Page 52 of Jon's Helter Skelter Cold Case

From the back kitchen area, I heard a woman say something in an exasperated tone before she stuck her head out of the two-way metal door. She was even shorter than Sammi, her dark hair up in a bun and glasses perched on her nose.

“What?”

“They want to host their wedding here,” Sammi relayed, still bouncing with happiness.

Sammi’s wife did an abrupt about-face in attitude and was now fully invested. She came directly to me, hand outstretched.

“I’m Amelia.”

“Jon, and this is my fiancé, Donovan.”

She shook hands with Donovan, too, but demanded, “You really want to do it here?”

“Honestly, ever since we found you guys about three months ago, you’ve become our go-to for pizza. We thought having a costume party in a pizza place would be a really fun time for all. And your restaurant is upscale enough for a wedding without it looking chintzy.”

Donovan was laying on the praise, but every word of it was true. This place had old-school brick walls and exposed wooden beams with a polished concrete floor. The furniture was a very modern look, and it would be easy to decorate the space.

Both Amelia and Sammi looked proud of the fact we loved their food enough to want to do a wedding here. I supposed it was quite a feather to tuck in the cap.

“We would be honored,” Amelia declared. “I agree, it sounds like a very fun wedding. We do offer event packages—”

Eh? Really? Well that made things simpler.

“—but I think for this it’ll be more like two days. You’ll need half a day to decorate and another half a day to break everything down, right?”

A fact I hadn’t considered and felt stupid for not doing so. “You’re absolutely correct.”

“Then, hmmm…does four thousand sound all right?”

Considering the two venues we’d earmarked were twice the amount? “Absolutely.”

Amelia beamed, glowing with happiness and anticipation. “I think this will be fun! Let’s do it. We’ll still have to take online and pickup orders on your day, though.”

I waved this off. “Of course, you’ve got a business to run. That’s fine. I’ll try to get RSVPs to tell you what kind of pizza people want.”

Donovan nodded along at my side. “Great idea, that way you guys know what all to make. We don’t want to do anything formal, so let’s just do a pizza buffet. Uh, do you guys offer gluten-free and vegan options?”

“We do!” Sammi puffed out his chest. “My gluten-free pizza is popular.”

Perfect. I had some loved ones who couldn’t do gluten or dairy for a variety of reasons, so I was relieved Sammi could accommodate.

“Give me a date and a contract, and I’ll be happy to sign this very second.” I was not kidding. I was absolutely ready to lock this in. We still had to get invitations out, after all.

Amelia darted back toward the kitchen, and likely her office, intent on getting us a form.

“What day are you looking for?” Sammi asked. “And how many guests?”

“About a hundred and fifty guests, some of them kids.” Donovan was able to rattle this out off the top of his head, since we’d just finished our guest list the other night. “September is our month, date flexible. And can we do a lunchtime wedding? Say, eleven to three o’clock?”

“Sure, sure. I think that’s reasonable.” Sammi whipped out his phone.

I automatically took three steps back. Let’s not kill the nice man’s phone while I asked for a favor.

He seemed puzzled and Donovan leapt in with an explanation.

“Sorry, forgot to warn you, he’s a psychic and runs hot. He kills technology just by brushing past it, so make sure to keep a three-foot distance if you’re using a phone or something.”

“Ohhhh.” Sammi glanced at his phone and took another step back of his own accord. “Warning taken. All right, let’s see here. You want a Saturday?”

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