“But it’s perfectly logical,” I said. “Together they’ll overcome a few more pesky problems, and then they’ll get married.” I pointed to the green light, and Frankie hit the gas. “Willow LaSwann and Kipp Jupiter are destined for each other. They’ll merge their properties into one big ranch and live happily ever after.”
“Miss Jessie!” Frankie scolded. “I’m not talking about your book. I’m talking about your car.” He tapped the steering wheel. “Is it really all mine?”
“Everything but the license plate.” I gestured to the car lot up ahead. “But not until we pick out a new one for me. I’m thinking gold this time.” I turned to my driver. “What do you think?”
Frankie made it to the next red light. “I think this is crazy.”
I doubt he was referring to a gold Porsche, but to the fact that I was giving him the silver one. After consulting with Laura and Greg Smythe, I decided my old car would make an excellent high school graduation gift. Perhaps a bit extravagant, but Frankie deserved it.
And lo and behold, I could finally afford a new car for myself. Thanks to the publicity Adelé Nightingale had gotten of late, my bank account was looking healthier than ever.
“Now remember,” I said as we inched forward in the traffic. “This is an early graduation gift. I won’t be giving you another car next year.”
“Miss Jessie! Do you really think I’ll ever forget this?” He tapped the steering wheel. “Now then, about that wedding.”
“You are referring to Willow and Kipp’s wedding?”
“No. To your wedding. Lizzie thinks it’s romantic that old—I mean older—people like you and Captain Rye are getting married.” I braced myself and waited for the inevitable. “So, like, when is it?”
I stared out the passenger window. “Sometime soon,” I said.
“You’re stalling,” Frankie told me. “Why won’t you marry Captain Rye”
I suggested we concentrate on our cars.
“Why?” he asked firmly.
“Oh, for Lord’s sake!” I threw my arms up. “I do love the guy, okay? But I can’t see myself living way out at Lake Lookadoo in a shack. And don’t get me started on the supposed plumbing. It would ward away even the scariest of the Septosauri.”
“Can’t you get the plumbing fixed?”
I skipped a beat. “Maybe,” I said. “But then there’s Wilson—Captain Rye. He doesn’t want to live downtown any more than I want to live out in the boondocks.”
“That’s it?” Frankie was incredulous. “You’re worried about where you’ll live?”
“It is an important consideration,” I argued as we finally, finally pulled into the car dealership.
He parked, and I quick went to open my door. But Frankie was faster. He reached out and grabbed my left arm. He was as thin as ever. But somewhere along the line the child—I mean, the young man—had acquired some strength.
I bit my lip to keep from laughing. “Kindly unhand me, Mr. Smythe.”
Frankie let go of my wrist and apologized. “I told Lizzie this would come out all wrong. I’m being nosey, and now you’re mad at me.” He reached for his own door, but I grabbed his wrist.
“I’m not mad.” I waited until he would look at me. “You can be as nosey as you want.”
“Well then, you are being kind of stupid, Miss Jessie.”
“Oh? And what’s your brilliant solution to my housing problem?”
“Like, duh! Live in both places. Lots of people have two houses, right? Like, what’s wrong with that?”
I blinked twice.
Like, nothing.
***
“Let’s hope my ploy worked,” I told my mother as we pulled into Wilson’s driveway. “He thinks he’s taking me to the fancy restaurant on the other side of the lake.”
Mother informed me I’m a shameless liar, but Wilson was indeed wearing his best suit when he stepped outside to greet us.
“What do you think?” I asked as I climbed out of my brand new car.
“It’s great!” His eyes got wide. “It’s gold.”
“But it’s understated, no?”
“I have news for you, Darlin.’ There’s nothing understated about this car.” He pointed to the Adelé license plate and hustled over to help my mother from the passenger seat.
He told her he hadn’t been expecting her. No kidding. And that it was a nice surprise to see her. No kidding again.
“When did you get into town?” he asked.
“This morning.” Mother took Wilson’s hand and struggled out of the low seat. “I wouldn’t miss this, would I?”
“Miss wha—” Wilson stopped mid-question when he noticed the rather formal dress I was wearing.
“What the—” But he stopped mid-sentence again when Karen’s van pulled in behind my car. She, Candy, and Peter Harrison hopped out, and Karen leaned into the back for Snowflake’s cat carrier.
“Doesn’t everyone look nice?” Mother asked.
“What the—”
“I asked them to wear yellow,” I explained as my neighbors walked over to greet us.
Karen wore her ubiquitous jeans and work boots, but she had replaced the usual T-shirt for a lovely yellow silk blouse. Candy wore a yellow mini dress with matching stilettos. And Peter sported a yellow tie.
Peter pumped Wilson’s stunned hand, offered me a slight bow, and held an elbow out for my mother. “May I have the honor?”
Mother giggled and took his arm, and they tottered off toward the lawn overlooking Lake Lookadoo.
“What the—” This time Wilson appealed to Candy and Karen.
“It’s Snowflake.” Karen jiggled the cat carrier. “She wasn’t about to miss this.”
“Gosh, no,” Candy agreed. “Especially since she’s already dressed for the occasion. All white and all.” She took Karen’s hand, and together they maneuvered their way up to the porch. They released Snowflake into the care of Bernice and Wally and joined Mother and Peter on the lawn.
“White?” Wilson pointed to my own outfit. “You look nice.” He reconsidered. “You look beautiful.”
I thanked him for noticing, told him he looked handsome, too, and pointed to the driveway. “But look,” I said. “Here comes The Stone Fountain gang.”
Wilson stared aghast at the U-haul truck pulling up.
Matthew and Gina Stone emerged from the cab, and Kirby, Gus, and Charlie popped out of the back. Kirby stood at attention and saluted us, and then got to work helping Gus unload several flower arrangements and quite a few white folding chairs. Karen whistled, and Charlie started carrying said chairs to the lawn.
Matthew and Gina ventured over to us. While Matthew shook Wilson’s hand, Gina informed me the cake had survived the trip over the dirt roads. “And we brought enough food to feed an army.”
“And enough champagne to float the Titanic,” Matthew added.
“Did someone say champagne?” Christopher Rye hopped out of the latest vehicle to arrive.
“What the—”
“It’s your son, Wilson.” I pointed. “And your parents, of course.”
While Chris helped LuAnn—his grandmother and Wilson’s mother—from the passenger seat, Mitchell Rye, Wilson’s father, got out of the back seat and walked over.
I thanked him for making the trip from Raleigh.
“Are you kidding?” He stopped shaking his son’s hand to hug me.
“We wouldn’t miss this for the world,” LuAnn said as she and Chris joined us.
“Way to go, Dad.” Chris high-fived Wilson, and me, and jogged back to the driveway to help with the last of the chairs.
LuAnn and Mitchell joined the group assembling on the lawn.
Wilson blinked at me. “I want Chris to stand up with me. With us.”
“Already taken care of,” I said and pointed to the continuing action in the driveway.
“What the—”
“It’s Frankie and Lizzie,” I said as the silver Porsche came to a stop. I waved to the teenagers, and an SUV pulled up behind them. “And that must be Like, The Lyricals. They’re the girl group Lizzie is now a part of.” I smiled at Wilson. “They do oldies.”
Three young women emerged from the SUV, and with Frankie and Lizzie’s help, unloaded a variety of instruments.
“Lizzie and the Lyricals,” Wilson said. “I like it.”
“No, Wilson. It’s Like, The Lyricals.”
“I do like The Lyricals.”
I told him to never mind, since the poor guy was confused enough. Especially when we heard the sirens.
You guessed it. Two police cars pulled up, and out popped several members of Wilson’s team. Tiffany Sass threw a kiss in our direction as Russell Densmore and his wife emerged from the car behind, and everyone began their trek toward the lawn.
Wilson waved to Russell in particular. “I want Densmore—I mean, I want Russell—to stand up with us also,” he said, and I told him that, too, had already been arranged.
“Did you arrange for better plumbing?” a voice said from behind us.
We turned in time to see Loretta Springfield emerge from the woods that separated her property from Wilson’s.
“Not yet,” I said, but Loretta assured us her bathroom facilities were in working order if the water stopped working at Wilson’s.
“But we almost always have running water,” I said optimistically.
“We?” Wilson asked me as Loretta wandered off.
“And you must be Snowflake,” she said as she passed the porch. She waved to the three cats and made her way toward my mother.
Tessie had busied herself introducing everyone—whether she knew them or not—to everyone else—whether she knew them or not.
Wilson considered the gathering crowd. “Is that it?” he asked me.
“Oh, heck no. We couldn’t forget Louise.”
“Heck no,” Wilson said, but he was drowned out by the voice of Geez Louise Urko.
“Fantasical, fantastical, and beyond fantastical!” she shouted as she emerged from Roslynn’s car. Louise managed about a hundred more “fantasticals” before she and Roslynn landed in front of us.
“This is so, so, so romantic!” she said. “The whole nine yards of romance! How do you think of these things, Jessica!?”
“It’s that imagination of hers,” Roslynn suggested, but Louise of the limited attention span had caught sight of my mother.
“Tessie!” she shouted and hurried away.
Roslynn looked back and forth between Wilson and me. “Fantastical,” she said quietly and followed in the footsteps of Geez Louise.
“Is that it?” Wilson asked again. He may have sounded a bit desperate.
“Heck no,” I said as the Channel 15 News van pulled up.
“No!” Okay, now Wilson definitely sounded desperate. “Please tell me no.”
“No can do!” I waved to Jimmy Beak and Joe the cameraman. “Remember that deal I made with Jimmy?”
Wilson may have whimpered.
“Jimmy agreed to my showdown with Alistair,” I continued. “And I gave him an exclusive on this occasion.”
“The public has a right to know,” Jimmy called out. He gave us a thumbs up as he and Joe started setting up their equipment at the far end of the seating area.
Wilson began squeaking.
“Don’t worry,” I told him. “Jimmy promised only a very positive, two-minute segment on the Weekly Wrap Up. And Joe is going to give us all the photos and film. Isn’t that nice?”
“You’re a little scary. You know that?”
“Speaking of which.” I pointed to what I promised would be the last car.
“Yikes!”
I nodded in agreement as I beckoned to Gabby and Gordon Yates. “Believe it or not, Superintendent Yates is a justice of the peace in her spare time.”
“Why am I not surprised?”
“Because nothing surprises you, Captain Rye.” Gabby gave me a hug, but continued addressing Wilson. “When Jessie told me what she had planned, I told her she was missing one key person. Me!”
“You.” He scowled at the legal-looking documents Gordon held.
I waited until Wilson looked up and made sure I had the full attention of the baby blues. I took a deep breath. “What do you say, Wilson? Let’s just do it.”
A slow grin made its way across his face. “I think the proper response is ‘I do.’”
“Actually, it’s ‘I will,’” Gabby corrected. “But follow my instructions, and you’ll do fine.” She took the paperwork from the hapless Gordon. “Come along,” she ordered.
Chris and Russell, and Candy and Karen had already taken their appointed places in front of the gathering.
“The rings?” Gabby asked, and Karen and Chris tapped their pockets.
Candy handed me a yellow rose, I nodded to Gabby, and she addressed the crowd. “If I could have everyone’s attention please. We’re about to get started.”
Wilson squeezed my hand, and together we stepped forward.
My new friend Gabby was right of course. Wilson and I were indeed, about to get started.
The End
Never fear! Jessie and Wilson may live happily ever after, but Adelé Nightingale predicts more adventures along the way. And once she figures out another convoluted plot and implausible murder, she’ll be sure to let you know. In the meantime, be on the lookout for
Unbelievable
, the first book in a brand new series by Cindy Blackburn. The Cassie Baxter series begins soon!
The Cue Ball Mysteries by Cindy Blackburn: Because Jessie and company can’t seem to stay out of trouble.
Book One: Playing With Poison
Pool shark Jessie Hewitt usually knows where the balls will fall and how the game will end. But when a body lands on her couch, and the cute cop in her kitchen accuses her of murder, even Jessie isn’t sure what will happen next.
Playing With Poison
is a cozy mystery with a lot of humor, a little romance, and far too much champagne.
Book Two: Double Shot
Jessie Hewitt thought her pool-hustling days were long gone. But when über-hunky cop Wilson Rye asks her to go undercover to catch a killer, she jumps at the chance to return to a sleazy poolroom. Jessie is confident she can handle a double homicide, but the doubly-annoying Wilson Rye is another matter altogether. What's he doing flirting with a woman half his age? Will Jessie have what it takes to deal with Tiffany La-Dee-Doo-Da Sass and solve the murders? Take a guess.
Book Three: Three Odd Balls
A romantic vacation for…five? This wasn’t exactly what Jessie and Wilson had in mind when they planned their trip to the tropics. But when Jessie’s delightfully spry mother, Wilson’s surfer dude son, and Jessie’s rabidly hyperactive New York agent decide to tag along the fun begins. What kind of trouble can these three oddest of odd balls possibly get into? Take a guess.