Pumpkins are Murder (Bee's Bakehouse Mysteries Book 8)
Page 13
Cassie and Amy had been playing on her mind a lot. Okay, Cassie may have been grumpy and difficult, but she’d been spending some time with Amy and she’d been struck by the fact that her friend believed her romantic situation was hopeless.
Springdale wasn’t exactly the kind of place with a thriving singles scene and because of that, good women like Amy felt they had no choice but to take chances on manipulative conmen like Bobby Holmes. They weren’t all as bad as Bobby, but Jessie still felt like her friends could do better.
It was with that in mind that she began to plan the first fundraiser for the Springdale Center, as Lindemann’s would soon be known.
It was a silly idea, but Jessie didn’t care. It would be a bit of fun for the people in town and she couldn’t think of a better way to meet some new people.
She hadn’t told anybody about it yet. She wanted to run the idea past her new friend first and see what she thought of it.
Jessie brought it up the next time she met Amy to go for a walk. Amy had a little poodle who had become quite taken with Toby, so the two met for walks almost every day.
“I have an idea,” Jessie said, feeling nervous about her friend’s response.
“Something tells me I’m not going to like this.”
“Just hear me out?”
Amy looked wary. “Okay.”
“You know how I’ve been trying to come up with a plan for a fundraiser?”
Amy nodded.
“Well, I’ve thought of something. It’ll be a bit crazy and it’s bound to get coverage in the papers. Maybe even on TV if we can get the crew over from Rockfield.”
“What is it? Are you going to do an auction like we talked about?”
“Not exactly.” Jessie bit her lip and pulled Toby away from a candy bar wrapper that somebody had discarded on the ground. “I was thinking of throwing the Springdale Bachelorette Ball. We’ll sell tickets to a sit-down meal. The main event will be our bachelorette and her ten possible bachelors. We’ll have an auction too—I haven’t worked out the—”
“Springdale Bachelorette,” Amy repeated, her eyebrows shooting skyward. “Please tell me you’re not going to ask me what I think you’re going to ask me.”
Jessie cringed. “Really? You don’t want to take part? It’s for a good cause and you might end up meeting a guy. And if you don’t, who cares?”
Amy winced. “I’m not giving you an outright no, but I need to know what’s involved before I agree. Would I have to wear a horrible gown and prance around on stage?”
“Like Miss Pumpkin?”
“That’s exactly the sort of awful scenario I’m imagining. Is that what you’re thinking of?”
“Of course not! I want to make it fun, not unbearable. No, I was thinking we could find ten willing bachelors from the surrounding towns—guys you might not have met otherwise because of the way social groups work around here—and we’d have them carry out a number of tasks. You’d be the judge, narrowing down the contestants until the final two. Then you’d choose between them. I was thinking we could get Ken at the Chronicle to cover your date in the paper and maybe put a video up on YouTube along with some footage of the renovations.”
Amy tapped her lip. “So you’re telling me you want me to assess ten eligible men and choose my favorite. What’s the catch? Will they all be murderers or something? I can’t say I’m into that.”
Jessie laughed. “No, and I can understand why. There is no catch. I thought it’d be a fun theme for an evening to get people out and supporting the rebuild.” She grinned. “And I figured it’d be a bonus if I could save a friend from the wilds of internet dating. Trust me—I’ve heard a lot of horror stories from Mel.”
“In that case,” Amy said grinning. “You’ve got a deal!”
31
“Should I be jealous?” Mike asked when she had finished telling him about her plans.
He had been away for the past two weeks so they hadn’t seen very much of each other at all since before the murder. Jessie intended to change that: she had prepared a pot roast for dinner with a chocolate mud cake for dessert. They had taken refuge on the couch to allow time to digest the mountain of tender roast meat and vegetables they had eaten.
“Of course not!” she laughed. “It’s not like I’m going to put myself forward as the bachelorette.”
“Really? Would you have any objection if I volunteered as one of the bachelors?”
She turned and stared at him, a pit of worry opening up in her stomach until she saw the corner of his eyes crinkle in that familiar way she loved so much.
“Oh come on,” he laughed, pulling her into a tight embrace. “Did you seriously think I meant that? I love you, Jessie Henderson. Even if I have almost forgotten what you look like in recent weeks.”
She smiled, though it was more bittersweet than before. “I know. Things have been pretty crazy around here lately. But that’s going to change. The case is closed and Bobby Holmes is going to jail for a very long time. And now that the community has taken over the running of Lindemann’s I’ll have far less work to do on that. In fact, all I’ll have to do is run the café—after the last few months it’ll feel like a vacation!”
“I can’t wait.”
Without knowing it, Jessie must have drifted off. When she opened her eyes, the credits were rolling on the movie they’d been watching. She turned to look at Mike, aghast.
“Did I fall asleep?” she whispered.
He grinned. “Were you asleep? I thought you were just ignoring me so that I’d take it as my cue to do the dishes.”
She looked over and saw that the dishes had been cleared from the table and the kitchen benches were entirely clear of the mess she had made earlier.
“Wow, you’re awesome! Thank you.” She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “I’m sorry, Mike. I know I haven’t been around for you much lately. This was supposed to be about spending quality time together and I fell asleep instead!”
He laughed and shook his head. “Don’t be sorry. We have the rest of our lives to spend quality time together. For my part, I’ve been busy with the council reorganization, but I think we’ve gotten through most of the changes we intended to make. That should free up a lot of my time. Any ideas of what we should do now that we won’t be ships in the night, stealing a few moments together before one or both of us have to go off to work?”
She smiled and stretched. The prospect of keeping normal hours and spending lots of time with Mike really did seem like heaven to her. “I don’t know. At the moment I’d settle for good food and time with friends. And no more murders around here for… well, forever.”
“That all sounds good to me,” he said, standing and reaching in his pocket.
Jessie stared at his face. There was a tension in it that hadn’t been there the moment before. She wondered what was causing him such stress.
He pulled his hand out and she saw he was holding a colorful flyer.
“What’s that?”
“I was thinking… well, when you get tired of good food, of course. I was thinking we might take a vacation.” He opened up the brochure and held it up so that she could see. “I think they’ll have good food here too.”
Jessie found herself looking at pictures of golden sands, green palm trees and blue-green waters. One of the pictures featured what looked like a swim-up bar.
“Where is that? It looks like heaven.”
“Fiji,” he said. “This place has it all. It’s all-inclusive and the resort has its very own private island. There are excursions to waterfalls and we can try scuba diving.”
Jessie felt all her remaining stress evaporate away. “Are you saying we should go there?”
“Of course,” he laughed. “I’m not showing you the brochure for fun. That’d be kind of cruel, wouldn’t it?”
Jessie leaped to her feet and pulled him into a bear hug. “It looks like absolute heaven! But I’ve got the fundraiser to think of. I was hoping to get it set up befo
re Christmas so that we can get the contractors in right away.”
Mike nodded. “Of course. Leave it with me. I’ll find a gap in our schedules. That’s if you’re sure you want to go there.”
She laughed. “Are you serious? Do you think I’d turn down the opportunity to go to a place like that?” she smiled, staring into his eyes and realizing how much he meant to her. “Of course, it doesn’t have to be this place. I’d be happy taking a vacation in Stanleyton if I could go with you.”
He bent his head and kissed her. “Really?”
“Yes.”
“Wow. In that case, I had better go talk to the travel agent about canceling this vacation and booking something in Stanleyton.”
She laughed and swiped playfully at his arm. “I meant what I said, Mike Stevens, but if you even think of taking the prospect of Fiji away from me…”
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My other books:
Bee’s Bakehouse mysteries:
Baking is Murder
Knitting is Murder
Parties are Murder
Football is Murder
Cruises are Murder
Mistletoe is Murder
Weddings are Murder
Fiona McCabe Mysteries:
Apple Seeds and Murderous Deeds
Full Irish Murder
Four Weddings and a Murder