Marked Down for Murder (Good Buy Girls)
Page 20
There was no hesitation, no second guessing and no doubt. Maggie launched herself into Sam’s arms, knocking them both down with the force of her enthusiasm.
“Yes, yes, I’ll marry you, Sam Collins.”
Sam laughed out loud and then he cupped her face and kissed her. It was a kiss that had been a lifetime in the making. It was a kiss that promised a happily ever after for the boy who teased the redheaded girl he’d had a crush on since preschool and for the redheaded girl who’d lost her heart to that same charmer of a boy in high school.
“Aw, what?” A voice broke the moment like a splash of cold water, and Maggie and Sam scrambled to stand, straightening their clothes as they went.
“This is supposed to be my gazebo tonight,” Max Button complained as he stepped out of the shadows, leading Bianca Madison by the hand.
Sam laughed and threw an arm around Maggie, pulling her close.
“Take a number, boy genius,” he said. “This gazebo is taken.”
Maggie saw a sparkle on Bianca’s hand and she jumped forward and hugged Bianca and then Max.
“You’re engaged!” she cried.
Max turned a bright shade of red as he hugged her back. “Yeah, but somehow it didn’t feel official unless we came here.”
“What are you people doing out here?” another voice called. Maggie looked past Max to see Doc Franklin making his way up the walkway with his wife Alice on his arm. “How’s a guy supposed to romance his gal with an audience?”
Alice blushed and swatted his arm. Maggie was so happy to see them together it was all she could do not to whoop with joy. She hurried back to Sam and hugged him instead.
A flash of headlights and the roar of an engine broke through the quiet, and Maggie shielded her eyes against the glare. An oversized pickup truck spun around in front of the gazebo, and suddenly music blared out of its speakers.
“What the heck?” Sam asked, looking every bit the sheriff. Then Tyler Fawkes hopped out of the truck and assisted Summer down from the passenger seat.
Tyler brought Summer over to the gazebo and took in the rest of the couples at a glance. “Well, look at that, honey, we have us an engagement party.”
Summer grinned and stepped into Tyler’s arms as he began to twirl her around the gazebo. Sam, Max and Doc looked at each other and shrugged. As Sam opened his arms to Maggie, she noticed that Doc and Max did the same with their dates. It was then that the song in the truck changed, and Maggie glanced up at Sam to see if he remembered it, too.
He grinned down at her and said, “Hey, they’re playing our song.”
As Harry Connick, Jr., crooned “It Had to Be You,” Maggie twirled in his arms, remembering the night they had finally gotten together at the Madison ball just a few months ago. She had thought nothing could be more special than that night, but now that she was going to be Mrs. Sam Collins, and as word of the party in the gazebo spread throughout town and couples like Ginger and Roger and Claire and Pete began to appear and join in the fun, she knew that her happily ever after with Sam had only just begun.
The Good Buy Girls Top Tips for Baby Thrift
Ginger and Maggie both know that a baby only wears an outfit long enough to spit up on it before it is outgrown. Find a family-friendly resale baby store and save a fortune on hardly worn baby clothes. You can resell the ones your baby outgrows there, too.
Joanne has a plan to save money on jarred baby food and feed her baby more healthy food in the process as soon as the wee one is ready for solids. She will simply puree the same vegetables she cooks for dinner and then freeze them in ice cube trays, ready to be warmed up for baby at mealtime.
Ginger has invested in cloth diapers for her friend, buying them on sale whenever she can. For the initial investment, the diapers should last until the baby is potty trained, saving the parents a fortune and being better for the environment. Having four boys that she used cloth diapers on, Ginger knows she saved thousands of dollars using cloth.
Claire has started a toybrary at the public library. Instead of buying lots of toys that the baby will get bored with, parents can check out new and different toys at the library when they check out books to read. Fewer toys in the landfills and less money wasted on a toy the baby outgrows as fast as their outfit.
Not knowing what gender the baby was, Joanne bought all gender-neutral baby products. This is a great investment, given that baby number two could be a boy, but also it won’t hurt the resale value by turning off people who are looking for a gently used stroller but don’t necessarily want a pink and purple girly one for the son they’re expecting.
When Maggie was a newly widowed single mother, she had to cut out all of the extras. One of the things she did to save money was make her own baby wipes. She has taught Joanne that soft flannel squares sprayed with a homemade mixture of water, baby oil and baby wash do the trick perfectly and, again, are better for the environment.