She shook her head. “I … I’m not supposed to say anything.”
“Oh my God, is Freddie dying? Was the whole breakup thing a lie? Is he sick and he didn’t want me to kn—”
She frowned at me. “Freddie’s not dying.”
I let go of the breath I was holding. Okay, that might have been a bit of a leap. “Please just tell me what is going on. I’m going nuts here.”
Candace looked at me for a long, hard moment. “Okay.” She threw a hand in the air. “He’s going to kill me, but … okay.”
Chapter Twenty-six
“So why did Freddie and Sean break up?”
A pained look crossed Candace’s face, and it wasn’t just because she had another sip of the gluten-free beer. “They had a big fight.”
“Okay, about what?”
She grimaced.
I felt my cheeks go hot. “Was it … about me?”
She didn’t answer. She didn’t need to. The look on her face said it all. “How is that possible? I like Sean. I liked him the moment I met him.”
She smiled sympathetically. “That’s not the problem.”
“Okay.”
“Well,” she said, before taking a breath, “you know how Freddie didn’t invite Sean to the wedding?”
“Yeah, he said Sean was busy with school,” I said quickly, “but my mother thinks he may be worried about bringing a boyfriend to town for the first time.”
“Yeah, Sean’s not busy with school,” Candace said, shaking her head. “And Freddie’s not worried about bringing him to town. At least I don’t think he is.”
“So what’s the problem?”
“From what Freddie told me, the whole thing really just got blown out of proportion. Freddie told Sean that maybe this wasn’t the best time for him to come down. He knew I had invited Grady to the wedding, and he didn’t want you to be alone.”
“What?” I suddenly felt ten degrees colder. “Are you serious?”
“Sean, I guess, was a little upset by this and said something to the effect that you were Freddie’s priority. Freddie said that wasn’t true, that you’re both priorities to him. And then he said to Sean that it wasn’t fair to make him choose between him and his best friend. Sean said he wasn’t doing that, but that you always came first, and—well, I think you get the idea.”
“Oh my…” The words trailed away as an overwhelming mix of emotions fell over me. Freddie and Sean had been doing so well, and … I had ruined it. But I never asked Freddie to be my emotional chaperone! But on the other hand, that was so sweet that Freddie was so worried about me. But who asked him to? And how did all this end up with Freddie being supermean to me? I didn’t do anything! “I don’t believe it. This is terrible.”
“I know,” Candace said. “I told Freddie he should just talk to you.”
“Yeah, that would have been better than just being angry at me because—”
“He values your friendship so much.”
I dropped my head into my hands. “The whole thing is ridiculous though. I would have been fine at the wedding.”
“I said that too.”
“I need to fix this. I can’t believe…” I was shaking my head again. “What did Freddie think was going to happen?” Actually I knew what he thought. He probably had some vision of dancing with Sean under a tent while I sat all alone at a white linen-covered table drinking champagne. Meanwhile, I wasn’t picturing that at all. I was picturing myself dancing obnoxiously with Rhonda to like Beyoncé or something.
Suddenly I caught my hands waving in the air.
“What’s wrong? Did a fish bite your toe?”
“Did a fish bite my toe? You are adorable,” I said with a smile. “No, I was just picturing the wedding, and—screw the community center—I know where it should be!”
“You do? Where?”
“The retreat! What about having the wedding at the retreat?”
“Oh…” I could see the excitement in her eyes. “You don’t think your mother would mind? I mean, we don’t have a lot of money. And she’s already—”
“Money! What are you talking about money?” I pushed her on the arm—I meant for it to just be one of those playful pushes to get across the point of how ridiculous what she was saying was, but suddenly Candace was in the water.
“Candace! I am so sorry!” I mean, you couldn’t tell by all the laughing I was doing, but, “I totally didn’t mean to do that.”
Candace splashed around in the water then found the edge of the dock with one hand and dragged the hair out of her face with the other. “Do you think it would really be okay?”
“One hundred percent. A thousand percent. I mean, she thinks marriage is an outdated patriarchal institution—”
Candace’s eyes widened. “Really? That doesn’t sound like your mom especially given that—”
“Whatever,” I said, waving my hands out. “Doesn’t matter. She likes you. It will be fine.”
A beautiful smile stretched across Candace’s face. A smile I hadn’t seen in a long time. A deep-dimple smile.
“If you think your mother wouldn’t mind…” She shook her head. “Thank you, Erica.”
“You are so welcome!” I pushed myself off the dock to join her.
“Hey,” she said, treading water. “I know weddings aren’t really your thing, but there’s something else I wanted to ask you.”
“Shoot,” I said, putting a hand on the dock.
“You don’t think … you would consider…”
“Consider what?”
She winced. “Being my maid of honor?”
“Um, yeah,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I don’t know what took you so long to ask.”
“Really,” she said rather sarcastically. And for Candace that was supersarcastic.
I splashed water in her face. But it was cool because she splashed me back.
I was so happy all of a sudden. I mean, sure, everything was still so very messed up … but I finally knew what was wrong with Freddie. And if I knew what was wrong I could fix it. Just like I fixed the wedding location, I could fix it all! “Or my name isn’t Honorable Erica ever-powerful ruler.”
“Did you say something?”
Oh crap, that last part wasn’t supposed to be out loud. “Nope.”
Chapter Twenty-seven
“Freddie!” I shouted, banging my fist against the door. “Open up!”
Still no answer. I had been banging for at least five minutes.
I banged some more. “Seriously, get up!” I took a couple of steps back to look up at his bedroom. Yup, the window was open. He could totally hear me. Fine, if he wanted to play it that way. I whipped out my phone and called him. It went to voice mail. Okay, I would try texting.
Answer your phone.
I called again a moment later.
It rang twice then I heard, “Why are you calling me at I hate you o’clock? Don’t you have a murder to be solving?”
“Get down here and open your door.”
“It’s like two in the morning. Go home.”
“I’m not going home until you talk to me.” I originally thought I could wait until morning to talk to Freddie, but after a couple of hours of tossing and turning in bed, I couldn’t stand it anymore. This had to be settled now. “Come down.”
“No.”
“Freddie.”
“No.”
“Come down now.”
“No.”
“If you don’t come down now, I’m going to start singing.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“And I’m starting with Aretha.”
I saw the light come on upstairs. I knew that would work. Freddie hated my singing voice. He especially hated it when I went for the big voices.
A minute later, the door opened. “What do you want?” he asked, looking very grumpy in his bathrobe and slippers.
“Okay, you need to explain to me why you did what you did,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.
He frowned. “What did
I do?”
“Not invite Sean to the wedding. Because of me?”
“Who told you?” he snapped. “It was Candace, wasn’t it? I knew it was a mistake to talk to that well-intentioned, troublemaking bride.”
“It’s not important who told me,” I said, arms still crossed. “The question is, why would you do that in the first place?”
He let out a disgusted-sounding sigh. “I just knew how difficult this wedding was going to be for you. Given the side-by-side comparison of you and—”
“Gah!” I threw my hands in the air. “There is no side-by-side comparison between me and Candace.”
He frowned. “I meant you and me.” He moved a hand back and forth between us. “Like you’ve been trying to get a relationship going with Grady for years now, and Sean and I just fell into one like the first night we met.”
Huh. Wow. Hadn’t thought of that comparison either.
“I didn’t want to rub that in at a wedding of all places, so I thought it would be good if I could devote my complete attention to your needs. And then Sean went and blew it completely out of proportion—”
“And you took it out on me,” I said, making sure the sentence finished exactly where I wanted it to.
“Oh,” Freddie said, tightening his bathrobe. “I’m so sorry that being a good friend to you puts me in a bad mood.”
We blinked at each other a moment then I gave my head a shake. “Freddie, I don’t want you putting your relationship at risk out of some misguided belief that I need you to take care of me. And why didn’t you just tell me what was going on?”
“’Cause then you would have blamed yourself,” he said with a sigh, “and it would have been Wah, wah, wah, I’m Erica, relationship destroyer.”
“I would not have been— Wait a minute.” I wagged a finger in the air. “Wait, just one minute.”
Freddie straightened up. “What?”
“You said you didn’t invite Sean to the wedding because you wanted to devote your attention to my needs.” I shook my head. “But that … that doesn’t make any sense.”
“I’m sorry. Again, what?”
“First,” I said, popping up a finger, “devoting your complete attention to my emotional needs? That doesn’t sound like you, and—”
“You are very rude at two in the morning. I do not like two A.M., Erica.”
“And two, I think there just might be another reason for why you didn’t invite Sean to the wedding. A deeper reason,” I said, pointing directly at his chest. Freddie brought his hand up to cover the spot. “A reason that you are probably too afraid to even admit to yourself.”
“Are you doing a Poirot thing right now. Is that what this is?” Freddie drawled. “What are you even talking about?”
I jabbed another point at him. He took a step back. “The reason you didn’t invite Sean to the wedding is because you’re … chicken!”
“Chicken? That’s it.” He moved to shut the door. “I’m going back to bed.”
“Oh no, no,” I said, pushing it back open. “You weren’t worried about me falling apart at the wedding.”
“I’m always worried about you falling apart in public places.”
“No. No. No. That was just the cover-up. This is about you.”
“Seriously, what are you talking about?”
I moved my pointing finger to the air. “My mom hinted at it … but I didn’t listen. You’re afraid to bring Sean to town as your boyfriend.”
Freddie frowned. “No I’m not.”
“Yes, yes you are. It makes complete sense.”
“You’re crazy. This—”
“Give me your phone,” I said, holding out my hand.
“No.”
“Give me your phone.”
“No,” he said, taking his phone from his pocket and clutching it to his chest. “Don’t you remember how this ended the last time?” He backed up farther into the house.
I followed him in. “Just do it.”
He rolled his eyes and tossed it to me. “Take it. I don’t want you tackling me again. Besides, you’re not going to find anything. I haven’t called—”
My thumbs flew furiously over the screen.
“What are you doing?” he asked, a tinge of nervousness coming to his voice.
I didn’t answer.
“Are you texting someone?”
I quickly walked past him and hustled a few steps away, making sure there was a good distance between us before I started reading out loud what I was texting. “‘Hey Sean, I know it’s late, but…’”
Chapter Twenty-eight
“Erica,” Freddie warned in a low scary voice. “What are you doing? You didn’t send that, did you?”
“I did now,” I said, pressing send.
“He has an exam tomorrow! It’s two o’clock in the morning!”
Just then Freddie’s phone buzzed.
I smiled. “Don’t worry, he’s awake. He says hey.”
“Give it!” Freddie said, taking a few quick steps toward me.
I jumped away and scurried into the living room. “Nope. Nope. My mother said we needed to stop protecting each other from the things that scare us, and I will not be the answer to the question of why Freddie Ng is still single.”
“What?! Have you been drinking?”
“Of course not.” I knew I was supposed to be respecting Freddie’s space and all that, but doubling down seemed like a much better idea. I probably did get that from my mother. “Now where was I, ‘I’m sorry I woke you,’ I said, dictating to myself again. “‘But I need to tell you something.’”
Freddie’s eyes widened to the size of coasters. “Erica…”
“What? I’m helping you face your fears. Become a better person. You know, like you did getting me on that bull,” I said.
“The bull…? You mean the bachelorette party? Sean and I had just broken up. I was upset!”
“Yeah, at me. For absolutely no good reason.” I looked back at the phone. “‘I am so sorry for everything. You were right. Erica can take care of herself. And I should have made you the priority.’”
“Erica!”
He rushed toward me, but I jumped up onto the couch then over to the other side.
“Shush.” I held up a finger. “He’s writing something back.”
“Since when can you not read and listen to me yell at you at the same time?”
A second later, the phone buzzed again.
“What does it say?”
My eyes darted over the message. “‘I really appreciate you saying that,’” I said with a nod. “‘And I’m sorry too. I was too harsh.’”
Freddie started to say something, but I waved him off. “He’s writing something else.” Just then it popped up on the screen. “‘I didn’t mean what I said about…’ Erica?” I looked up. “What did he say about me?”
“Given how you’re behaving right now, nothing that wasn’t totally justified.”
I looked back down at the phone. “Wait, he’s writing something else. ‘I really do like her. And I would never want to do anything to affect your relationship.’”
“Aww.” I put my hand to my chest. “I knew I liked Sean.” I dropped my hand back to the phone to reply.
“What are you writing now?” Freddie asked.
“‘I know you’re really busy with school,’” I said with my dictation voice, “‘but I would love it if you could come for the wedding.’ Send.”
“What?” Freddie clutched his hair. Like honest to goodness clutched his hair. “I can’t believe you just did that!”
“Freddie, the town knows you’re gay.”
He stared at me with some crazy, crazy eyes. Lots of white. “Of course the town knows I’m gay. That’s not the problem.”
“Then what is the problem?”
Freddie dropped his hands from his hair then fell heavily onto the couch. It was like that last text had just sucked all the air right out of him. “Sean coming to town … as my date?” He sh
ook his head. “That’s a really big deal. Coming to the wedding … it’s like he’s meeting my family.”
“So?” I asked, walking back around and dropping down beside him. “That’s a good thing. You’re taking it to the next level.”
“I don’t know. I don’t know if I’m ready for that.”
“Of course you are. You guys are great together.”
Freddie looked up to meet my eye. “But what if we’re not? What if it doesn’t work out? What if he finds out who I really am … and he breaks up with me?”
I searched Freddie’s eyes. He really was scared. I needed to handle this sensitively. Say just the right thing. I patted his hand. “If he does, then … I know just where we can hide his body.”
The tiniest hint of smile came to his mouth just as his phone buzzed again.
“What did he say?”
I read the message then met Freddie’s eye again. “It says he’d love to come.”
“He’d love to?”
“Says it right there.” I pointed at the screen.
Freddie’s face twitched to a smile. “Not just like to come?”
“No, he’d love to come.”
“Now quick, end it,” Freddie said. “Before you screw it up.”
I quickly typed a good night to Sean then leaned back against the couch.
We were quiet for a few moments.
“I really was worried about you too, though,” Freddie eventually said.
“I know.”
He slouched to the side a bit so he could look at me. “But I think maybe I just didn’t realize how easy it is to default to our relationship when other ones get tricky.”
“Same,” I said with a nod. “Maybe … maybe we do have to rethink things.”
“What do you mean?”
I looked at him. “Like maybe we do need more boundaries between us.”
Freddie dropped his chin to his chest. “You do realize you’re saying this after you just texted my boyfriend pretending to be me.”
“Exactly,” I said, throwing my hands in the air. “I’m way out of control. That campfire?”
“That was awesome,” Freddie said with a snicker. “You’re going to be hearing about that for years.”
I backhanded him lightly on the arm. “Stop it. I’m being serious. I mean, we can’t just go back to the way things were bef—” Just then I jerked up. Something caught my eye. “Is that the packaging for a new cappuccino machine?”
Down the Aisle with Murder Page 15
