Page 70 of Trouble Walked In

“Why?” Della asked. “What happened?”

Carrie giggled. “The cheapest bakery in town sent two sixteen-year-old boys to deliver this giant thing that they could barely hold, much less see around. One of them tripped over a shoelace or something and the whole thing went flying. Cake hit the wall behind the head table and splattered everywhere. Turned out the insides were mostly chocolate pudding. Left a mark like an inkblot test.”

Della laughed. “I’d have paid to see that.”

“It wasn’t funny!” Lizzie said, but she couldn’t stop the grin that spread across her face. “That was such a huge mess. It took six people an hour to clean up.”

“And the bride wasn’t upset?” Della asked.

Carrie plunged a cherry tomato onto a new skewer. “Yours truly did some truly spectacular emergency baking that day. I turned out a five-tier cupcake pyramid that actually made it into the local paper.”

Lizzie beamed at her friend. “You saved my ass that day. Those cupcakes were a lot better than anything that sleazybakery ever dreamed of making. The bride and groom were so happy they gave Carrie a five hundred dollar tip after.”

Carrie bowed. “I still say it was the best thing that could have happened. Turned out the groom’s mother had ordered the cake. Nasty piece of work, that woman. The bride was allergic to chocolate.”

Della’s eyes widened. “That’s so wrong.”

Carrie nodded. “Yeah, I always say you don’t just marry the man, you marry his family too, so before you say yes take a good, hard look atthem. Is that really who you want to spend holidays with?”

Lizzie frowned at her. “That’s cynical.”

“No. Just practical. For instance, what’s Renic’s family like?” Carrie looked at Lizzie with a wicked twinkle in her eyes. “You haven’t talked about his parents at all. Does he have siblings?”

“He’s an only child,” Della said. “And his parents are assholes.”

“They aren’t assholes. They’re just busy.” Lizzie’s phone pinged. She fished it out of her jacket pocket.

“Yeah, too busy for a kid. Renic told me how he had to bribe his dad to come to his high school graduation by promising to run his mother’s charity auction later that night.”

Carrie snorted. “That’s cold.”

Della popped a tomato in her mouth. “Yeah, instead of having a kid they should have just got a cat. Less maintenance.”

A text from Piper appeared on the home screen.Call me.

Lizzie raised her eyebrows at that. Piper was finally ready to talk? Why the change of heart? “I need to take this.”

“Who’s that?” Della asked. She craned her neck to get a look at the screen.

Lizzie turned the phone down so Della couldn’t see it.

“Just a follow-up.” She squeezed past Della toward her office.

“I wouldn’t go in there,” Carrie said. “The girls are changing into their uniforms.”

“Oh, right.” Lizzie altered her course to the back door.

She stepped out onto the small, covered porch on the side of the house and shut the door behind her.

It was a clear, unseasonably warm day, with a cool but pleasant evening predicted—perfect weather for an outdoor ceremony with the heaters they had set up. Lizzie sat down at one of the small, round wrought-iron tables with a feeling of satisfaction. They wouldn’t need the tent after all, which meant the twinkle lights would have the desired effect.

She pushed Piper’s number on the speed dial.

Her sister picked up after two rings. “Hey, Lizard Breath.”

Lizzie smiled. It had been too long since she’d heard Piper’s no-nonsense voice. “Pipsqueak. How are you? What took you so long to call?”

“Sorry about that. I had meetings. You know that animated movie I told you about?”

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