Good Buy Girls 05 - All Sales Final (24 page)

“Tell this woman that she is not allowed to make decisions regarding your wedding cake,” Maggie’s mother said. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Sam’s mother.

“Uh-oh,” Ginger said under her breath.

“What do you mean ‘uh-oh’?” Summer asked. “This is fixing to be good.”

Maggie frowned at her and Summer sighed. “Sorry.”

“Well, given that my opinion of the flowers didn’t matter, I just thought I would help in some small way.” Trudy Collins sniffed. “Clearly my help isn’t wanted.”

“No, it’s not that,” Maggie protested. “It’s just that
there’s been so much going on, but you don’t need to worry. Sam and I have everything under control.”

“Really?” Lizzie turned to look at her daughter. “Do tell.”

“Sit,” Ginger said to Maggie. “You can talk while I get this bandage on you.”

“Bandage?” Trudy Collins asked. “What happened to your knee?”

“She was almost ru—” Summer began but Maggie interrupted.

“I fell,” Maggie said. She gave Summer a look and Summer shrugged as if to say lying is pointless because they’re going to find out anyway. That was fine with Maggie so long as they figured it out when they weren’t with her and couldn’t fuss her into suffocation.

“That is a nasty scrape,” Lizzie said.

“Your dress should cover it though, right?” Trudy asked. She leaned over Maggie to examine her knee and Maggie felt as if she were under a laser-like scrutiny that would determine whether she was lying or not. Given that Sam was one of four boys, she was pretty sure Trudy Collins had perfected the look.

“Yes, absolutely,” Maggie said.

“You have your dress?” Lizzie asked.

Ginger chose that moment to hit Maggie’s scrape with an antiseptic wipe and Maggie about leapt out of her chair.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow!” she yelped.

“Sorry, but timing is everything,” Ginger said.

Maggie met her gaze and knew that her friend had
just saved her from confessing that she didn’t have a dress yet. That’s what best friends were for.

“What about a venue?” Trudy was clearly not going to be deterred from discussing wedding details even by a little blood.

“They are not using the banquet hall at your country club,” Lizzie said.

“Well, I refuse to see my son get married in the great room at your favorite restaurant,” Trudy argued.

They were both getting a little red and blotchy, and Maggie was afraid that things were going to go from bad to worse at any moment.

“No, no,” she said. “You don’t have to worry. Sam and I have agreed to have the reception at the new house.”

“That’s right,” Joanne said. “And my husband is providing the pig for roasting.”

“And my boyfriend has a cover band all lined up for entertainment,” Claire said.

“And my husband is getting all of the tables and chairs,” Summer said.

“Does he know this?” Ginger asked.

“Not yet, but he will,” Summer said. “I didn’t want to be left out.”

“Me neither,” Ginger agreed. “That’s why I’m taking care of the cake, which will be chocolate with vanilla buttercream and decorated with a cascade of peonies going around the side, right?”

“Yes. Really? You are?” Maggie asked.

“Absolutely,” Ginger said. “I’m pretty sure I can get help from Alice Franklin with the frosting part of it.”

“She is gifted in the frosting arts,” Claire said.

“See?” Maggie looked at the two mothers. “It’s all taken care of so you have nothing to worry about.”

“Nothing to worry about?” Lizzie squawked. “This is a travesty!”

“A fiasco,” Trudy agreed.

“You can’t have a wedding reception in a haunted house,” Lizzie said. “You shouldn’t even be planning to live there. How can your guests possibly expect to relax when they’ll be looking over their shoulders for ghosts the entire time?”

“She’s right,” Trudy said. “It’s a horrible idea. No doubt my son put her up to it.”

“Oh, Sam wasn’t alone in this half-baked idea. Some of the things Maggie has cooked up over the years, honestly, is it any wonder that my hair is gray?”

“Oh, please, you are a lovely mother of the bride,” Trudy said. “Look at all of this salt and pepper. When they first started sprouting, I used to name them after each boy who caused me a fright. I could point to my head and say, ‘Tommy, Jake, Nate, Sam, Sam, Sam, Sam.’”

Lizzie O’Brien covered her mouth while she giggled and Maggie stared at the two women, who had entered enemies and were now leaving as friends.

“I think they might just be a perfect match,” Lizzie said. Both women turned to look at Maggie with matching expressions of adoration.

“Still, we’d better get moving on the decoration portion of this shindig, before it gets forgotten,” Trudy said. “I think peach linens would be lovely.”

“Yes, we could do that, or maybe a nice royal blue,” Lizzie said.

They turned and began to leave the shop, not even bothering to say good-bye to anyone.

“How about royal blue with peach accents?” Trudy asked.

“I like it,” Lizzie said.

The door swung shut behind them and Maggie leaned back against her seat and closed her eyes.

“What was that?” she asked.

“Turbo mothers of the bride and groom,” Summer said. “They are the reason some people elope.”

“Speaking of turbo mothers, how is Blair?” Claire asked.

“Still mad at me for eloping,” Summer said. Then she grinned. “That was months ago and she still isn’t speaking to me, which is a nice vacation from her constant criticism.”

“But she and Tyler are getting along?” Joanne asked.

“Ever since he saved her life and she found out he was loaded—okay, mostly after she found out he was loaded—he is her favorite person,” Summer sighed.

“Maybe she’ll meet someone soon,” Ginger said.

“You may want to trot her over to Spring Gardens,” Maggie said. “I know that both Dennis Applebaum and his brother are on the prowl and they could certainly use a firm hand from a strong-willed woman; also I heard that they’re quite well off.”

“Hmm.” Summer narrowed her gaze at Maggie. “Are you helping me out?”

“Maybe,” Maggie said. “Because I heard that friends do that sort of thing for each other, you know, like looking out for someone’s fiancé when someone is trying to break them up.”

Summer’s eyes went wide. “Did Sam tell you? I told him not to tell you.”

“Yeah, he did,” Maggie said. “And I’m glad. That was a nice thing you did and I appreciate it.”

Summer ducked her head and her hair covered her face. Maggie couldn’t tell if she was embarrassed or suddenly shy, having never seen Summer exhibit either of those emotions before.

“I’m lost,” Ginger said. “Catch me up to speed, please.”

Maggie told the rest of the Good Buy Girls what Sam had told her about Summer tailing Andy and keeping an eye on her. They all looked as amazed as Maggie had felt at the time.

“You know, I had my doubts about you, Summer, but I have to say you are certainly proving yourself worthy of the Good Buy Girl membership,” Ginger said.

“I can go one better than that,” Summer said. She glanced up and Maggie noted that her cheeks were pink with embarrassment. “I talked to Tyler about using one of his investments for your weddings favors, because I noticed you hadn’t really come up with one yet.”

Maggie felt her smile freeze. Given that Summer’s style was a bit more flamboyant than Maggie’s—as in a bit more slutty—she was afraid to find out what sort of investment would yield favors for her wedding.

“Here, I’ll show you,” Summer said. She reached into
her voluminous handbag and pulled out a cube-shaped box. She popped the top and lifted out a clear ball-shaped glass jar with a cork for a stopper and a small wooden honey dipper tied to its neck. The jar was filled with a pretty amber liquid.

Summer held it out to her. “It’s a jar of honey from Tyler’s beekeeper business. I figured we could tie on a tag with your names and the date and use them as favors. I mean everyone likes honey, right?”

Maggie took the jar and felt her throat get tight. If anyone had told her that there would be a day where she felt compelled to hug Summer and not in a choke-her-out sort of way, she would have thought they were crazy.

She glanced up at the woman who had been a thorn in her side since she first sucked air. Then she stepped close and hugged her.

“It’s perfect,” Maggie said. “Thank you.”

After an awkward second, Summer hugged her back. “You’re welcome.”

When they broke apart, they gave each other sheepish grins.

“That is absolutely perfect, Summer,” Joanne said. She gave her a hug and Ginger did the same. Claire, not being a hugger by nature, left it at a fist bump.

“Maggie, I don’t want to jinx it but I can’t help but think you are going to have the best wedding ever,” Ginger said. Maggie didn’t want to jinx it either so she said nothing, but just nodded, hoping that her silent agreement did not invite mayhem into one of the most important days of her life.

Chapter 26

When she thought about it, Maggie knew she didn’t need the best wedding ever, she just needed a non–ghost infested event that would find her married to her first love Sam Collins at the end of it. She had to admit life sure was full of surprises. If someone had told her five years ago that this was how it was going to play out, she would have thought they were demented. Now she couldn’t imagine her life going any other way.

Shortly after the mothers left the shop, the Good Buy Girls all left to carry on with their own days. It took some pushing, but Maggie convinced Ginger that she was fine. She had a call in to Sam as he was still out looking for Ruth.

She wanted to tell Sam about the diary but not over
the phone. And truthfully, she wanted to finish reading it before she turned it over to him.

Maggie figured as long as she stayed alert, she really didn’t have to worry that Ruth was going to make another move to hurt her. After mulling over the incident, she knew that if Ruth had really wanted to kill her, she could have easily run Maggie over. It seemed she just wanted to scare Maggie, so in that regard, mission accomplished.

When Sam called to check on her, Maggie promised to keep her phone on her person at all times, which seemed to put him at ease. Maggie mentioned that she needed to talk to him, and he said he would be stopping by as soon as he finished running down the lead that Ruth’s car was in the lot at the hospital.

While Maggie was ringing up a pretty sundress for Megan Pritchard, she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. It was an incoming text from Tyler Fawkes. He wanted to know how many tables he should pick up for the wedding party at the house.

Maggie frowned. She had no idea. They texted back and forth until Maggie knew the size of the tables and how much room they would take up with chairs. She knew she was going to have to stop by the house and do some measuring before she could answer Tyler’s question.

Wanting to get it done before she forgot, Maggie decided to stop by the house on her way home. As she closed and locked the shop door, she called Sam to let him know what she was doing.

“Hi, darling,” Sam answered. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” Maggie assured him.

“How’s the knee?”

“Better. Have you had any luck finding Ruth?”

“We found her car parked on her street, not at the hospital, but there was no sign of her,” he said. He sounded grim. “I want you to be extremely careful until we do.”

“I will, I promise,” Maggie said. “I’ve been in touch with Tyler about the tables for the reception. I need to stop by the house and measure the main rooms to figure out how many we can fit in there.”

“Don’t we want to set up outside?” Sam asked.

“What if it rains?”

“We can put up big tents,” he said.

“All right, but I still need to measure the backyard and figure out how we’re going to lay it all out.”

“I don’t want you at the house by yourself,” he said.

“So meet me,” Maggie said. She thought about the diary, hating to give it up before she had read the whole thing, but still she knew it was the right thing to do. “I have something to give you.”

“That sounds promising,” Sam said.

“It’s got to do with Jasper Kasey,” Maggie said.

“Now I’m intrigued,” he said. “I can be there in half an hour.”

“Perfect,” Maggie agreed. “I’ll meet you on the front porch.”

“Do not go into the house or the backyard without me,” Sam said.

“I promise,” Maggie said.

They ended their call with their usual
I love you
s and
Maggie put her phone back in her pocket. She had forgotten to call Sal at the garage, so she was going to have to walk across town to get to the house, which would take most of the half hour. She figured if she cut through the town green, she would be safe enough; besides if she got there early, she’d have a few minutes to look through the diary.

She locked up the shop and set out toward the center of town. She loved June. It was warm but not yet sticky with humidity. Hanging flower pots bursting with rainbows of vibrant petunias hung from the lampposts that lined the streets in the center of town. It was hard to feel afraid when the world was so fresh and green and full of beauty and optimism.