The Final Arrangement
Page 28
I had decided to show my thanks to everyone for supporting me through the last tough stretch by hosting a barbeque at my house. Danny volunteered to plan the party so I wouldn’t have to “strain” myself during recovery. Given his experience with event planning I was eager to see what he’d come up with.
“Quincy, I don’t see any drinks in the fridge. Is someone bringing them?” Mom said.
“Yes, Alex should be here with them any minute.”
Mom’s hands flew to her hips. She wore “The Look” on her face. My sisters and I always knew that when the hands went to the hips and she did "The Look," our mother was serious. "The beer drinker is bringing the drinks to our party?”
I tempered my eye roll and kept it internal. “Everything will be fine, don’t worry. If you keep fretting about it, I’ll have to get up and help you. Besides, Danny made all the assignments, just let him do his job.”
She held her hands up, exasperated. “Alright, alright.” She went outside, where I assumed she would go searching for my sisters. She wouldn't want to waste a good conjuring of "The Look".
“Hey, Boss," K.C. appeared at the back door, "I bet that dog of yours is barking. How goes the healing?”
“Hi, K.C., it’s going great. I just have to wear this moon boot around for a while. Thanks for coming. And thanks for taking care of things at work. I appreciate it.”
“No problemo, besides, your sister does all the work. Now, where can I put these green Jell-o shots?”
“You brought shots? My mother is going to freak out.”
“Oh don’t get your knickers in a twist. They don’t have any alcohol; they just look like something I had at a party once. You can’t have a shindig in Utah without Jell-O.” Hopefully K.C.’s creation would be the only incarnation of Jell-O to show at this party. I wouldn’t be able to stomach Great Aunt Zelda's family reunion, special amalgam of orange Jell-O salad, with whipped cream, walnuts, mini-marshmallows, carrots, coconuts, raisins and her secret ingredient…mayo.
“I’m sure Mom will show you where to put them outside. I’ll be out there soon.”
“Well, if it isn’t the Unsinkable Molly Brown.” Danny had announced his presence.
“This is going to be a great party, Danny. Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it Miss Molly. Unfortunately, after this little event, I have to strike a wedding. I sure dread event take-downs don’t you?”
“My last event strike resulted in a dead body being found in my delivery van, so I am slightly averse.”
“Oh dear, that’s right. Has Officer Hottie come in to say hello yet?”
“Alex is here?”
“He just got here, I followed him into the backyard. I got an eyeful of what makes you so fond of him.” He gave me an exaggerated wink with a head tilt.
“Hey, eyes off!”
Danny looked at me devilishly.
My cheeks were already stoking and butterflies bounced around in my stomach at the mention of Alex. Danny was right. Anyone could appreciate Alex Cooper’s physique, including his perfect posterior. And I hadn’t had a chance to ogle it since it walked away from me at the hospital, after my mother insisted she drive me home and stay with me. Alex had since had to leave town for work, again. We’d spoken on the phone, but I hadn’t seen him or been in his very, physical presence for two and a half weeks.
“Let’s go outside, Molly.” Danny offered his arm and I leaned on it for support. Alex stood next to the beverage table, trapped by my mother and a small crowd of her comrades.
“Quincy, could you come over here?” my mother said.
Absolutely, it was the only way I would get anywhere near Alex with all of the Red Hat Club ladies fawning over him. I stumped my way over to the group on my own; Danny left my side to perform his social butterfly duties.
“Hi,” I said to Alex. I was so excited; the word came out more breath than voice.
“Hello, Beautiful.” One of my favorite nicknames. All the nerves in my body tingled.
The Red Hat group let out a collective “aah” and “isn’t that sweet.”
"Quincy, there's no ice," my mother said, quietly so her friends couldn't hear.
"Who's assignment was it?" I knew the answer, I just wanted to torment my mother a bit.
Mom let out a sigh. "It was mine, I was so worried about everyone else's assignments…I forgot mine."
I smiled at her, "I know. I'm just giving you a hard time. Who can we ask…?"
"So, Alex," one of mom's cronies wedged herself between me and Alex, almost knocking me over, "I hear you're a police officer. Have you made any arrests lately?"
"Where is your gun?" another of the lady sharks asked, as she circled the prey.
Alex looked at me, over the top of the first shark, silently pleading for help with his eyes.
“I can’t believe this," I dinged my forehead with the heel of my hand, "I forgot all about the ice. What should we do?”
My mother grinned at me.
“I’ll go get some ice.” Alex could hardly spit the words out in order, he volunteered so quickly.
“I’ll go with you," I said, and took him by the arm, pulling him from the shark tank.
He put his hand on top of mine, "I would love that…"
My mother cleared her throat.
I looked over and saw "The Look" starting to brew. "But you better go without me." We took a couple of steps toward the gate. "If I skipped out on this party, my mother and Danny would fight over who got to strangle me first. You know—I’d kind of like to see that…”
“No more violence for you. I think you're becoming an addict.”
“Hey, I’m just an innocent little florist who got caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“Ha, innocent my a…”
“Quincy, will you let Alex alone so he can go and get my ice?” Mom said.
“Yeah, Quincy, will you let me go already? I’m trying to get ice for your mom.” He winked at her and gave my hand a squeeze in lieu of a kiss before he left. It was no fair. The squeeze felt the same as if someone had placed a drop of water on my tongue in the middle of the desert at high noon, then taken away the full canteen.
I watched Alex leave, to see the feature Danny had teased about before, and Danny had been right. My gaze didn't leave Alex's backside until it walked through the gate. I turned to my mom. You know what, I forgot to take a pain pill. I’ll just go in and take it real quick.”
“Do you need my help?”
Mom? Really?
I swallowed my smart-aleck reply. “No, thank you.” She really needed a distraction. “Oh, K.C., have you met my mother yet?”
I didn’t feel one bit of remorse for that trick. I escaped while K.C. shocked and awed my mother with colorful stories and the language to go with them. I hobbled up the steps, dragging my boot toward the kitchen and my medicine bottles. As I reached on top of the fridge, I heard voices coming from the patio, through the open window of the laundry room.
“Brad, what are you doing here?” Allie said.
“You're coming with me. Lets go!”
I ducked into the laundry room to look through the back window. Brad stood face to face with Allie, right in front of the window, away from the rest of the group. Brad's hand grasped her upper arm. My head throbbed at the sight of Brad, reminiscent of our last meeting.
“Let go of me,” Allie said in a louder voice.
"Allie? Brad? What's going on here?" my mother said as she approached the two. "Brad, I haven't seen you in a while." Mom's face changed from surprise to confusion. "Is everything alright, Allie?"
"Everything's fine," Brad said. "We were just leaving." Brad yanked on Allie's arm.
My heart started pounding. I hid behind the washing machine and peaked around the side.
"No, Brad!" Allie yelled.
The background noise from the party stopped. Everyone looked in the direction of the commotion.
“What's going on here? Brad, you let go o
f her.” My mother reached out and grabbed at the arm that held my sister.
He shook her off like a rag doll and shoved her to the ground. There was a collective gasp from the crowd. Danny rushed over and before I understood what had happened, Brad had a gun pointed in Danny’s face.
“Back off! Just back off,” Brad yelled. Danny backed up with his hands up. Brad held the gun with both hands, his arms straight out in front of his body. He pointed the gun at the partygoers and arced the gun from left to right like a swath cutting a barrier between him and them.
“Allie, I told you we were leaving." His voice sounded crazy. He'd lost the icy cold, in-control tone I'd heard and hated before. "You shouldn't have left my apartment. I told you that you would regret it. Now lets go." He reached for Allie with one arm, while still pointing the gun with the other.
“Brad, just calm down. We can work everything out,” said K.C.
“You shut up!” Brad yelled as he swung and pointed the gun at K.C. “I’ve been waiting to pay you back. You and Allie's bitch sister. Where is she, Allie? I’ve been waiting for my chance to beat the living shit out of her and then put a bullet in her head. And now's my chance. Where is she?"
That was the last thing Brad said before he hit the ground. I had crept behind him and knocked him upside the head with the fire extinguisher I kept in my kitchen. It didn’t have any spray left in it from when he set the bag of poop on fire on my porch, but it had been very useful, all the same. “Always keep a fire extinguisher in your kitchen.” Best advice ever.
###
“I leave for ten minutes…” Alex exclaimed, as he stood at the back gate. He looked at me, mouth agape, as I stood with Brad’s gun pointing at Brad’s head while five people sat on top of him. I shrugged and grinned sheepishly at Alex.
Sirens grew louder as the police approached the house.
I relaxed my stance once I saw Alex. I pointed the gun down then pinched it on the very end of the handle, trying not to have to touch it anymore than I had to. I held it out to Alex, who had apparently forgotten his arms were wrapped around four bags of ice.
“I’ll trade you.” I said.
Uniformed officers appeared behind him in the open gateway.
“Cooper,” said one of the officers, who nodded at Alex then looked at the scene. He looked back at Alex. “What the hell, Cooper?”
"I have no idea," Alex said. His mouth fell open again.
The other officer peeled K.C., Danny, Allie, my Mother and my other sister off of Brad, checked to make sure he was alive, then handcuffed him and rolled him over. Then the officer called an ambulance.
After the police and the ambulance left with Brad inside, we all decided we should still have our party. Not even an armed crazy man could cause the wasting of perfectly good food as far as any of us were concerned.
We had a grand time despite the rough start. Eventually everyone cleaned up, gathered their things and trickled out.
Alex and I lingered in the backyard until the last person left.
He stepped behind me and sweetly caressed my hair away from my neck, then massaged the muscles in my shoulders. I could feel the tension I had stored there from holding the gun at Brad. Alex must have read my thoughts. I could feel the heat rise in my cheeks as I imagined him reading all of my thoughts. He leaned down and whispered in my ear, “How are you feeling?”
Exquisite! I shuddered with goose bumps when his breath hit my neck. I was at DEFCON 3. Warning, Core melt down imminent!
I hopped around on my good leg to face him. He placed his hands outside my upper arms to steady me.
“I’m doing very well, considering all things. Especially now. Actually, I could really use some pain relief. I went in to take a pill at the same time Brad crashed the party, so I never got to take it.”
“Hey, that hop you just did reminds me—how did you manage to sneak down the stairs with that boot of yours, and not draw Brad's attention?” He looked down at my foot. I wiggled my sock covered toes, sans boot, at him, and then wished to heck that I hadn’t.
“Ouch,” I said.
"Poor baby."
He looked down at me and his eyes locked with mine. Just like that, I was back to DEFCON alert, but this time there was no use trying to resist, the defenses were not even switched on. He gently touched my nose with his index finger then kissed the same spot. Then, he barely brushed the last, determined remnants of my black eye, on the very ridge of my cheekbone, with his thumb. His other hand wove through my hair and teased at the back of my neck and he feathered his lips over the sliver of purple on my face.
He swept me off of my feet, literally, when he picked me up as if I weighed no more than a child.
The feeling of electricity that flared up in my chest could have lit up the whole city.
He kissed my mouth, hungrily, matching what I felt inside. In a low, breathy voice he said, “I’ve been looking forward to that since we were interrupted at the hospital.” He smiled at me and the tiny lines around his eyes crinkled, framing the melting drops of chocolate.
I bit my bottom lip. “Me too. I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Let’s get you inside and feeling better.”
I couldn’t wait to see what that entailed.
I hope you enjoyed THE FINAL ARRANGEMENT.
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DEADLY ARRANGEMENTS
Planning a wedding is murder.
Table of Contents
Dedication
Acknowledgements
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
I hope you enjoyed THE FINAL ARRANGEMENT.