Page 3 of Toxic Apple Turnovers
“Oh my goodness.” I take a step back with a laugh caught in my throat. “It must have gotten in through the side entry. My mother had that thing open for hours as they hauled in all of those massive decorations. Whoever is getting engaged today has spent some serious cash on this event.” It’s true. Crystal chandeliers in a smoky gray have been installed, white couches were brought in, and the entire conservatory is dripping with crystal and laden with blush pink roses. It’s a feast for the senses, with the shimmer and heavenly shine, and now my mini turnovers will provide the piece de résistance. I came by earlier and witnessed the entire spectacle taking shape.
“What got in?” Noah ticks his head to the side. “I’d better put this down. It feels like I’ve got a brick sitting on my head.” He ticks his head again, but the bird remains steady.
“More like an owl—a gorgeous snow owl with white and gray plumage and a dusting of gold around its bright yellow eyes. I bet he’s a part of this circus next door and he got away from his handler. Let’s get to the conservatory and get him where he belongs.”
The beautiful beast tips his head back and lets out a bark-like howl. “I don’t belong to the circus. I belong to one who will soon be dead.” He flies off toward the ceiling, and a breath gets caught in my throat.
“Who?” I shout out after him, and he echoes the word until he disappears.
“Lottie?” Noah’s dimples press in, no smile. “You saw another one, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I did.” My heart thumps clear into my chest.
“Someone is going to die,” Noah says, looking to the conservatory with an apprehensive stare.
“Yes, Noah, there’s going to be a murder in Honey Hollow tonight. And someone is going to die.”
Chapter 2
Noah and I speed into the conservatory, and no sooner do we put down our platters than the lights flicker on and off.
The entire room is bejeweled in the aforementioned crystal. It’s cut shimmering glass everywhere you look, and the wall-to-wall guests all look equally as opulent.
I feel a little silly in my sweater and jeans with my cozy UGG boots adorning my feet in comparison to all the sexy heels prattling about. But in my defense, it’s September in Honey Hollow, and our little corner of Vermont is notorious for turning into a virtual autumn wonderland overnight. The temperatures are already dipping into the low fifties during the day and the low forties at night. The sugar maples, oaks, liquid ambers, and sweetgum trees have already turned stunning shades of orange, gold, and bright crimson.
I spot Mayor Nash, my recently revealed biological father, having cocktails with Carlotta Sawyer, my recently revealed biological mother. Carlotta is supersensual like me, and at the moment that adorable fuzzy little owl just rematerialized on Mayor Nash’s shoulder and it looks as if Carlotta is openly having a conversation with it.
Carlotta looks exactly like me if you added sixteen years and a couple of gray hairs. I see some resemblance of myself in Mayor Nash, too, but nothing to write home about.
Amanda Wellington saunters back into the room, dabbing her pinkies into her eyes as if she were drying up tears, and I watch as the other girls she was with melt into the crowd as well. Amanda makes her way to Cormack, and I can’t help but frown.
Cormack Featherby is the ex-girlfriend of both Noah and Everett. She dated them both back in high school. Technically, she dated Everett first, then Noah swept her off her cheating feet and she left one stepbrother for the other, creating a rift in their relationship that has never quite recovered.
Cormack is an impossibly thin blonde with celadon green eyes and a wardrobe purchased straight off the runaways of Milan. She comes from money, a trust fund baby at her finest, which might explain why I haven’t seen her work a day in her life. Unless, of course, you count her constant badgering to get Noah back as an amusing form of employment. In that case, she has a full-time job with no pay and no benefits. Noah isn’t interested in getting back together with Cormack, not now, not ever.
She extends her left hand for inspection, and Amanda chortles as she looks down at the massive hunk of pressed carbon. And she should laugh at the delusion taking place before her. Cormack believes she’s engaged to Noah. She’s not. Last summer, she stumbled upon a ring in Noah’s closet that he bought for me and, of course, she thought it was for her. I don’t see why not. The entire planet revolves around her.
“There’s your fiancée.” I nudge Noah in the ribs. “She didn’t happen to have an owl as a pet, did she?” Here’s hoping.
Okay, so I don’t wish a homicide on anyone, but let’s call a spade a spade—I’m not a member of the Cormack Featherby Fan Club either.
“Of course, she’s here.” Noah sighs. Cormack has been a proficient stalker of his for the better part of the year. Noah leans in. “Hey, isn’t that Landon?” He nods to her left and, sure as sunshine, there’s another Featherby making an unwanted appearance— Cormack’s baby sister. Noah sucks in a quick breath. “Those are Cormack’s parents behind her. And that’s her brother talking to Everett.”
“Huh,” I muse as I take in the entire primped and polished Featherby clan. Honestly, they look like a walking ad campaign for Ralph Lauren. “They must be friends with the couple that’s getting engaged. It’s a small world, and it only seems to be getting smaller by the minute.”And snobbier, but I leave that commentary out for now.
Cormack and Amanda begin frantically nodding to one another before Cormack slinks her way over in her pristine white lace dress, tight-fitted and short, but adorably stunning nonetheless.
“Pardon me, Lee-Lee,” she says while taking Noah by the hand and sauntering away with him.
For reasons unbeknownst to me, neither Cormack nor Britney, Noah’s official ex-wife, can get my name straight. I don’t even bother correcting them anymore.
Speaking of Britney, I spot her wrapped in a little black dress in the corner with my newfound half-brother, Finn Nash. Britney is basically a blonde Jessica Rabbit, all va-va-voom, no thanks to her daily workout at the Swift Cycle gym she owns down the street from my bakery. She actually owns an entire chain of them and is quite the successful businesswoman. After she divorced Noah, she and my brother made their relationship official, which is a bit awkward. But, considering I didn’t really grow up knowing that Finn was my brother, I don’t mind all that much.
The lights go out once again—save for that ethereal owl glowing as if he has an entire solar system of stars trapped in his plumage. It used to be that I could onlyseethe dead, but as my powers grew so did their abilities, and now they can not only move things in the material world, but as of late they can speak to me as well. It’s a refreshing change of pace compared to the silent era of haunted days gone by.
The lights snap back on, and a giant felt sign at the front of the venue unfurls to reveal the wordsCongratulations, Noah and Cormackin large glittering letters.
“Surprise!” Cormack and her friends and family shout at the top of their lungs.