

“Five. Usually we count for fifteen or twenty percent of the guests bowing out. That’s why we send more invitations.” Grace picked up the pile. “I’m not sure even the Lutheran church has this much room.”

“We’re nearly to three hundred now,” Mona said.

Liza winced. “And that doesn’t include, oh shoot—”

“Who else did you invite?” Grace had lost a little of her cheery smile, probably due to the wrangling for new venues—any venue, really, that might hold Liza’s popularity.

“Well, there were the ladies from the Rose Garden Society—and the Blue Monkeys of course,”

“They’re playing at the reception. They don’t count,” Grace said.

“They still need to eat!”

Grace ran a hand across her forehead. “Okay, there’s the big equipment shed outside town. Or the barn at the old Wilder place, aka, Casper and Raina’s big project.”

Casper had finally decided where to spend the millions he’d earned by tracking down the missing treasure of Thor and Aggie Wilder.

He’d purchased their historical homestead and was in the middle of rejuvenating it, giving the farmhouse new life with his growing family—himself, Raina, and baby Layla.

Raina made a face. “The barn is filled with hay and old manure and the smells of nature. I don’t think...”

“How about the indoor skating rink?” Mona said. “The ice is drained for the season and it’s just sitting empty. We could bring in some pine trees, add twinkle lights—”

“We have two days. And yeah, I can call around and find more tables, more china, but...we have to keep this simple.”

Liza grabbed a pillow from the sofa. Held it to her face to keep from screaming.

The room went quiet.

She took a breath. Looked up at her compatriots. “Okay, I’m trying not to freak out, but does anyone else feel like we’re in over our heads here? Really, Conner was right. We should have eloped. This is a disaster.”

Grace sank down in front of her. “Calm down. No, you shouldn’t have eloped.

You might need to learn how to say no, and I hereby forbid you from inviting anyone else, but this is not a disaster.

This is the most amazing day of your life.

I promise, this is the worst of our problems, and we are going to figure it out.

” She stood up and glanced at Mona. “I like the skating rink idea. I’m going there to check it out. ”

Raina had just come from the kitchen carrying the watermelon salad. She plunked it down on the coffee table. Sat on the couch and began to pick out the grapes.

Liza picked up her phone. Conner had texted four hours ago— four.

“He’s fine,” Mona said, straightening her stack of RSVPs. “Final number, three hundred sixty-four. I think you can officially say that this is the biggest wedding Deep Haven has ever seen.”

Liza reached for the pillow again.

“Liza!” Grace’s voice came from outside. The door squealed on the hinges as she opened it. “It just came!”

Liza lowered the pillow to see Grace holding a plastic-wrapped gown, the hanger high above her head, the bulk of the gown folded over her arm. “The delivery guy just dropped it off.”

Her dress.

She’d had it designed, ordered it online to save money.

Grace brought it inside and hung it on the doorframe of the guest room. Liza got up as Grace unzipped the plastic and opened it.

Tulle and organza spilled out, a fluff of elegance and celebration and—

Wait. No. “This can’t be right.” Liza picked up the train. “It’s...it’s the wrong color. It’s not white, it’s—”

“It’s not brown,” Raina said. “It’s...um, a sort of yellow?”

Silence.

Grace fingered the fabric. “What color did you ask for?”

“Cream. Like, as in...I don’t know, off white, or even just..

.you know. Cream . Like you put in your coffee.

” Liza pressed a hand to her mouth even as Mona pulled the plastic free from the rest of the dress.

The light caught the heavily beaded, strapless bodice cut in a sweetheart neckline.

A satin belt circled the bodice, and attached to that, a flower fashioned from the stiff organza.

A short, gauzy jacket hung on a separate hanger.

Exactly what she’d ordered. Except... “It looks like a vanilla latte.”

She sank onto the sofa. “All the guys are wearing...well, cream. The right cream.” She covered her face with her hands. “What was I thinking, ordering it online? I thought—I’ll get exactly what I want, the dream dress, and...they sent me swatches! I picked cream. ”

Mona handed her the pillow.

“ Ho -kay,” Grace said. “Everybody just breathe. It’s a beautiful dress, regardless of the color. And I really hate to bring this up, but...let’s make sure it fits.”

Liza lifted her head and must have worn something terrifying in her expression because Grace followed fast with, “I’m sure it will. You sent your measurements, right?”

Liza nodded. “And I specified cream.”

“Okay, let’s get you up and into this dress.” Mona had her by the arm and directed her into the guest room.

Liza could barely look at herself in the mirror as Mona twisted up her long sable hair into a quick, messy bun. Raina unzipped the dress while Liza pulled off her shirt and jeans.

She lifted her arms, and the crew worked the dress over her. The gown fell over her in a soft hush, draping her in cool, smooth satin. She held the bodice in place and Raina zipped it up in back, then tucked her bra straps into the bodice.

Raina stepped back. “Oh, Aunt Liza, you have to see this. It’s amazing.”