The Brewing Bride (Sweet Home Mystery Series Book 8)

by Constance Barker

  Essie jumped up from the table as fast as a woman half her age. "Don't do any planning without me," she said.

  "Why not? You're doing all the planning for my wedding without me."

  Hildie tutted and Essie threw me a scowl as she hurried to the counter. She poured Toe's coffee and pulled out a muffin from the display cabinet. The morning hadn't been that busy when it came to the baked goods so there had been no need to put one aside for him.

  Before Essie could return to the table to continue the takeover of my wedding the bell over the door jingled again. Harvey strolled in giving us each a smile. He took a seat at Toe's table, eyeing ours with vague curiosity.

  "If you haven't decided on a location yet for your reception you should have it at the Veterans of Foreign War Hall. Nice set up there."

  "She's having it at the Senior Center," Essie said from behind the counter.

  "I don't think either of those scream Lily and Eli," Jules said.

  I did another mental fist bump for her support. She was right of course. We hadn't even considered either of those places. Sweet Home offered a limited number of places to have a wedding reception. And we didn't want to move the ceremony and reception to Sabina.

  "I like the Country Club," I said.

  "Don't be ridiculous," Essie said. "The Senior Center is perfect."

  "The club does seem extravagant for a small wedding reception," Hildie said.

  "Really? But a three tier wedding cake doesn't?"

  "That's different."

  Of course it was. Because they wanted the cake. My head was beginning to throb.

  Essie brought Toe's coffee and muffin over then hurried back behind the counter to pour Harvey his coffee.

  "Could I get one of those muffins too?" he asked.

  Essie finished his order and delivered the muffin then hurried back to the table.

  "Lily, we want what's best for you. You're stressed. We're just trying to help."

  "I know but you two are what are stressing me out. And it's my wedding. You have everything picked out for me already. Even the jewelry."

  "You need something old, borrowed and blue," Hildie said.

  Unable to take the discussion anymore I pierced Jules with a stare that said let's get out of here. She nodded and stood up.

  "Where are you going?" Essie asked.

  "Can you handle it here for a while? We're going to lunch to discuss maid of honor stuff."

  Essie looked a little put out and Hildie's face fell in disappointment that I wouldn't be there while they planned everything. Why did they need me there? They weren't listening to anything I said anyway.

  "Fine. It should be a quiet afternoon anyway. Go, have lunch. Don't decide anything without talking to us first though."

  I gave them a curt nod, hurried to the back to get my purse and met Jules out front.

  "They mean well," she said.

  "I know. It's frustrating. You'd think it was one of them getting married."

  "Like that would ever happen."

  I chuckled. "True. Maybe that's why they're taking over. Essie loved being married but won't ever do it again. Maybe Hildie is living vicariously. Though she has feelings for Harvey I doubt the two will ever tie the knot."

  "It's time to put all of that aside for now and let your maid of honor take you out to lunch. You deserve a break."

  We climbed into her car and headed to Sabina. It was the only place I was guaranteed to escape from the wedding craziness for a while.

  Little did I know, the wedding chaos had found its way to Sabina.

  CHAPTER THREE

  We arrived at a quaint restaurant we hadn't tried yet. The menu looked good with not a huge variety of items but the ones listed were down home good comfort foods. I needed comfort foods right now. Although my waist could stand to avoid them, my mental state called out for food that reminded me of growing up with not a care in the world.

  The waitress sat us near the back so we had a view of the place. The bright lighting was softened by warm colors on the walls. Dark wood tables with dark wood chairs. Plush cushions on the chairs provided comfort against the hard surface. The staff all wore genuine smiles as they rushed to tables filling glasses, bringing food and asking how everything was.

  Though the menu was in the window allowing potential patrons to peruse it before entering, I took the one the waitress offered. After all I could have changed my mind in the minute it took to get seated.

  We settled into our seats and flipped open the menus. I read it again and decided to stick with my original choice.

  When the waitress returned we put in our orders. Mine was the home baked macaroni and cheese with bacon. Jules ordered the personal pizza with a side order of salad. After the waitress filled our water glasses and dashed away Jules leaned over the table and regarded me with a concerned expression.

  "You look super stressed."

  "I am. I'd love for it to just be after the wedding. I'd be married and all of this planning would be over. I thought we'd done all the planning but then my Aunts took over and changed everything."

  Jules frowned. "Did you book the Country Club?"

  "We had a spot reserved. But now Essie wants to snag the Senior Center." I took a thoughtful sip from my water. "I love Sweet Home. One of the advantages of it being so small is there isn't a lot of competition for booking a place for a wedding. But that means meddling Aunts can book a place on short notice."

  "That's true. I'm sorry. I wish there was something I could do."

  "No one can do anything. There's no logic with them when it comes to my wedding. I needed a break from all things wedding for a few hours."

  We chatted about everything but the wedding while we waited for our food to arrive. The paper was going well for Jules and my coffee shop was doing a steady business. Once the wedding was over and we returned from our honeymoon I could concentrate on bringing in new business. I hadn't tried everything yet to lure more people into the shop to sample my coffee and different types of tea.

  The waitress arrived with our food and my mouth watered at the smell of bacon and cheese. I dove into the comfort food as soon as the dish was put in front of me. The creamy, sharp cheese and salty bacon hit the spot and chased all my cares away. If I kept eating like this the dress shop would definitely have to let out my dress.

  The door to the restaurant opened and a stream of new customers spilled in. I vaguely recognized some of them as residents of Sweet Home. Another, a woman with a bright smile, perfect figure and thick gorgeous hair reminded me of someone I went to high school with. She was a few years ahead of me but I could swear it was Heather Ruggins. And then I remembered her name on the guest list. She was friends with one of my bridesmaids who was coming in from out of town.

  The group of ladies from Sweet Home, with Heather trailing behind them made their way to the back of the restaurant. They smiled at me and Jules as they took seats nearby. I heard distinct whispers and the occasional reference to a wedding.

  So much for getting away from thoughts of the wedding. The group darted glances at us and Heather left the pack to walk over to our table.

  "Lily! You look so good," Heather said.

  "Thanks. So do you."

  Heather slid into a chair beside me with ease and the smile she bestowed on me took up her whole face. In high school we'd never really talked. I didn't think she even knew who I was. But she knew Eli…I had heard the stories in high school. A pang of jealousy raced through me as I searched my memory. Had he dated the woman in school? I couldn't remember them as a couple. But then I was a few years younger than Eli.

  “So are you excited for your big day?” Heather’s fake smile grated on me. It’s funny how you can always tell when someone is faking a smile…their eyes don’t smile, only their mouth.

  I gave my own fake smile back. “Oh yes, I’m very excited. And so is Eli.”

  I saw Jules give Heather a smirk with that comment.

  “Oh I’m sure he is,”
Heather mused with her best southern drawl. “I remember when we dated in high school and there after he was ready to settle down then, but I wasn’t. I had to go and experience the world first before getting married and having babies. Now see what happened…he settled for you. I mean with you.” She twittered and flipped a long mane of hair back over her shoulder while I contemplated yanking it from her head.

  I opened my mouth to say something when Jules intervened. “Hey Heather, I think your friends are motioning you to join them.”

  Heather stood up. “It was good to see you both again and I can’t wait to see Eli as well. Have a nice lunch.” She sashayed back to her group before I could take a swing at her.

  Jules grabbed my hand from across the table. “Simmer down there tiger…I can see the steam coming out your ears.”

  I wanted to say more but all that would come out between my clenched teeth was, “Hussy!”

  At that moment a waitress stopped by our table and took our dessert orders. I had been famished before but the meeting with Heather had all but squashed my appetite. I picked at my apple pie while Jules devoured her strawberry cheesecake. She stabbed a strawberry with her fork and then pointed it at me. “Quit pouting. Heather’s just trying to get under your skin so don’t let her. You’ve got enough going on without her stirring your pot.”

  I shrugged. “I know you’re right. With everything going on with my Aunts and the wedding, it’s not taking much to light my fire right now.”

  Jules popped the strawberry into her mouth. “Listen, we’ll get through it,” she said picking up the graham cracker crumbs with her fork. “Besides, what else could go wrong?”

  As if on cue, Bob and Penny Carver walked over to our table arm in arm. “Oh Lily, I bet you’re getting excited for the big day.” Penny and Bob were seniors who had only been married to each other for a few years now, but they still acted like lovebirds, which made my Aunt Essie cringe.

  Bob looked at Penny. “I remember our wedding day…and night.” Penny giggled and Jules looked like she might hurl. Okay, now I see why Essie recoiled when they came into the Coffee Cabana.

  Suddenly Penny said something that made me sit up straight in my chair. “I hear the wedding reception is going to be at the Senior Center. Don’t you worry hon; we’ll fix it up just right.”

  I looked at Jules, opened my mouth, but no words came out. Is this what it feels like to go into shock? Elopement was looking better all the time.

  I don’t remember Jules shooing Bob and Penny away or paying the check and leading us out the door. But I do remember thinking I was going to have to lay down the law once and for all with my Aunts.

  Chapter Four

  When Jules and I entered the coffee shop, Essie and Hildie were still fussing around the same table with the magazines strewn about. Trevor, my sometimes teenage helper and Eli’s shadow, along with Moira were handling the few customers we had in the early afternoon.

  I walked over to Essie and Hildie’s table prepared to read them the riot act when I saw several pieces of jewelry laid out. It was costume jewelry with one gaudy pin shaped like a dragon fly in blue. A dragon fly necklace matched it. I was ready to make like one and buzz the heck out of there.

  Jules, luckily for my Aunts, spoke first. “So what’s all this ladies? You have dates tonight?”

  “Heaven’s no Jules,” Hildie exclaimed. “We’re still planning the wedding and Essie brought some of her jewelry from home for Lily to look at.”

  I was looking alright. Essie saw the blanched stare I was giving the dragonflies on steroids.

  “Now dear, they still have to be cleaned,” Essie remarked as if that would help. The only thing that would help me right now is a stiff drink and a thief who would mistake the items for rare jewels. Fat chance.

  I ignored Essie’s remark on the jewelry and pointed to the other items sitting on the tables. Besides the bride magazines from before sat business cards for DJ’s, photographers and florists.

  “What’s this stuff?” I asked in a rather odd monotone voice. Lord have mercy, I was going numb! “I’ve already hired the florist, the DJ and a photographer.”

  Essie waved her hand. “That photographer will cost a mint. We should let Cousin Jim do the photos. He’s got him a new camera with a bunch of attachments and he’ll do it for half what that other guy will charge you and Eli.”

  “Your cousin Jim?” I asked in the same monotone voice. Jules was starting to look at me weird. “The same Cousin Jim who wore leather pants to cousin Ruth’s wedding two years ago? The Cousin Jim who was hauled out of the reception hall by his nephews because he tried to light birthday candles on the wedding cake after consuming most of the beer keg? The same Cousin Jim who almost upchucked on Cousin Ruth’s wedding dress? That Cousin Jim?”

  By this time my monotone voice had increased to almost a high pitched wail.

  Essie and Hildie both looked at me like I had two heads while Jules pulled me away and into the back room. “Breathe girl…just slow breaths.”

  I pointed to the closet in the back room and nodded my head. “I could lock them up there until after the wedding.” I swung my head back around to face Jules. “What do you think?”

  Jules made me sit in one of the fold out chairs. “I think you need to sit down and let me make you some soothing chamomile tea.”

  I wiped a tear from my eye. “What am I going to do Jules? I love my Aunts, but this is my wedding. I know they’re trying to help, but this kind of help I don’t need.”

  Suddenly I sat straight up. “My gosh, I forgot the sole reason I came back to the shop so quick. To find out about the reception hall.”

  I started for the door to the front when Hildie and Essie came pouring through first. Hildie spoke first. “Lily dear, we didn’t mean to upset you. It was just a suggestion about Cousin Jim. He’s on the wagon or off…oh I don’t know which, but he’s got his act together now. We saw some of the photos he took while he and Doris were on vacation in Aruba and he’s quite good. We thought he’d save you some money, that’s all.”

  “Forget about Cousin Jim,” I said. “What’s this I’m hearing about the reception being at the Senior Center?”

  “Oh yes,” Essie said as she batted an invisible fly from around her head. “We were going to tell you before you were hauled off.” She gave Jules a look. “But the Country Club called and they double booked a charity event and your reception and we knew you wouldn’t want to upset a charity event so we told them it was no problem and that we could schedule the reception for the Senior Center.”

  I walked over and sunk back into my chair as Jules handed me a cup of chamomile tea. I hoped she had spiked it with something strong. I took a sip. No luck.

  Hilde and Essie went back out front and not 30 seconds later I heard Essie yelling. Jules and I burst back into the shop. “What’s wrong?” Jules and I asked at the same time.

  Essie pointed at the table where she and Hildie had been with the magazines, business cards and dragonfly jewelry. It was all gone.

  “Somebody has stolen my jewelry!” Essie exclaimed.

  Hildie held a hand to her face. “We had written down all our…er I mean your wedding plans. And it’s all gone!”

  Hildie was right. It was all gone. Not even a notepad, pen or business card was left lying on the table. I smiled. I did have a guardian angel.

  Chapter Five

  After finally getting a good night’s sleep, the next day it was time for my test up-do at the salon. Of course my Aunts had to be there to make suggestions and I took Jules to be the referee. Fortunately Essie and Hildie weren’t as vocal as they had been the prior day. I suppose it was the missing jewelry and wedding plans that had them subdued. Luckily the jewelry was costume items that Essie had bought many years ago, but she loved them and had wanted to offer them to me to wear. Her heart was in the right place, but her fashion sense had flown the coop.

  They had quizzed Trevor and Moira, but Trev was busy making frozen mocha
caps while Moira was taking care of the register. Neither one had seen anyone near that table. At least that’s what they said. Essie gave them the side eye the rest of the day, but I believed them. It didn’t matter to me anyway. The theft, if you wanted to call it that, offered me a reprieve from the constant nattering about the wedding plans.

  Unfortunately it was true about the Country Club however. Essie and Hildie had gotten their way with that one. I probably would have relented anyway as how could I have been so cold as to stop a charity event. But I held tough on Cousin Jim. I didn’t care how much he’d sobered up…I wasn’t leaving the happiest day of my life in the hands of a camera fool.

  Yep, I was getting tougher. No more being in shock and letting people railroad me on my wedding. Now if we could just get through the hair test.

  Ann Marie, my hairdresser, swung me around so the girls could look at the up-do she had prepared for my dowdy hair. Tiny curled tendrils hung down the sides of my face. She had also highlighted my hair a week ago, so blond strands streaked through my natural dishwater colored hair.

  Hildie clasped her hands to her face. “It’s lovely Lily. It really is.”

  “You should wear your hair like this all the time Lily,” Essie said as she examined my head as if it were the crown jewels.

  At that moment Toe walked in the shop carrying Jules’ newspaper. “Well hello ladies. Fancy meeting you all here.”

  Essie placed her hands on her hips. “Toe Thompson, what are you doing here in the hair salon?”

  Toe took a seat in one of the empty chairs. “Well, I suppose the same reason you’re here Essie…to get a haircut.”

  Essie harrumphed. “Don’t you go to Chopper’s barbershop anymore?”

  Toe shook his head. “Not since Anne Marie here gave me a good cutting back when Chopper was on vacation.” He smoothed a hand through his thick hair. “She won me over with those massaging hands of her.”