Death Takes a Honeymoon Read Online Free PDF Page B

Brian’s.”
    “I will. And you’ll probably see her yourself at the wedding.”
    At the café we took a booth and ordered, coffee for Mom, coffee and pastry for me. Then I clenched my teeth and swore not to comment on what was bound to happen next. Sure enough, my darling mother, normal enough in most respects, dived into her oversized purse and pulled out a big fat plastic jar of Folger’s Crystals.
    Our server, a young Hispanic woman, set down two steaming cups and stared. “I thought you wanted coffee. Is there something wrong?”
    “Not at all, dear,” said Mom, blithely unscrewing the jar. “No one ever makes it strong enough, that’s all. Would you care for some, Carrie? No, you never do...”
    As she stirred spoon after spoon of brown powder into her coffee, I smiled tightly at the retreating waitress and bit into my scone. Ah, airport food. So bland and yet so stale.
    Mom took a healthy swallow and sighed. “We should be talking about poor Brian, but I don’t know what to say. I’ve hardly set eyes on him since he was a child.” Another swallow. “He was a difficult child.”
    “Difficult! Mom, when he was nine he sat on me and tried to set my hair on fire.”
    “That’s right, he did.” She chuckled. “But after all, you did burn all his baseball cards. Goodness, you smelled awful!”
    That’s the great thing about my mother, she’s always ready to laugh. I am, too, and so we did. That changed the mood, and she changed the subject.
    “Carrie, I have a wonderful surprise for you. I’ve been talking to Cissy, and we’ve had the best idea.”
    “Oh?” I said warily. Cissy Kane meant well, but ideas were not her strong suit. Shopping and dithering were her strong suit.
    “Cissy’s been all in a tizzy—you know how she gets—because the wedding planner that Tracy hired can’t be there in person after all. Something about an emergency with some other bride, but I don’t think that’s fair, do you? They sent a substitute, a junior person from New York City, but Cissy and Tracy simply despised the woman right from the start for being so bossy. You’re not bossy with your clients, are you, dear?”
    “Mom, what’s this about?”
    “Well, Tracy is off visiting friends in Portland, trying to relax before the wedding, but when I told Cissy you were coming to Ketchum, we thought of the perfect solution!”
    I set down the scone. “Please don’t tell me you volunteered my services.”
    “You guessed!” She beamed at me and sipped some more of her mud. “Honestly, I don’t know why Tracy didn’t ask you in the first place—”
    I was already shaking my head. “That was her choice, Mom, and I can’t possibly interfere with it. And anyway, I’m here to take care of B.J., not to work. No way. No.”
    What part of “No” does my mother not understand? When she wants something, the whole part. She smiled blandly.
    “You’re just like your father sometimes. So excitable! You won’t be working, you’ll be helping out a friend in need. Tracy will be so pleased when she hears about it. Cissy’s expecting a call from her this afternoon, so by the time you get there—”
    “Mom, you set this up without even knowing what I’d say?”
    She blinked. Her eyes, like mine, were an undecided hazel, somewhere between brown and green, and just now they looked puzzled and a little hurt.
    “But what is there to say? You and Tracy were so close, and here she’s having a problem with her wedding and you’re an expert at weddings. And you’ll be there anyway. You wouldn’t stand by and refuse to help her, would you? Not even talk to her about it?”
    “Well, of course I’ll talk to her, but I’m not going to muscle in on someone else’s contract and—”
    Mom beamed and reached for her bag. “I’m sure you won’t need a contract, dear, not between friends...”
    Famous last words,
I thought with a silent groan.
    “...though Cissy might give you a little something in cash, just for old