by Amber Crewes
Sarah beamed. “I’ll finish making breakfast and we can go,” she told her. “What a lovely idea.”
An hour later, Meghan, Sarah, and the three dogs were walking along the snowy, sandy shores at the local beach. It was unusually warm for a winter day in the Pacific Northwest, and Meghan was relieved to only have to wear a sweatshirt instead of her large, puffy winter coat.
“This sunshine is good for my soul,” she commented as she unclipped the dogs from their leashes and let them run free. “The winter is so hard for me; Jack jokes that I’m like a plant, in need of constant sunshine.”
“You won’t get that around here,” Sarah cautioned her. “Winters are hard for me, too. Jack’s father takes me to Phoenix and Sedona for a few weeks each winter, and that helps my mood a lot. Maybe you two should start a tradition of a warm-weather winter vacation.”
Meghan nodded. “That’s a great idea,” she agreed. “We’ll have to look into it.”
Sarah glanced at her. “Maybe we could make it a family vacation?” she asked hopefully. “Once a year, or every other year?”
“I would like that,” Meghan answered honestly. “Spending time with family is one of the most important things there is.”
Sarah smiled, and Meghan’s heart warmed. She was glad that they had grown closer, and she felt relieved that they were finally getting along. She liked Sarah; her mother-in-law was motherly and warm, unlike her own mother, and now that they had resolved their tensions, it was fun having her around the house.
“I’ve loved being here,” Sarah told her as they strolled along the shoreline. “You and Jack have really made me feel welcome.”
“I’m so glad,” Meghan told her, a smile on her face. “I was just thinking about how much fun it’s been to have you at our home. I’m glad we can get along and have fun together.”
Fiesta ran over to them, and Sarah picked the dog up and gave her a kiss on the forehead. “I’ve even warmed up to these dogs,” she commented as Fiesta licked her face. “I never imagined I could love a little dog like this, but now, I want to get one of my own.”
“Puppies are difficult to have in the house,” Meghan warned her. “They take a lot of work and care. Can I make a recommendation?”
“Of course.”
“Adopt a grown dog from the shelter,” she suggested as Sarah scratched Fiesta behind the ears. “Grown dogs have usually been trained, and it’s much less of a hassle to integrate them into the house.”
“I think Jack’s father would prefer an older dog, anyway,” Sarah agreed. “He wouldn’t do well with a loud, yippy dog.”
Meghan smiled. “If you need any advice about dogs, feel free to call me anytime,” she promised her mother-in-law. “I love them so much, and I am always happy to help.”
Sarah reached out and gave Meghan’s arm a squeeze. “And if you ever need any advice about Jack, my door is always open,” she told her sweetly. “I know you two are married now, and you probably don’t need his mother interfering, but I know my son well. I know his likes and dislikes, for the most part, and I know how his father is. If there is anything you need, or my son gives you trouble, I want you to call me.”
Meghan was touched by this statement; Sarah’s voice was earnest, and she could tell her mother-in-law truly wanted the best for her. “I will,” she told her as they linked elbows, walking arm-in-arm. “I will.”
As they strolled, they saw a woman approaching them. She was dressed in a knee-length lilac coat and matching boots, her curly hair pulled back into a messy braid. Meghan recognized her as she drew nearer; it was Erin Rogers, and she was waving at them.
“Hi, Erin,” Meghan greeted her. “That’s one of my customers,” she whispered to Sarah. “She’s placed a massive order with us for her wedding; it’s a big deal.”
“That’s lovely,” Sarah cooed as Erin smiled at them. “Hello, there. I’m Meghan’s mother-in-law.”
“Nice to meet you,” Erin grinned. “Isn’t it a gorgeous day? I can’t believe how warm it is. I hope it’s this warm on my wedding day; I want to do some photos outdoors, and I can’t do that in a blizzard.”
Meghan shrugged. “Your wedding photos will be spectacular inside or outside,” she assured her. “What are you up to today?”
“The usual, though James tells me you and Jack have some big plans later today.”
“That’s right,” Meghan confirmed. “Jack and I are so excited; we’re going out on the boat this evening for our date night.”
“What a treat,” Erin cried. “I’m so excited for you. Do you have everything you need? Big Catch provides the fishing gear, but passengers have to bring a GPS. I didn’t know if you knew that or not; last time we had a couple out for this cruise, they didn’t know, and the boat didn’t have a GPS. They were lost for ten hours, and the coast guard had to rescue them.”
“Oh my,” Meghan blinked. “I didn’t see that in the paperwork. I’ll have to go out and get one today.”
“Don’t forget it,” Erin urged her. “It’s so important.”
Sarah caught sight of Erin’s engagement ring. “That’s so pretty,” she complimented as Erin wiggled her fingers, clearly enjoying the attention. “Do you have all of your wedding plans made, yet?”
“Not quite,” Erin admitted. “We are still finalizing the flowers and the music for the reception. I really want a band, but James thinks having a DJ would be cooler.”
“What flowers are you thinking of?” Sarah asked.
“Peonies, of course,” Erin replied. “Coral peonies would be so pretty. I also like ranunculus, though; they look like little scoops of ice cream, and they’ve always been my favorite.”
Sarah pursed her lips. “Can’t you do both?” she asked. “Tell your florist to incorporate both flowers; soft yellow ranunculus would set off coral peonies so nicely, and you could even add a bit of baby’s breath or some red roses to balance out the color palette.”
Erin’s face brightened. “That’s a marvelous idea,” she praised Sarah. “You have nice taste.”
“My garden at home is filled with roses in the summer,” Sarah smiled dreamily. “I think red roses make any bouquet or arrangement come to life.”
Erin turned to Meghan. “Could you make some edible little red roses to put on top of the cakes?”
“Of course,” Meghan told her. “We can do anything you’d like, within reason, and I think edible roses are certainly within reason for your wedding.”
Erin’s smile widened. “These are such great ideas,” she told them as she tucked a loose ringlet behind her ear. “What a wonderful surprise it was running into you both. I have to go now, but Meghan, I’ll be in touch about the cakes.”
Sarah and Meghan returned home and found Jack waiting for them in the living room. He was dressed in a navy blue suit and tan dress shoes. Meghan raised an eyebrow. “Babe? What are you doing? Why are you dressed up so nicely?”
Jack stared at her. “It’s our date night, remember?”
She laughed. “We’re going fishing, honey. I added on a fishing package to our trip. Not to a ball or a business meeting.”
Jack shook his head. “We haven’t had a nice night out together in a long time,” he protested. “And this will be romantic. I don’t care if my suit gets wet or slimy; my wife deserves to see me at my best.”
“That is so romantic,” Sarah gushed, but Meghan bit her lip. “Babe, I’m wearing leggings, a vest, and a sweater,” she told him. “Are you sure you want to go dressed in a suit?”
He stood his ground. “Absolutely,” he declared. “And I won’t regret it one bit.”
23
“Y
ou two are good to go,” James grinned as he walked them to the boat, a small, but sturdy vessel that was approximately as long and wide as the dining room of the bakery. “The sea is calm today, and you two should have plenty of fun out there.”
Meghan looked at him in alarm. “You aren’t coming with us?”
James shook
his head. “We have the route programmed into the boat’s system,” he told her. “You two will get on the boat, sail for two or so hours, and then the boat will steer itself back to us. It’s like autopilot on an airplane.”
“And if there’s an emergency?” she fretted. “Then what?”
James smiled reassuringly. “We’ve never had a problem,” he told her. “But if something comes up, the ship is equipped with emergency gear, as well as a telephone and walkie talkies. You’ll only be a few yards offshore, and it would be easy for us to get to you if anything went wrong.”
Jack smiled. “Meghan, relax. This will be fun.”
“That’s the spirit,” James cheered. “Don’t forget to keep your life jackets close. We have a drone system that’s keeping watch over the boat, so when it’s time to come in, we’ll be waiting here for you at the dock.”
Meghan gulped. “Are you sure this is safe?”
“As long as you have your life jackets and a GPS, nothing bad can happen.”
Her stomach sank. “The GPS,” she groaned. “Erin told me that we would need one, and I forgot to pick one up.”
James laughed. “That’s why we keep them in stock back at the shop. Why don’t you go grab it, Meghan, and I will help Jack load the gear onto the boat?”
“Okay,” she said, and she turned to walk up the beach and over to Big Catch.
As she neared the shop, she spotted Bryant, Bonnie’s older brother. He stormed out of the shop, his face angry, and she stepped back so he wouldn’t walk right into her.
“Excuse me,” he grumbled as he strode away mumbling.
Meghan craned her neck, trying to hear what he was saying. He was muttering something about “malicious people”, and she wondered who he was referring to. She saw him walk away, pumping his arms vigorously as he disappeared off into the night.
She walked into Big Catch, and James walked in behind her. “I thought you were helping Jack load the boat,” she said as she registered the look on his face. The shop was quiet; none of the other employees were there, and Meghan wondered where they were. “Did you see the guy who just left? He practically ran me over as I was coming in. Do you know him? Bonnie’s brother?”
James sighed. “I know him,” he told her as he walked over to his desk and put his head down. “Trust me, I know him.”
She walked over to him, a confused look on her face. “What’s wrong?”
He straightened up and turned to the shelves behind the desk. “You need the GPS,” he muttered as he looked up and down the shelves. “Sorry, Meghan. I’ll find it and get you out the door in a jiff.”
She crossed her arms over her chest, her head cocked to the side. “What’s wrong, James?” she repeated as he fumbled with a storage box.
His shoulders slumped. “It’s nothing,” he promised her.
“Clearly something is wrong,” she observed, and he turned back to her.
“It’s Bonnie and her brother,” he muttered, staring down at his boots, shame filling his face. “They want to buy the shop from me.”
She stared at him. “Like... buy you out?”
“Exactly.”
She bit her lip. “Is that a bad thing?” she asked. “Have they made a good offer? You are getting married soon. Wouldn’t it be nice to have some extra cash on hand? You could put it toward your wedding or even start a new business. Something Anthony didn’t have a part in.”
“That’s what they suggested,” he groaned. “But I don’t know if I want that, Meghan. This business has been my passion and dream. I’ve put so much into it, and my team has been through so much. I don’t know if I want to sell and start over.”
She watched as his lips began to tremble. “Are you okay?”
“I’m not okay,” he hissed as he balled his hands into fists. “Anthony almost ruined this business; I have so much credit card debt and issues from trying to bail us out over and over and over again. Debt collectors have been coming around here, and a guy at the bank mentioned my work truck getting repossessed if I don’t pay the balance on it by Monday.”
“Then let his wife take care of it,” she suggested. “Let her buy the business, and it won’t be your problem anymore. Isn’t that the easiest solution to your problems?”
He tried not to cry. “I don’t know if it’ll fix things,” he explained quietly. “Anthony dug us into a hole, and I don’t know if Bonnie’s money will get us out. Meghan, you have no idea how bad the finances have been around here. Bonnie has made some offers, but I know Anthony ruined her too. She doesn’t have a pile of money lying around, and it’s going to take a pile of money to fix this. I’ve had to postpone my wedding twice because of my credit card debt. It’s not fair. It’s not fair that I had to clean up his messes, and now, my fiance is going to suffer because of it again.”
“That must be so hard,” Meghan sympathized. “What do you think you’re going to do?”
“I don’t know,” he lamented. “But I need to do something, or I’ll lose everything.”
“What are you talking about?”
James’ face crumbled. “The books, Meghan…”
She stared at him. “The books?”
“The police have already started talking to our employees,” he muttered, closing his eyes and taking a long breath. “I have an appointment to talk with them tomorrow morning. They’re on to me.”
She raised an eyebrow. “On to you? I don’t understand. I thought Anthony was the mastermind of everything that went wrong.”
James’ chin began to tremble. “I took some money from the business,” he confessed. “Not a lot, but enough to pay off some of my debt and to pay for my wedding. I just wanted to settle up my personal debts—debts that exist because of Anthony’s mistakes—before moving on to saving the shop. It was wrong, and I shouldn’t have done it, but I did. Now, I’m going to lose everything. What if they take me to jail?”
“You’ve already lost everything.”
They turned around to see Erin Rogers step out of the shadows. She was dressed in black leggings, a long black sweatshirt, and had a gray scarf draped around her neck. “You’re a fool, James. You let Anthony Diggs walk all over you for years, and now, you’re going to let his widow buy you out for less than what you deserve? Typical.”
James’ eyes widened. “Honey? What are you doing here? I thought you were going to a movie?”
Erin shook her head. Meghan gasped when she realized Erin was holding a small, shiny gun in her left hand. “I regret agreeing to marry you,” she spat as she held the gun to James’ forehead. “You lack ambition and charisma, and you just keep embarrassing yourself as you let people walk all over you. And now, you’re baring your soul to her? Why did you have to run your mouth, James? Now it’s too late…”
James held up his hands in shock. “Babe? What is going on? Is this some kind of joke?”
Erin gestured at Meghan. “I heard you two talking,” she muttered as the hand holding the gun began to shake. “You told her too much, James. Why would you do that? Trust someone who isn’t your fiancée. What a foolish move…”
She pivoted to face Meghan and fired the gun. Meghan screamed, ducking beneath a reclaimed wood table and covering her head.
“I should have practiced at the shooting range,” Erin groaned, turning back to her fiance. “You shouldn’t have spilled the beans, James.”
“Erin, come on, stop playing around,” he begged her. “This isn’t funny.”
She stared into his eyes. “I’m not laughing,” she said flatly before pulling the trigger and shooting him in the chest.
Meghan let out a wail as she heard James’ body slump to the ground. She was in shock, but she quickly sprung into action, leaping around the side of the table and darting toward the front door.
“Where do you think you are going?” Erin called out as she followed Meghan, trapping her in a corner.
“Why are you doing this?” Meghan screamed, holding her arms up to shield her face. “Erin, wha
t is going on? Why are you attacking us?”
Erin stepped closer to Meghan, who was now backed up against a corner. There was nowhere for her to hide, and both women knew it.
“Your cakes were great, you know,” she told Meghan as she adjusted the gun and steadied it in her hand. “I was really looking forward to your desserts. If my idiot fiance had kept his mouth shut, I would be enjoying them at our wedding. Unfortunately though, it appears there won’t be a wedding. Or you, for that matter.”
Meghan closed her eyes. She thought of Jack and how much she loved him, images of their wedding day and walks along the beach with the dogs flashing in her mind. She pictured the bakery and happy mornings gathered around the dining room with Pamela and Trudy, working hard together and also enjoying their company. She imagined her parents, feeling an ache in her chest, as she thought of the moment someone would make the devastating call to them that their daughter had been killed.
“Goodbye, Meghan,” Erin laughed as she held the gun to Meghan’s face and pulled the trigger.
24
W hen Erin pulled the trigger, Meghan heard the sinister sound of the metal click, followed by cursing. She opened her eyes. Erin was fiddling with the gun, and a furious look on her face.
“What happened?” she muttered as she took the gun apart and studied the barrel. “Why didn’t it work?”
“The gun malfunctioned,” Meghan thought as she looked left and right, trying to identify an escape path. “I’m alive.”
Erin was cursing like a sailor, the foul words spilling out of her mouth as though she were vomiting them. Meghan took a slow step forward. Erin did not realize she had moved.
“If I can move a few feet to the left, I can make a run for the front door,” she thought as she eyed the exit. James’ body was lying next to the door, and she shuddered as she saw the blood pooling around him.
Just then, Erin looked up at her, her eyes flashing. “Not so fast,” she ordered, pushing the parts of the gun back into place. “Where do you think you’re going?”