Dying to Celebrate

by Lynn Cahoon

  “Marco is so inventive. Thank you again for turning this part of the process over. It’s so much fun. I love event planning.” Sasha beamed like Marco had earlier.

  “And I hate it. Which is one of the reasons I leave these things to you and Aunt Jackie. I really liked the coloring contest/flyer idea.” I sipped my coffee. My aunt was who she was. I just had to learn to expect these surprises.

  “Isn’t that the cutest!” Sasha opened a bottle of water. “He had another great idea too.”

  “Oh, yeah?” I was looking at the newspaper. My friend Darla was a reporter and had just gotten a scoop on the mayor and a possible illegal campaign donation. Of course, the mayor would explain it away and all would be forgiven. The man was Teflon. Nothing stuck.

  “Wouldn’t that be fun?”

  I knew I’d missed a part of the conversation by the way Sasha was looking at me. “What would be fun. Sorry, I was reading Darla’s story.”

  “He suggested that you, Jackie and I sing Santa Baby as a song for the talent show.”

  “You have to be kidding. There is no way I’m getting up and singing anything.” I hadn’t taken choir in high school for a reason. And I’d heard my aunt sing. “Besides, the song isn’t that appropriate for a room of kids.”

  “It would be if we changed the words. We could sing…Santa Puppy! That would be so cute.” Sasha started scribbling down something on a clean page in her notebook. “I just have to play with the words.”

  “I have a word for you. No. No. And heck no.” I picked up my tote and threw a couple of advance reader copy books into it. “I’m going to lunch. You bring this up to Aunt Jackie when she comes down for her shift. I’m sure her response will be the same as mine. No.”

  I left the shop before Sasha could start talking me into even looking at the revised words. I knew my strengths. And singing in front of other people wasn’t one of them.

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  MEMORIES AND MURDER

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  Memories and Murder

  Chapter 1

  To everything, there is a season. This truth was given to us in the Bible as well as through the sacred music of the Byrds. Life goes in cycles. As I sat and listened to Paula Woods from the Senior Project talk to the business-to-business meeting, I pondered my own life and seasons. And, of course, the seasons of the ones I loved. As the South Cove city council liaison for the business community, it was my job to set up these monthly meetings. Most months we talked about upcoming marketing festivals or rules and regulations that the city council had taken up for discussion. This month, the topic was hitting closer to home.

  I’m Jill Gardner. I set up the meeting and its agenda, but I also own Coffee, Books, and More, our regular meeting place. We are the only coffee-shop-slash-bookstore in our small coastal town.

  In addition to the community business agenda items, we had a guest speaker. Paula was also a member of Sadie Michaels’s church. Sadie had advocated for Paula to have a slot on this month’s agenda.

  October was a slow month for topics, with everyone getting back in gear from the holidays, so I’d scheduled her in for the last hour of our meeting. I could tell she was winding down and so was the attention span of our attending members. Me? I was checking my dark, curly hair for split ends.

  “I just wanted to thank Jill again for inviting me to speak with you. Elder abuse is a serious topic that our country needs to address. And I hope all of you will think about the care and attention older people in your life need and deserve. Thank you.” Paula looked my way, and I took that as my cue, jumping up to take the microphone before Mayor Baylor could even get out of his chair.

  “Thank you, Paula, for your thoughtful presentation. I know a lot of us will be thinking about what you said for a while.” That got me a glare from my aunt, who neither acted like nor admitted to being elderly. “I just wanted to remind everyone that our next meeting is after Octoberfest finishes, so I thought Darla might have some last-minute instructions for us. Darla, do you mind? I know I didn’t have this on the agenda.”

  “Not a problem.” Darla Taylor made her way to the front table. She’d been in charge of South Cove’s festivals for as long as I’d owned my shop. Well, except for that one Christmas, but even then, she’d saved the day after the mayor’s wife had messed up the planning. “I was going to jump in with some reminders before we closed anyway.”

  As Darla came up, the mayor glanced at his watch. I passed by his chair and he grabbed my arm, bringing me down to his level. He whispered in my ear, “I need to get back to my office.”

  “Go ahead and leave. You’re not being held hostage.” I turned toward him so my voice wouldn’t carry over Darla’s.

  “You know I like to close the meeting. Besides, its election year and I need to remind people to register to vote.” He cocked his head and studied me. “Your boyfriend isn’t thinking about running for mayor this year, is he? Maybe this is a ploy to keep me from getting in front of the business owners?”

  “I’m not Greg’s campaign manager.” I saw the fear my choice of words had caused. I pulled my arm free, certain everyone was pretending to listen to Darla but really focused on our little spat. “Anyway, he’s not running. At least, not to my knowledge. Stop being paranoid. Go now or stay and talk. It’s your call.”

  When I sat down, Aunt Jackie leaned over, unable to squelch her curiosity. She was dressed casually today in the blue Chanel suit that made her silver hair shine. She wore pearl earrings, but instead of the matching strand, she had on an old, silver heart necklace I hadn’t seen her wear in years. “What did Mayor Bird want?”

  I snorted at the nickname our mayor had been given, mostly because of his too-high voice. He glared at me across the table, like he knew what I was laughing about.

  “He’s afraid he won’t have time to campaign with the group this morning. We’re taking too much of his precious time.” I glanced over at Deek Kerr, who was watching the proceedings with interest. Of course, the newest barista thought everything was interesting. He claimed to be a professional student, but at least with the barista job, he could convince his mom he was trying to be self-sufficient. He fit right in to the casual California lifestyle, with his blond dreadlocks and surfer-boy tan and looks, but the kid was scary smart. This month, his dreadlocks were tinged with electric blue.

  He saw my look and held up an empty coffee carafe. I shook my head. If we gave the group another round of coffee, they may never leave the shop. It was almost ten and time for Coffee, Books, and More to be serving actual customers.

  “Well, maybe if he would actually do some mayor-type work, he wouldn’t have to campaign so hard.” Aunt Jackie checked her phone. It was a habit she’d picked up since she’d abruptly canceled her engagement with Harrold Snider a few months before. From what I could tell, Harrold, the owner of The Train Station, was my aunt’s soul mate, so I had no clue why she’d taken such a drastic step. Soul mates were hard to find, and my aunt had gotten two in one lifetime. She’d loved her first husband without hesitation, and I wondered if her fear of losing that memory was what had made her run scared from Harrold. Whatever the reason, I was hoping for a quick reconciliation. My aunt was better when she was with Harrold. That wasn’t just my opinion; it was a fact.

  Fifteen minutes later, when the meeting closed—after the mayor had cheerfully reminded everyone to register to vote and that he would appreciate their support in the May primaries—I drew in a deep breath. I know these meetings only happened once a month, but they took a toll on me. I guess it was my nature to worry about things going horribly wrong with each meeting just because of my planning or lack of planning. Kind of like those dreams where I didn�
�t study for the math test.

  Sadie Michaels waved me over to where she stood talking to Paula. Sadie owned Pies on the Fly, which was my dessert supplier for the shop as well as being one of my best friends. Sadie looked like a baker out of a fairy tale. Her cotton dress and sweater had a fifties vibe, and she always seemed to have a bit of flour on her somewhere. She took Paula’s arm and turned her toward me as I walked up. “Tell her she did awesome.”

  “It was a great talk. You gave out a lot of statistics I didn’t know about.” I had known Sadie would put me in this position, and because Paula’s talk had been almost painful to listen to due to her shyness and lack of speaking skills, I had found at least one good thing to say.

  Paula adjusted the purse strap on her shoulder. “You don’t have to be nice. I know I’m not the most powerful speaker. But I am working on it. My boss tells me I need to practice more. She’s always sending me out of town to talk to different groups. I keep telling her I’m not ready, but I still get sent. I’m part of a Toastmasters club that meets twice a month in Bakerstown. Your mayor attends our group, and man, can he talk.”

  That was probably an understatement, but apparently, Paula had a good impression of our mayor, so I’d leave her with that. “Sounds like you’re really working on your career path. How long have you worked for the Senior Project?”

  “Just over fifteen years. I started as an intern in college. My grandmother was dealing with some fraud issues, and when I went to talk to them, I decided to become part of the solution.” She glanced outside, where a tall man with dark hair stood near the door. She waved at him, and I saw the come-to-me wave he gave her back. “I hate to cut this short, but I have to go. Ben, my boyfriend, is here. He’s taking me to lunch today. He’s such a sweetheart. I swear, he spends as much time volunteering at the center as I do working there.”

  As she walked away, Sadie watched her leave the shop before turning to me. Over Sadie’s shoulder, I saw the couple through the window. Paula reached for the guy’s hand, but he ignored it and started walking away. “He could have come in and heard her talk.”

  “It’s probably a good thing for their relationship that he didn’t.” Sadie grimaced at the memory. “I owe you big-time for that one. I had no idea she was such a bad presenter. She’d told me she’d been in that speaking club for years.”

  “Yeah, but if Mayor Baylor is in the same club, she probably doesn’t get a lot of practice time.” I nodded to the coffee bar. “It’s been forever since we talked. Do you have time for coffee and one of your brownies?”

  I knew tempting Sadie with the treats she supplied us with for the shop wasn’t the best incentive, but it was all I had. And her brownies were really good.

  “I think I can squeeze out fifteen minutes for a friend. Amy and Justin are coming over Saturday afternoon to test cakes. I’ve already got fifteen sample cakes done, but I want to give her a few more choices.” She walked with me to the bar, where she sat while I got the coffee and brownies.

  “After fifteen cakes, I wouldn’t know what I liked because I’d be on a sugar high.” I filled cups and sat them in front of her, then went for the brownies. Amy Newman, my friend, worked at City Hall doing a little bit of everything. And a few months ago, she’d announced her engagement. Now, it was all about the wedding for her.

  As Aunt Jackie moved behind me, she leaned close. “Don’t forget to charge those to the marketing budget. We don’t get those brownies for free, you know.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” I dished up the brownies, then wrote out a receipt and put it in the till. When I heard the door at the top of the stairs shut, I walked over and sat down next to Sadie. “She’s still in a funk. I keep trying to get her to tell me what Harrold did, but she insists he didn’t do anything and this is none of my business.”

  “Well, she’s right about that.” Sadie put a comforting hand on my arm as I started to object. “It’s not about you, Jill. This is her life, and if she called the wedding off, there has to be a good reason.”

  “I’ve talked to Harrold. He’s as confused as I am. One minute Aunt Jackie’s all bridezilla about the weight of the paper for the invitations. The next, she very calmly and politely dumps him the night of Amy’s engagement party.” I sipped my coffee. “It just doesn’t make any sense.”

  “Have you thought about talking to her doctors? Or Mary?” Sadie bit into the brownie and groaned. “I know it’s prideful to talk about your own cooking, but these are amazing.”

  “Mary’s as confused as Harrold. And what’s worse is Aunt Jackie won’t talk to her. She’s canceled three get-togethers at the last minute with very flimsy excuses.” I broke off a piece of brownie and popped it into my mouth. Chocolate explosion. After I chased it down with a sip of coffee, I frowned. “That’s not like her at all. Maybe I should call her doctor. She gave me a health power of attorney last year. That should get me around the doctor-patient confidentiality stuff.”

  “It might. If you need someone to get her out of her apartment so you can go snooping, let me know. We’ve been talking about visiting this restaurant supply place to get me new pans. She has connections.” Sadie finished the brownie, then looked at the clock. “I’ve better go. Three cakes today. Three tomorrow, and I’ll be done. Then I’m helping Pastor Bill sort the food pantry. We got a ton of donations during the holidays. There’s no way to figure out what we have to give away.”

  After Sadie left, Deek finished setting the dining room back up, then leaned over the bar, looking out the window. “Your friend is crushing on the preacher dude.”

  I smiled as I turned back around. Sadie was precisely crushing on Pastor Bill, but I had thought I was the only one who saw it. Deek was intuitive. His mom was a psychic and friends with South Cove’s only fortune-teller and my neighbor, Esmeralda. “And why do you say that?”

  “Don’t play coy with me. She brightens up when she talks about spending time with him. And don’t tell me it’s because she loves serving God. I mean, yeah, there’s some of that, but she wants that guy. I watch her every Sunday before, during, and after service. She’s by his side, at his beck and call. Personally, I think it sets a bad example. She should be a little less available.” He took Sadie’s cup and plate and rinsed them to put into the dishwasher.

  “You have good instincts, Deek.” Of course, I agreed with him about Sadie and the preacher on all counts.

  “Now, your aunt, on the other hand, plays it a little too cool. Man, that train guy is all bent out of shape.” Deek held out his hands. “I can see their auras and they are both hurting.”

  “Is that true?”

  Deek looked at me funny. “Is what true?”

  “That you can see auras.” He’d told me before that he didn’t have any psychic ability, even though his mother was a practicing fortune-teller. And now he was throwing around words like auras?

  “Don’t overthink it. It’s just a way of saying I can see they’re both miserable without each other. Why did your aunt break it off?” He leaned closer, hoping to learn the answer.

  The bell over the door rang and a couple came into the store. He beelined to the coffee bar, but she stopped and scanned the bookshelves.

  “That is the million-dollar question. Can you handle them? I’ve got some paperwork I need to get done.” I picked up my cup and plate and moved around to the back of the bar. As I refilled my cup with more caffeine than I knew was good for me, I heard Deek greet the man.

  “So, what can I pour you while you’re shopping for your next great read? I bet you enjoy international thrillers. You have the look of a spy.”

  Smiling, I left Deek to his magic skill of reading people to know just what they needed to hear to increase their purchases. He was so good at it that I caught myself being woven into his web when he wanted something and I knew I was being played. Maybe he did have a gift. I sat down at the desk and pulled out my aunt’s calendar.
Flipping to the back, I found what I’d been looking for. Her doctor’s name and phone number. I just looked up my doctor online when I needed to call for an appointment. My aunt had a written name and phone number section in the back of a paper planner. And she’d had to paste pages she’d copied from an old address book she’d had for years.

  Talk about old school. I dialed the number and when a receptionist answered, I asked for an appointment.

  “What is this regarding?”

  She didn’t seem surprised when I said I needed to talk about Jackie Ekroth. “Tell Dr. Stevens that I’m her niece and I need to find out what is going on with her.”

  “You can come by tomorrow at one. He’ll be on his lunch break, so he’ll need to eat while you talk.”

  I was surprised at the speed of getting the appointment. And that the woman hadn’t given me any grief about privacy laws. “I’ll be there. Thank you.”

  “Don’t thank me. Dr. Stevens told me to bring you in last week. I just haven’t been able to find time to track down your number. As your aunt’s next of kin, you really should keep that information updated.” She paused. “Don’t forget to bring a copy of your health care POA. We’ll need to make a copy before you start talking.”

  I thanked her again for the appointment, then sat looking at the phone. Why would her doctor want to talk to me? Something bad was going on. I could feel it.

  Chapter 1

  Event planning is a talent that not everyone has in their DNA. No matter what they tell you in high school, not everyone can do everything. My Home Economics teacher had a section in our senior Family Living class on wedding planning. But no, you had to pick out your perfect dress. Set up a caterer. List out your menu. Find a venue for both the wedding (which should be religion appropriate for you and your future husband) and the reception. Then we had to set a budget. And she’d tricked us early on by asking what the future version of ourselves and the imaginary husband did for a living. So the budget was based on the average salaries for those careers. Which she set for you using some charts she’d found on the internet.