Death of a Cupcake Queen (3 page)

Chapter 5

Hayley and Liddy had been waiting thirty-five minutes for their classmates, Sabrina Merry-weather, Nykki Temple, and Ivy Foster, who were the self-appointed high school reunion planning committee. They had all agreed to meet at the reunion venue, the Kebo Valley Golf Club, precisely at 4:00 PM. It was no shocker the mean girls were late. Ever since high school it was assumed (by them) that their time was always more valuable than anybody else's.

Liddy was steaming and ready to wash her hands of the whole affair and drive home, but Hayley stalled her by soliciting her ideas for how they should handle the reunion. Liddy loved to be consulted on how to plan an event, but when it came down to the nitty gritty details and the actual hard work of seeing it through, her interest quickly waned.

Liddy still couldn't believe the mean girls had put off planning the reunion until just a few days before, so she strongly believed the best course of action was to go simple. Nothing too fancy.

“I can call in a few favors. There's that new caterer, Betsy Myers, who just moved to town. She does a delicious assortment of appetizers and I'm certain she'll give us a break because I got her a great deal on her house.”

“Well, I'm just happy that the cooking won't be my responsibility for once,” Hayley said.

“We'll do a cash bar to save money and Sonny loves to DJ on the side so I'm sure he'd be willing to spin tunes for free if I ask nicely.”

Sonny Lipton was a local baby-faced lawyer and Liddy's current beau who was a good deal younger than her.

“And if that doesn't work, I can always use other means of persuasions,” Liddy said, cocking her head to the side and winking at Hayley.

“Enough! I don't need to hear the details,” Hayley said, putting a hand up.

“Anyway, I've crunched the numbers and I think if we really went bare bones we could get away with just charging twenty dollars per person.”

“What about decorations?”

“We're adults celebrating twenty long years since high school. We're way past the crepe paper and streamers stage. The golf club looks lovely just the way it is. This is more about seeing old faces than over-the-top decorations.”

That sounded good to Hayley, who stared out the bay windows overlooking the lush green golf course.

This place was perfect.

At that moment, the door to the main dining room and bar, which served as the nineteenth hole for club members, swung open and in breezed Sabrina along with one of her foot soldiers from high school, Nykki Temple.

Nykki was still a spark plug. Short. Fiery red hair. And wearing a casual business suit that was almost an exact replica of the one Liddy was wearing.

And Hayley knew that was not lost on the extremely style conscious Liddy Crawford, whose eyes nearly popped out of her head.

Nykki kept her distance, acknowledging Hayley with a slight wave as her eyes stayed glued to her smart phone.

“I'm so sorry we're late,” Nykki said in a clipped voice that betrayed not a hint of remorse. “It's all my fault. Sabrina and I decided to car pool but when she showed up at the hotel to pick me up I was still out showing a lovely home with ten acres of land just outside of town to an interested couple from Delaware looking for a summer getaway.”

“I . . . I beg your pardon . . . ?” Liddy stammered, not quite believing her ears. “What are you doing showing property in Maine? Don't you live in Boston?”

“Yes. But I have my real estate license in every state in New England,” Nykki said, not even making eye contact with Liddy. “The thing is, I found a summer rental in Seal Harbor on the water for me, Ivy and her husband, and Sabrina and her boyfriend to share. Four bedrooms. Classic New England style. Steps from the ocean. It got me thinking. I could clean up here. I'm bored selling high-end condos in Boston. Maybe it's time to pull up stakes and move home again.”

“You do realize I am the premier real estate agent on Mount Desert Island,” Liddy said, clenching her fists so tight her knuckles turned white.

“Oh yes,” Nykki said, finally looking up from her phone, a sly smile on her face.

“But why would you want to move back
here
? You must remember the awful rough winters and the messy muddy springs not to mention the slim pickings when it comes to finding a man. I can tell you're still single because you're not wearing a wedding ring and let's face it, Hayley snapped up the last good one to come to town, Dr. Aaron, a hot veterinarian.”

“Bravo for you, Hayley,” Nykki said. “But I'm not looking for a husband thank you very much.”

Liddy was now on an emotional spiral.

The last thing she needed was increased competition in the local real estate game.

Hayley stepped forward and gently touched her arm. She knew her friend would be completely useless for the rest of the planning committee meeting.

But before Hayley had a chance to pitch their low-cost ideas for the reunion, the door swung open again and Sabrina's other wingman, Ivy Foster, walked, or rather, danced inside. Ivy, with her flowing curly blond hair, and flower child essence, was more of a let-it-all-hang-out girl, wearing a loose sun dress with a green print that looked suspiciously like marijuana plants. She squealed in delight and grabbed Hayley in a bear hug, squeezing her so tight, as if they had actually been close in high school.

As Ivy descended upon Liddy, she tried to back away, a panicked look in her eye, but there was no escaping Ivy, who succeeded in wrapping her bony arms around her as Liddy wiggled to free herself.

Luckily for Liddy, the moment was broken by a cacophony of barking.

Or rather yapping.

Loud, intense, ear-splitting yapping.

Seven scampering high-energy toy poodles strained at their leashes to wreck havoc in the golf club held back only by a bespectacled wavy haired wisp of a man in a bright yellow golf shirt and green pants, his large hands attached to frighteningly skinny arms trying valiantly to keep a hold on the seven leashes.

Ivy was completely oblivious to the storm of activity in her wake. She just simply talked above the noise. “Oh my God, Hayley and Liddy, you two haven't changed a bit! You look just like you did in high school!”

A backhanded compliment to be sure since Hayley fought acne and frizzy hair right up to high school graduation and beyond.

“You have to meet my family,” Ivy cooed.

But instead of introducing her husband, she began rattling off the names of her miniature dogs he was desperately trying to corral. “This is Doc. Sleepy. Happy. Grumpy. Sneezy. Bashful. Dopey.”

Hayley had seen
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
enough times with her kids to know the dogs were wearing knitted sweaters that matched in color the costumes of their namesakes from the 1937 animated classic.

Someone was a true Disneyphile.

“They're my babies!” Ivy shouted over the din of her barking dogs. “I never go anywhere without them.”

“I can't believe there's only seven of them,” Liddy yelled. “Sounds more like
101 Dalmatians.”

“
Oh, I loved that movie too!” Ivy screamed, choosing to ignore the true intent of Liddy's remark. “I love anything Disney. We have an annual pass to the theme park. We fly to Orlando every vacation.”

“Hello, everyone,” her husband said in a thick British accent, almost out of breath from wrestling with the tiny dogs, “I'm another person in the room.”

“Oh, right. This is my husband Nigel. If I knew how sarcastic the English were, I probably never would have said, ‘I do.'”

“We all have our regrets in life, to be sure,” Nigel said icily.

The tension was thick in the room, broken only by the still barking dogs.

Hayley quickly stepped forward and shook his hand. “Nice to meet you, Nigel. I'm Hayley. Did you two bond over your love of everything Disney?”

“Good God no!” Nigel spit out. “I pray every night the factory where they mass produce those tacky little porcelain figurines based on every character in every cartoon they've ever made would burn to the ground in a raging fire so I wouldn't have to find room in our house on some shelf or nightstand or coffee table every time they put a damn movie out.”

Ivy reached down and picked up one of her dogs. “This isn't the only one we call Grumpy.”

Suddenly one of the dogs, Sneezy if Hayley had kept track of the names correctly, spotted a squirrel sprinting across a tree branch just outside the window of the dining room, and led a revolt. He wrenched free from Nigel's grasp, surprising him and causing him to let go of the other six leather handles. All seven yapping dogs scratched the hardwood floors with their toenails as they raced to the window, jumping up and down, barking at the top of their lungs, trying to get to the squirrel, who was now frozen in fear and staring through the glass at them.

“Nigel, would you please take the dogs for a walk so I can have a civilized meeting with my girlfriends about the reunion?” Ivy yelled scornfully.

“But I'm supposed to play a round of golf with a nice gentleman I met in town earlier today,” Nigel whined.

“I don't care. Stop being so selfish,” Ivy said, before spinning around and sighing to Hayley and Liddy. “He's never willing to help me with anything! And you would think that might be his top priority since he is a struggling novelist who hasn't written anything that's sold. I'm basically supporting the two of us plus the dogs with my thriving cupcake business. Did you know I was recently featured in the pages of
Bon Appetit
magazine?”

“Congratulations,” Hayley said, keeping one eye on Nigel, who had retrieved four out of the seven leashes, his face red with embarrassment over his wife berating him in front of her friends.

“I know exactly what you're going through. My ex-husband was a starving artist,” Sabrina said, piling on poor Nigel. “He hardly touched a brush to his canvas because he was more interested in watching cable news and leaving
me
to pay all the bills!”

Nigel at this point looked completely emasculated, wanting to disappear into the floor.

Hayley attempted to break the tension. “What kind of books do you write, Nigel?”

“Murder mysteries!” Nigel bellowed, snapping up the last of the leashes and yanking the dogs back from the window so aggressively they all slammed into one another.

“I love murder mysteries! Are you writing one now?” Hayley hollered over the high pitched yelping.

“Yes. I'm working on a story about a henpecked husband who murders his nagging wife! But the twist ending is he gets away with it because after hearing the torture she put him through, the jury refuses to convict him!”

There was an awkward silence.

Except for the barking dogs.

Without saying another word, Nigel wrangled the leashes and stormed out, dragging the dogs behind him.

Finally there was quiet.

“Let's get started, shall we?” Sabrina said, with a fake smile on her face to cover the fact she had just witnessed such an uncomfortable domestic drama.

“Well, Liddy and I had a chance to talk before you got here . . .” Hayley said.

“Since you were all so late,” Liddy barked, almost as piercing as Ivy's dogs.

Hayley quickly brushed past the comment. “Anyway, we think since time is such an issue we should just keep things simple and not go overboard because, after all, the whole point of the reunion is to just reconnect with old friends and catch up after so many years apart, right?”

Sabrina, Nykki, and Ivy exchanged glances before Nykki motioned for Sabrina to speak on their behalf.

“Hayley, we appreciate you and Liddy taking the initiative and trying to make our lives easier but this reunion, it's not like the tenth, when we were still kids, finding our way in life. This is the big one. Twenty years. We've all accomplished so much in life. Well, a few of us anyway. Why treat it just like any other run of the mill cocktail party?”

“We should go big. Have a live band. Maybe a singer or group who were really popular the year we graduated,” Nykki said to nods of approval from Sabrina and Ivy.

“Yes! Like Seal or Mariah Carey!” Sabrina said, clapping her hands.

“Or Tupac!”

“He's dead, Ivy,” Liddy said, scowling.

“Oh. Okay. Well, then maybe we can also get a celebrity from that era to give some kind of welcome speech. I may have an in with Jason Priestly.”

“Oh my God! Maybe Luke Perry could also come and they could be like co-speakers! That would be so fabulous!” Sabrina added, excited about their spitballing.

Liddy stared at them, skepticism written all over her face. “With three days notice?”

“You know, Liddy,” Nykki said pointedly. “Maybe if you weren't so negative you'd sell more houses. A positive attitude is the key to success.”

For a moment, Hayley thought she was going to have to tackle Liddy who looked like she was about to lunge at Nykki and physically assault her.

But surprisingly Liddy showed remarkable restraint.

Although she did look like she was about to cry.

“And decorations! We should recreate that simpler time in our lives. With lots of crepe paper and streamers,” Sabrina said to nods of approval from Ivy. “Really dress up this rather staid and architecturally outdated golf club.”

As Hayley and Liddy watched the three former mean girls chatter away about their big ideas, it was very clear they had officially been pushed out of the planning.

Nykki suddenly held a finger up for silence as she read a text on her phone. “Girls, I have to adjourn this meeting for now because I just got a last-minute showing out in Town Hill. A couple wants to take a look on their way out of town so it has to be now or never. They're already there waiting.”