"Will you stay now that Friedrich and Wilhelm are gone?" I asked, hoping the answer was yes. She might be an art thief, but she was also my friend and my only on-site customer.
"Yes. I believe I will. I like it here."
"Oh, good. I'm so glad to hear that. And you let me know if you need anything. But right now I have to run. It's Mason and Jamie's engagement party."
"Send them my congratulations." She grabbed my arm before I could leave. "And, Maggie, I know it was fast, but he'll make a good husband for her. Trust me on this."
I nodded, not trusting myself to answer.
I hoped she was right.
The engagement party was at the barkery. It was just a small one. Mason had plans for an even bigger one at the country club in a few weeks, but this was for Jamie's family and friends, some of whom would've stuck out like a sore thumb in a country club settings. (Including yours truly even though I knew I'd be forced to pretty up and attend the other one, too.)
Jamie had insisted on making the cakes even though it was her party which meant that I was probably going to gain a good five pounds before the day was out.
(She'd already told Mason she was making the wedding cake, too, so he better get used to it. He'd looked to me for support in suggesting that wasn't the best of ideas, but I knew Jamie. If she wanted to have an eight-hundred-person wedding and make the cake for it, too, she would and it would be a flawless masterpiece.)
Mason was the first person I saw when I walked through the door. He was grinning with such delirious happiness I almost didn't recognize him.
I stopped and stared at him for a long moment.
He laughed. "Like the jeans? They were Jamie's engagement gift to me. She said they would make you like me more."
"You know…She's kind of right. I hate to be so shallow, but I do like you more in jeans. Makes you more…approachable." Sort of. I glanced at the thousand dollar loafers. Someday we'd get him into tennis shoes. But, you know, baby steps.
I wished him luck and fled to the corner where Matt and Jack were, Jack surrounded by pretty much every single woman in the place.
"Good to see you out of the hospital, Jack."
"Thanks, Maggie. I appreciate you helping my brother save my life. Heard I missed an interesting adventure. Something about you in nothing more than my brother's t-shirt?"
I glanced at Matt who held his hands up. "I didn't tell him anything other than that you helped me carry him down the mountain."
I shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about, Jack."
"Hmm." He glanced back and forth between me and Matt as some pretty young thing snuck over to offer him a slice of coconut cake. "Thank you, sweetie." The girl blushed and ran away.
"You need to learn how to use that power for good, you know that?"
He winked at me. "Maybe I'll use it on you when I'm better."
I pointed at Matt. "I'm pretty sure your brother might have something to say about that."
Jack took a bite of cake. "I'm pretty sure I know my brother well enough to know when he's actually in a relationship and when he's just helping out a friend." He glanced up at Matt. "So if you don't want competition, brother, I'd suggest you act before I'm able to walk again."
As they stared each other down, I took step away. "Alrighty then. I think that's my cue to go find a Coke or beer or something. Glad you're better, Jack."
I fled, trying not to think of how easily Matt had wormed his way past my defenses. I'd only had one defense left: that he didn't know he'd done it and was too scared to push and find out. Something his brother had just handily taken away.
Maybe.
Because I wasn't the only one hesitating. There was something holding Matt back as well. I was pretty sure he liked me, but I hadn't forgotten those comments about not being sure he wanted to stay a cop. Or about re-enlisting. Or moving away.
His feet weren't very firmly planted just yet. I could wake up the next day and he'd be gone.
A thought that didn't sit very well with me. But not one I was going to act on either.
I caught sight of Jamie on the other side of the room, glowing with such happiness it was almost blinding. I was happy for her, I really was. But I wondered what that meant for the café. And for our friendship. Not that we'd ever stop being friends, but you know, marriage, babies. They change things.
Ah well. Whichever way things went, I had a feeling the next couple of months were going to be far more interesting than I'd actually wanted them to be. But it'd be okay, because I was where I wanted to be and with the people I wanted to be with.
For now.
About the Author
When Aleksa Baxter decided to write what she loves it was a no-brainer to write a cozy mystery set in the mountains of Colorado where she grew up and starring a Newfie, Miss Fancypants, that is very much like her own Newfie, in both the good ways and the bad.
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You can reach her at [email protected] or on her website aleksabaxter.com.
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Nosy Newfie Cozy Mysteries
A Dead Man and Doggie Delights
A Crazy Cat Lady and Canine Crunchies
A Buried Body and Barkery Bites
Copyright
Copyright © 2019 by M.L. Humphrey
All rights reserved.
A Buried Body and Barkery Bites Page 14