Page 48 of Wedding Cake Carnage
Forest is dressed in khakis and a crisp baby blue shirt, not his usual day off from the firehouse attire. And Amanda looks stunning in a floral silk blouse, her red hair framing her face softly.
Lainey glances back to Forest. “Should we tell her?”
“Your call.”
Lainey spins my way. “We just made an offer on a house!” she squeals as she hurdles herself on top of me once again.
“Lainey! That’s great. Congratulations.”
Amanda clears her throat, a smile already on her lips. “They don’t have it just yet, but the offer is strong and the seller is anxious to move on. I think it’s safe to buy the champagne.”
“A weddinganda house.” Noah slaps Forest a quick high five. “Congratulations, man. You’re living the dream.”
“That I am. Just one more week and I’ll be a married man. I cannot wait.”
“And”—Lainey tips her head my way—“thanks to your new brother, we have a spectacular deal on a cabin up at the Sugar Bowl Resort. I’m so excited—I’m already packing.” Her fists ball up with glee. “Oh, and don’t forget, both you and Meg have to run over to Scarlet Sage by Thursday and try on your bridesmaid dresses. That still gives her plenty of time if she needs to do any alterations.”
“And what about you? When is your final fitting?”
“Thursday at noon, but she’s actually doing the fitting at Mom’s. That’s where the dress is. Hey? I’ll have her bring your dresses, too. We’ll have lunch after.” She lifts her shoulder as if the thought made her cheeky.
“You couldn’t keep me away.”
Both Lainey and Forest say a quick goodbye to Amanda as they make their way out of the tiny office. Noah pulls them both to the side and starts in on a conversation about the wedding.
Perfect. Noah is so intuitive to what my needs are, it’s as if there were two of me running around the planet.
Beasty lets out a low, yet intimidating growl as if to sayhop to it.
“So, Amanda?” I crane my neck back into the cubicle as I take a step inside. “How’s everything going? The bakery has exploded with business after the expo.”
“Same here.” She picks up a white lace fan off her desk and begins cooling herself with it. “And sadly, I’ve picked up every last one of Jana’s clients. But I’m more than glad to do it.”
“Things looked a bit tense between you and Jana that day.” I press my lips tight. “Do you think she was stressed about something? Like maybe she knew she was in trouble?”
Amanda rolls her eyes. “I don’t think so. And I’m embarrassed to say what we were arguing over. It all seems so petty right now.” She waves it off.
“No, go ahead. I mean, you never know—talking about it might actually jog your memory and unlock something that might help Jana’s case.”
“I doubt it.” She slaps her fan closed and leans in. “All right, this is what our little tiff was about. Jana interned for me last summer. I had noticed pretty early on that I was losing clients to her, but it wasn’t until the expo I learned the truth. It turns out, they were still contacting Jana for events and she forgot to leave off the little detail that she no longer worked for my company. That little weasel was siphoning off my clientele. I hate to sound crass, but that was a low-down and dirty thing to do. And even though I’m sorry she ended up dead, she certainly had something coming to her.”
“So you thought she stole your clients?”
“Oh, she did. She admitted it, too. She said once she was on her feet she was going to float a few back to me, but everyone knows the big events, the weddings, the anniversaries, the big birthdays only come around once in a blue moon. I was livid with her. She’s the kindest soul on the planet, so to see this ugly side of her rear its head really threw me for a loop. But like I said, I’ve got them all back now. All’s well that ends well.” She gives a sly wink.
Only it’s not ending well for Jana.
Jana is dead.
Beasty lets out a deafening roar as if he were thinking the very same thing.
Lainey pops her head back in. “Aren’t you here to see Everett?”
“Who?” I say a quick goodbye to Amanda as I dance back into the hall. “Did you say Everett? I was here to see Hook.”
“You’re in luck.” Forest takes up Lainey’s hand. “They’re actually in there together.” He points toward a bona fide office with Hook’s name written across the front.
“I’ll catch up with you later. We’re off to celebrate,” Lainey chirps as they head on out, and I make my way to where a trio of familiar voices stem from. Sure enough, Hook sits at one end of the oversized desk while Noah and Everett are crouched looking at a laptop screen on the other side.