“No, not at all. Thank you,” I said, giving her hand a pat. “I kind hope for the same thing.”
We sat in silence for a moment.
“You never know,” Candace said in a slightly lighter tone. “Maybe this vacation of Grady’s will be good for him.”
I looked at her, eyebrow raised. “You think?”
“Oh yeah,” she said with just a bit of a smile. “He needs to relax.” Her smile broadened. “Like we get it, dude. You’re sheriff.” She rolled her eyes. “Of the fun police.”
I burst out laughing. I couldn’t help it. I was surprised to hear Candace joke that way. Not just because of the circumstances, but because she was normally so … nice.
“You know,” I said suddenly. “I’m really happy you’ve found your home in Joey. That’s amazing.”
“Thanks,” she said, before taking a shaky breath. “But you and Freddie are the amazing ones. I just wanted to say … I know how much is involved in this wedding. If for whatever reason, you guys—”
“The wedding’s going to be great, Candace,” I said.
“But I want you to know if you want out—”
“Out?” I near shouted. “Never. And don’t you worry. We’re not going to let you down.”
Chapter Nine
We were so going to let Candace down.
I had stayed with Candace until Joey got back. His grandmother was okay. Apparently it was normal with her condition for some days to be worse than others. After that I walked back into town. I figured I’d go by Tommy’s next to find out what he knew about the night of Lyssa’s death, and then maybe after that drop by Vivienne’s to check out the wedding-cake situation. Unfortunately, before I even got started, my mother sent me an emergency text with the list of last-minute items I needed to pick up. And what a list it was. I was kind of worried the retreat would be over by the time I picked all of it up. She had even included paper plates and plastic utensils in the items. She had to be freaking out. I mean, things were bad if my mother was going plastic. She thought disposable dishes were a third-degree environmental crime. It was probably for the best, though, that I put off going to Tommy’s. I kind of didn’t want to go without Freddie. Not that I was afraid of Tommy or anything. But he could be … unpredictable.
I was still really confused about that whole situation. Had Lyssa lied to Candace about her ex-boyfriend coming to town because she didn’t want her to know she was really hooking up with Tommy that night? Was Justin ever even in Otter Lake? Or maybe the rumor mill had just messed this one up—thought Justin was Tommy. No matter what, I needed to get over there tomorrow. I needed to know who she was with that night. With or without Freddie.
By the time I had finished getting everything and made it back to the boat, the sun was starting to set. Thankfully, while there was a lot on the list, most of it was pretty straightforward—except for the item on the back. She wanted me to pick up spare camping supplies from the twins’ friend Alma. Trying to get something out of that woman without staying for supper had an off-the-charts difficulty level. But I had managed it with a promise to play euchre some other time with her, her husband, and their middle-aged son who collected beetles in little glass cases. I think Alma hoped we’d hit it off and get married someday. I’d just file that under Problems for Another Time.
I needed to hurry back to the island if I wanted to make it for the official meet-and-greet campfire—which I did. Not because I was interested in what Zaki had to say about why it was that I was still single or anything. I just wanted to get my hands on some vegan marshmallows. They were better than one might think.
Just before it really got dark, I eased my mother’s boat alongside the dock. I loved these long June evenings. Soon the frogs—those little spring peepers—would be singing their hearts out. Hey, maybe Candace would like a twilight wedding; then we wouldn’t have to have a DJ, we could just listen to the frogs. Nah, that was weird. Again, I really didn’t think like a bride.
I climbed the log steps dug into the hill of the retreat, hands loaded down with supplies and a tent bag slung around my neck. With my hands tied up, I had about a million mosquito bites by the time I made it to the top, but life wasn’t all bad. As I crested the hill, I spotted Kit Kat and Tweety in their rocking chairs with tin cups. The sight of their matching perms and dentures glowing a soft white in twilight always put a smile on my face.
“Uh-oh,” I heard one of them announce as my feet crunched over the gravel path. “Here’s trouble.”
“Caesar,” the other one ordered, pointing at the cat at the top of the porch stairs. “Go get Erica. I don’t think she’s going to make it.”
A moment of silence followed.
“Because then she’ll be the thing the cat dragged in?”
“Exactly.”
The sound of cackles filled the air.
“Good one,” I called out.
“We know.”
Their tin cups clinked together.
I stopped at the foot of the lodge steps. I couldn’t seem to get either one of my legs interested in climbing them. They felt like they had walked an ultramarathon today. Besides, Caesar would never let me pass. His enormous orange and white body looked like a capsized cruise ship on the landing. He could barely tilt his head up far enough to give me his signature evil look through his furry slitted eyes. There was no way I was going to be able to step over him without getting cut.
I lowered my bags to the ground and dropped myself onto the bottom step. I needed a moment to catch my breath before I went round back. I also wanted to make sure the campfire was good and under way, so I could lurk a bit without my mother reading too much into it.
Again, I was just in it for the marshmallows, but … if I did pick up a word or two of wisdom from the best-selling guru, you know, so be it.
“You look like you could use a drink.”
“Just throw some this way,” I said. “I’ll open my mouth.”
“Your mother didn’t think you’d be back this soon,” Tweety said.
Kit Kat nodded. “Said you might be having dinner with Alma.”
I nodded. “It was a close one, but I escaped.”
Apparently Caesar didn’t like the vibe I was giving off because he heaved himself up, walked approximately five, six steps down the porch and then capsized himself once again.
“Is that my mother’s all natural iced tea? Or gin?” I shot a nod to the cup in her hand.
“Iced tea.”
I crawled up the porch steps and reached for her cup. She handed it to me, but said, “You should just take that stuff inside and get to bed. You look like you could use a good night’s sleep.”
“Then you need to figure out this whole thing with Candace’s bridesmaid,” Kit Kat added. “People are scared.”
“Some are locking their doors for the first time ever.”
I took a sip from the cup. “I know, but I’m okay. I was actually thinking I might check the campfire. I met Zaki this morning. He was pretty interesting.”
“Your mother thinks so too,” Tweety said just under her breath.
“What?”
“Nothing. Nothing,” Kit Kat said with feigned lightness. “But you’re not thinking of actually taking part, are you?”
“Well, I don’t know about taking part,” I said. “Maybe … just have a little listen.”
The twins exchanged looks again.
“What is going on with you two?”
Kit Kat looked at her sister. “I told Summer she should have told her before—”
“I know. I know,” Tweety said. “But she wanted to wait for the perfect moment—”
“But Erica’s not an idiot. She’s going to figure it—”
Tweety just held up a hand for her sister to stop.
“Um, hello?”
The twins raised their brows in an identical expression.
“Would you like to share with me what my mother should have told me?”
“Nope,” Kit Kat s
aid.
“Not our business,” Tweety added.
I sighed. I knew better than to argue with that nope. Besides, I was sure whatever it was my mom was up to, I’d find out soon enough. I knew she had been acting funny. She had probably saved me a spot front and center for this retreat then used reverse psychology with the whole “you wouldn’t be interested” bit, so that I would be interested. Well, that was fine. I could play along. Just this once. But I was only going to listen to what the others had to say. There was no way I was participating.
“Well,” I said, pushing myself to my feet. “I might as well go on back and see what’s waiting for me.”
“You never know,” Tweety said. “You might learn something.”
I frowned at her.
“She means like how to make a relationship work,” Kit Kat added.
I frowned at her too. “I got that.”
“You never know, maybe Zaki will say something that will finally help you get yourself together,” Tweety said with a big nod. “You could meet a nice new man, or figure out what to do with an old nice man, so we can have a little—”
“Stop,” I said with a point.
“Baby,” Kit Kat finished. “We want a baby.”
“We’re not getting any younger, you know,” Tweety said with a knowing look.
The identical look came to her sister’s face. “Neither are you.”
“Uh-huh.” I looked at the cup in my hand before passing it back. Why couldn’t it have been gin?
I slung the tent bag around my neck and picked up my many bags.
“Good luck,” Kit Kat said.
I threw them a nod. It was the only part of me that wasn’t laden down with supplies.
When I turned the back corner of the lodge, I was greeted by the sight of a large group of women all seated around the campfire pit three or four rows deep in a mishmash of chairs. They were listening to someone talking. I could only see the back of him, but it was definitely—
Freddie?
I walked a few steps closer to the group to hear him say, “So, my name is Freddie. I’m not normally a big sharer, but you all seem like a nice group of ladies.”
A small chuckle ran over the crowd.
“Anyway, back to me,” he said, waving his hand out.
More laughter.
“I could really use an outside perspective on this particular problem I’m having. You see, I’m having trouble balancing—”
“Erica!” my mother suddenly shouted.
“Erica!” Freddie said, whipping around.
Then the group of women turned around and let out a collective, “Erica?”
So much for lurking in the background.
I waved a hand in the air. “That’s me.”
Chapter Ten
“Darling,” my mother called out as she rushed over to me. “What are you doing here?”
“I live here.”
She laughed. It had a slight edge to it. “I just meant that I thought you’d be having dinner over at Alma’s.”
“Yeah, no, I got out of it.”
“Wonderful. Wonderful,” she said with a smile that died almost instantly. “Listen, darling, I wanted to talk to you about something before—”
“Is it about Freddie? Did you invite him to the retreat?”
“Freddie?” she said, looking back at the group … looking awkwardly over at us. “Oh no, he just showed up. He wanted to know if you were here, and when I said you weren’t, he said he thought he might stick around.”
“Oh,” I said, before shaking my head. “What did you want to talk to me about?”
She shot a quick look back at the fire. “Maybe now is not the best time. We can talk later.” She snatched the plastic bags from my hands. They were so heavy she nearly took one of my fingers with her. “I’d better get these inside.” She was already rushing away. It looked like Zaki was headed toward her to help with the bags, but she called out, “Please continue without me. Sorry for the interruption.”
“They are so cute together,” I heard a woman say.
They?
Obviously that woman didn’t know my mother very well. She never dated. She was married to her work.
I dropped the tent bag from my shoulder and headed for the fire.
“Freddie,” Zaki called out, “would you like to continue?”
“No, thanks,” he said quickly. “I’m good.”
“But you wanted an outside perspective on—”
“I said, No, thanks. I’m good.”
Freddie’s No thanks. I’m good was one step away from I said, Good day, sir.
I knew I wasn’t crazy. There was something wrong with Freddie.
Something he didn’t want me to know.
Well, that was just too bad, Vlad—I mean, Freddie—our relationship didn’t work that way.
I walked my way around the back of the circle to the opening, so that I could get to where Freddie was sitting on a log by the fire. I sat down beside him as Zaki invited another woman to share her story.
“Fancy meeting you here,” I whispered.
“I just dropped by, and … well, I thought it might be interesting.”
“But you’re not single.”
“Well, no … but my poppo is a big fan of Zaki’s,” Freddie whispered quickly. “I was going to ask him for his autograph.”
Hmm, yes, Freddie’s grandmother did have fangirl tendencies when it came to celebrities. He once stood in line for two hours to get Tom Selleck’s autograph for her birthday, but he got his wires crossed, and it turned out it wasn’t Tom Selleck sitting at the desk at all, but David Hasselhoff, and the whole thing fell apart from there. But regardless, it all seemed very convenient.
We quieted down as Zaki strolled past us. Because there were so many people listening to the talk tonight the inner ring of the circle around the fire was pushed pretty far back. Zaki was strolling around it, hands clasped behind his back.
Once he had moved on, Freddie leaned toward me and whispered, “I mean this whole thing is kind of silly, right?”
“I don’t know. I just got here.”
“Well, I’ve been here longer than you,” Freddie whispered, voice superheavy on the charm. But it was distraction charm, I could tell. “And I can already tell you why everybody is single.”
I frowned.
“Like the woman talking right now? She’s still single because she thinks,” he whispered, adding air quotes, “that she intimidates men, but really it’s because she feels she has to bring up the fact that she’s a doctor in every conversation.”
I didn’t answer. Nope. I would not be distracted. Freddie was going to tell me what was going on with him this time.
“Oh, then there’s that lady there,” Freddie whispered, pointing at a lovely woman, maybe in her late thirties. “Attractive. Nice. Seems like a really sweet lady? I call her Old Yeller.”
Still no answer from me.
“Yeah, her normal speaking voice is a yell. It’s very jarring. Watch.” Freddie waved at the woman.
“Hey, Freddie!”
Well, that got the crowd’s attention.
“Sorry,” she said.
Everyone turned back to listening to the doctor. Except us.
“And that one there,” Freddie whispered, pointing at a woman maybe in her late fifties. “I call her Eeyore. ’Cause she’s so sad.”
I couldn’t help but look over for just a second. The woman in the white T-shirt and khakis did seem kind of downtrodden. She was sitting by herself at a picnic table occasionally lifting her eyes up to people passing by. But I would not be distracted!
“She’s too sad for love.” Freddie then whacked my arm. “And then there’s the hypochondriac.” He pointed at a woman swatting frantically at mosquitoes. “Nobody wants to date a hypochondr—”
“Did you and Sean break up?”
Freddie’s eyes darted around my face.
“Because I’m trying to think of some other reason for
why you’re behaving the way you are, and why you would come to this retreat, and I got noth—”
“Erica?” Zaki said with a small laugh. It wasn’t the nice one that had made the birds stop singing earlier. “Is everything all right? Would you two like to share with the group?”
“Oh, I…” I stopped to clear my throat. Yup, everyone was looking at me. “Would you excuse us for a second?” I grabbed Freddie’s elbow and pulled us both to our feet. “I’m so sorry to interrupt. Everything is fine. We’re not really … participating. Please carry on.”
“What?” Freddie said in a lowered voice as I dragged him down the path that led out of the circle. “You’re not going to tell them about Grerica?”
I stopped and blinked at him.
“You know, you and Grady smushed together,” he said, making a smushing motion with his hands. “Maybe they could help.”
“That’s it,” I said, holding my hand out. “Give me your phone.”
“Why?”
“Do you have it on you?”
He pulled it out of his pocket. “Of course I have it, but—”
I made a lunge for his hand, but he snatched it away.
“What do you want with it?”
“I’ve had it, Freddie. I know you are hiding something, but it’s me,” I said, patting my chest. “We don’t hide things from each other. I can help.”
Freddie frowned at me like … like I had just sprouted antennae or something.
“Give me your phone,” I said, holding my hand out again. It had to be that he was too embarrassed to talk about it out loud. “You don’t have to say anything. I just want to see when the last time you texted Sean was.”
“That…” Freddie said, drawing the word out into many syllables, “is not going to happen.”
“No. Enough is enough,” I said. “Help me, help you.”
He laughed …
… which made me just a little bit mad. “Give me the phone.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Down the Aisle with Murder Page 7
