Page 25 of Wedding Cake Carnage
Beasty lets out a gurgle of a roar. “She buried the calendar under the register as soon as she got back. Sorry.”
“Don’t be. We’ll be making that delivery right along with them. Come with us. We might need your help.”
“Consider it done. But first, I need to swing by the bed and breakfast and pick up Lea. She’s insistent on aiding in the effort.” That promise I made her suddenly feels as if it’s about to bite me in the behind—or more to the point, Greer’s and Winslow’s behind.
Beasty lets out an ear-splitting roar as he disintegrates before my very eyes—and no matter how many times I witness the unnatural event, I can never get used to it.
Noah looks up from his phone. “I just did a rough and dirty search of Pine Brook and it’s a major backroad, lots of secluded cabins.”
“Sounds like the perfect place to take an unwilling victim. Noah, I will scour each and every one of those hovels myself if I have to.”
His lime green eyes meet with mine. “Not if I do it first.”
“Everett’s coming home, isn’t he?” The words tumble out of me with a sigh.
“He’s coming home, Lottie. I can promise you that.”
A flood of relief hits me.
I can always count on Noah’s word—with the exception of when he’s tap-dancing around the truth.
And please, dear God, don’t let that be now.
“To Hollyhock,” I say as we head back down Main Street.
I just pray this doesn’t lead to a dead end.
Or God forbid—a dead judge.
Chapter 9
It turns out, Jana March was meticulous right down to the most intricate detail.
“Sweet Lord in heaven,” I muse as I thumb through page after page of Jana’s tome, which she affectionately referred to as herwedding bibleas per the info printed on the very first page.
Noah and I are seated in front of the bakery while we wait for action down the street. It’s almost four in the afternoon and the sun has finally stopped sending its hostile death rays over Noah’s windshield.
I suggested we try to fry an egg on the hood of his truck, but Noah shot that brilliant idea down rather quickly, something about ruining his clear coat.
A choking sound emits from my throat. “How am I ever going to run through this list in the time I’ve got left? Lainey will be celebrating her silver anniversary before I finish half these things. When I get married, I’ll be sure to chuck this bad boy and fly by the seat of my pants. It can’t be that hard. I’ll reserve the church, have the reception in my mother’s conservatory, pick up a decent white dress from Scarlet Sage, and I’ll bake my own cake, of course.”
“Tell me when and where. I’ll play the part of the groom.” He picks up a tiny pair of binoculars and looks in the direction of the Wicked Wok.
I glance down at the ring on my finger. The one that belongs to Everett’s mother. I’m far too paranoid to leave it at home, and when I’m at the bakery I put it in the ground safe in my office in a silver box that also houses a replacement part to my Hobart mixer. And oddly, every time I take it off, my finger feels naked, as if it were meant to house a serious piece of jewelry all along. I think a part of me wants this more than I know.
Beasty and Lea have spent the afternoon trotting up and down Main Street, with Lea riding him like a pony. They really are the cutest pair. I can’t fathom why either of them doesn’t want to return to paradise anytime soon, but if they do help me get Everett back, I have no idea how I’m going to keep my word to them. It was one of those things you agree to in a fit of delirium. And Everett missing has definitely sponsored a fit of delirium.
“And we’re off.” Noah puts the truck in gear. He’s had the truck on the entire time shooting the AC at us or we would have melted by now. No sooner do the wheels start to move than a flash of lightning appears as Beasty and Lea materialize magically in the bed of the truck.
My heart starts racing, my adrenaline hits its zenith, and we haven’t even left Honey Hollow yet.
“So this girl, Hailey”—Noah starts as he does his best to keep a decent distance from the delivery vehicle—“have you ever heard Everett mention her before?”
“No. In fact, the only other woman he’s ever brought up was Harlow James—the one who was pregnant with his child and slid off the road and killed them both. Everett said she was nothing more than a one-night stand. He hardly knew the girl, but he was determined to raise his child.”
“That’s because he’s a good guy.”
My heart warms just hearing Noah say it. “That’s quite an endorsement, considering you can’t stand him.”