“Is everything ready to go?” she asks as Lily makes big eyes at her.
“Everything is under control,” Lily says the words slow and measured and a touch too loud as if she suddenly morphed into a robot with her batteries about to run out.
Evie’s shoulders jump. “Oops.” She glances my way. “I mean, I’d like to order a couple of those cream puff thingies. I’ll be hanging out with Dash in a little while.” She gives Lily a hard wink, and now I know for sure something is up.
“Good afternoon, ladies,” I say to both Lily and Suze.
Suze Fox is Noah’s mother. She’s tall, of stalky build, and has short platinum blonde hair that swoops over her eyes in the front and is shorn short along her neck. She wears a perennial frown on her face and has never cared for me all that much no matter how much I’ve tried to get along with her.
The strangest thing happened last week. Suze said that she spoke to me about working at the bakery. In fact, she said that I suggested the position to her, but the odd thing is that I have no recollection of the incident. I would have thought she hallucinated it, but Lainey said she saw me speaking to Suze that very night. One of us is losing their mind, and sadly, in this equation, it seems to be me.
“Morning, Lottie.” Lily slides a cup of coffee my way. “Decaf, just the way you like it. I’ve already put the kitchen staff on notice, and we’ve made more lemon Bundt cakes than I care to look at. And don’t worry. Almost all of them were of the smaller individual serving size. I think they’re cuter that way, and we’ll sell twice as many and charge twice as much to do it.”
“You’re turning out to be a real businesswoman, Lily. I appreciate that,” I say, glancing down at the shelves. “But there are hardly any Bundt cakes out here for people to see. We might want to sprinkle a few more here and there. Things sell better if they’re in abundance.”
Suze clucks her tongue. “That’s because not all of the Bundt cakes are at the bakery. We’ve already delivered more than half of them to the—”
“The hospital!” Carlotta shouts as if she were having a medical episode herself. She shoots Suze a beady-eyed stare. “That’s right, Lot. Suze here called this morning and said they were having a big meeting at the hospital. They’re down a few patients, so they wanted some of your poison pie to drum up business.”
I take a moment to glower at her. “Very funny. What’s going on?” I quickly inspect the four of them and they all have this deer in the headlights look on their faces. “Oh my goodness, something has happened, hasn’t it? You’re keeping something from me!” My stomach tightens again and my hands glide over my belly as I breathe out slowly just the way Serena Digby taught me. Who would have thought the same woman who put a hex on me would have been a saving grace during the most trying part of my pregnancy?
Serena wasn’t the only teacher in my birthing class. Lainey was her assistant.
“Mom?” Evie’s voice hikes a notch. “That kid isn’t going to fall out of you right now, is it?”
“What? No!” I wave the idea off. “Now someone had better fess up. What’s happening around here? And where did all those lemon Bundt cakes really end up?”
“Fine, I’ll tell ya,” Carlotta barks my way before checking her phone. “What’s this? It’s a note from your mother. She says there’s an awfully big emergency at the B&B and we need to get there quickly!”
“Oh my goodness.” I grip my belly as it gives me another firm squeeze. “We have to go. Who knows what Cormack and Cressida are up to. Or Wiley for that matter. My God, he could have sold my mother.”
Lily puts the kitchen staff on alert to take over as both she and Suze take off their aprons and soon we all hustle our way out into the snowy afternoon.
I’m curious as to what in the world is going on at the B&B, and exactly how my Bundt cakes might play into it.
What was once the Honey Hollow Bed and Breakfast has horrifically been renamed the Rendezvous Luxury Resort and Razzle Dazzle Day Spa.
A horrible groan evicts from me as I take in the latest assault to what was once my mother’s adorable B&B.
“It’s pink!” I howl as if I’ve been mortally injured. No wonder she needed us here stat. But it looks as if the painters are all done with the catastrophe. They must have worked quickly. We’re too late.” The B&B is basically a large boxy mansion with Roman columns, wrought iron balconies, and a sprawling front porch. Mom bought the place with the money from Dad’s life insurance payout when he died, and it’s been her baby ever since—right up until it was swiped from beneath her. And just a couple of years ago, she tacked on a glass conservatory to the back and it affords a stunning view of the woods behind the B&B.
Carlotta parks in the rear, and I note the back door to the conservatory is open.
I huff at the sight. “I bet my mother has finally had enough of Cormack and Cressida’s hot pink shenanigans.”
“No way, Mom.” Evie swings open the door to Carlotta’s minivan as soon as it rolls to a stop. “I talked to Glam Glam this morning and she wishes she came up with half the ideas the dual ditzes have implemented.”
“You talked to Glam Glam this morning? What did she say?”
Her mouth opens a notch. “Let’s get inside and ask her ourselves.”
“Fine,” I say as Carlotta and Evie help me wobble my way through the shoveled walkway. “I’m sure Cormack and Cressi-duh made Glam Glam shovel this walk.” Cressi-duh is usually Evie’s derogatory way of saying her mother’s name, but I’m feeling ornery today and my stomach keeps seizing up like a bowling ball, and now that the B&B is pink, for Pete’s sake. The universe cannot expect me to stand by with a smile on my face.
A van in the lot catches my eye.
“Would you look at that?” I point over at it. “The bakery van is already here. I guess Lily and Suze beat us. I wonder why they brought the van? Never mind. I bet Suze told Lily it was cheaper to waste my gas than theirs. That woman knows how to pinch a nickel until it screams for mercy. If anyone should go on a talk show, it’s Suze Fox.”
“Which talk show, Lot?” Carlotta asks as we’re about to crest the entry.
“Extreme Cheapskates,” I say. “Suze Fox makes even the cheapest cheapskate green with envy as to what a tightwad she can be.”
We step into the conservatory as the lights blink on, and just about every woman in Honey Hollow jumps out and shouts SURPRISE!
The first thing I see is Suze Fox’s beady little eyes glaring at me because clearly she heard every last cheapskate word.
“Oh my…what?” I press a hand against my chest as I stagger back. “What in the world?” I take a quick look around at all of the colorful balloons sprinkled around the room. Above the refreshment table, giant rose gold Mylar balloons spell out the words baby shower. To the right there’s a table laden with hundreds of my miniature lemon Bundt cakes, and tears come to my eyes just looking at them. Next to that there’s a buffet of finger sandwiches and salads of which most of the women here seem to be partaking in already. In the front of the room there’s a table brimming with gifts, cellophane wrapped baskets, and enough teddy bears to outfit a preschool.