A Frightening Fangs-giving

a lawyer, but I don’t think he does that anymore. Or was he a stockbroker?” She taps her chin with her finger. “Whatever he was, he was very, very angry. I thought he was going to kill her last summer the way those two were ranting at one another. And then there’s Flint. He’s the one with the cheesy politician smile. His career is finally kicking off. But if you ask me, I think he was about to kick Ember to the curb. Toward the end, something didn’t feel right whenever the two of them were in the same room.”
Macy clears her throat as she checks her phone. “Would you look at the time? I’ve got a date in less than fifteen minutes.” She taps away at the screen. “I’m going to ask him to pick me up right here. I’d better get to the restroom and spruce myself up.” She riffles through her purse quickly before glancing our way. “Any of you ladies have a razor I can borrow? I seem to be all out.”
“A razor?” I gape at my sister as I try to wrap my mind around why she feels the need for shaving speed—here of all places.
Both Willow and Georgie do a quick check of their bags. Willow comes up with a toothbrush, and Georgie is the first to slide a bubblegum pink razor across the table as if it was a trophy.
“Oh, thank God.” She cinches her purse to her shoulder. “Willow, we’ll get together and talk about that inventory. You do have top-of-the-line products, but seeing they have the patina of death on them, I’ll be expecting a deep discount.” She looks to Georgie and me. “And I’ll see you girls tomorrow.” She takes off, and a thought hits me.
“Macy, you drove!” I call out after her, but it’s too late. She’s gone. I turn back to Willow. “All right,” I snip without meaning to. “Willow, I know you’re hiding something. What was going on with you and Ember? You might be putting up a front, but I can tell you’re furious with her. I’m good at reading faces.”
“Yeah,” Georgie spouts off. “And she’s even better at reading minds.”
Willow chuckles as I widen my eyes at Georgie.
“You’re right, Bizzy. I wasn’t thrilled with her. I poured all of my life savings into opening up a store I wasn’t even interested in. I had to borrow from my grandmother.” Worse yet, I had to lie and tell her I was headed to nursing school with the money. It’s what I’ve always wanted. It was my dream, but Ember wasn’t having it.
I blink back. Something isn’t right. How could Ember make her give up her dream?
“Willow, if Macy doesn’t buy all of your inventory, I’ll take what she doesn’t for the spa at the inn. In fact, why don’t you come down anytime you want. You can have a full treatment on me.”
“Really?” She presses a hand to her chest. “Expect to see me sooner than later.” She knocks back the rest of her drink. “Great seeing you ladies.” She points over at Georgie. “You and those crooked blankets are going to go far.”
“Wonky quilts!” she shouts up over the music as Willow disappears into the crowd.
My stomach growls like a bear, and I’m about to head to the buffet just as a tall, dark, and dangerously sexy homicide detective steps before me.
“Bizzy Baker Wilder.” Jasper does his best to frown, but there’s a smile rising on the corners of his lips. “How did I know I’d find you here?”
I cringe a little. “Because you figured out exactly where Willow Taylor spends her free time?”
He nods. “And I had a sneaking suspicion you’d be spending yours here as well.” He glances down at the tote bag wiggling by my side. “Is that Fish?”
Georgie honks out a laugh. “Have cat will travel. Get a load of these, Wilder.” She unzips the top of the mesh compartment she has the kittens locked up in, and one right after the other jumps out, into her food before landing on the floor and darting away into the crowd.
“Oh my God! The kittens!” I shout in horror. And no sooner do the three of us go in three different directions to look for them than the entire place breaks out into screams of horror and we hear the words mice, snakes, and werewolves all at the very same time.
Juni pops up with that tattooed farmer of hers, and the two of them all but knock the buffet over as they struggle to catch one of the kittens trapped beneath it.
Bodies jump and hustle to the door while those little kittens dart across the floor from one end of the room to the other like little white streaks of lightning.
Finally Juni manages to wrangle one, but not before sinking her entire hand into a vat of mashed potatoes—honest to God, there was no good reason for her to do so. I’m guessing she was squeezing some food-based fantasy in there somewhere to take advantage of the moment.
Jasper chases a kitten down at the bar and causes about ten different drinks to sail to the floor in the process.
Georgie takes off her quilt and waves it around as if she was a matador, in hopes to catch the final little rascal. But it’s not the kitten who ends up running through Georgie’s quilt of wonky terror—it’s me on all fours.
However, all is not lost. I spot a striped cutie under one of the tables, and both Fish and I trap her between us.
I reach over and snatch her up, much to the crowd’s delight, and soon the Happy Hour is back to its pre-hysteria madness.
All three kittens get placed back where they came from. And Georgie swears on her cornbread stuffing she’ll never let them out again, which only sends them into a panic.
Jasper and I enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner, and despite the fact he’s not all that thrilled with me, Jasper Wilder