As it was, we sat at the back of what would one day be Gisele’s new shop just one block off Main Street. She was missing most of her walls and the floors were still concrete, but as she explained her vision for the space earlier, I saw where Gisele planned to take it, and it would be gorgeous.
“How is Riley?” Tabitha yelled her question after retreating back into the small section we were using as a dressing room to change back into her street clothes.
I shrugged even though she couldn’t see me. Those champagne bubbles had gone to my head. Gisele was smart and liquored us up every time we visited. I’d already bought two sets of wedding earrings and now had to decide which ones I’d use on the big day. The alcohol made choices much easier. Everything looked good after three glasses of champagne.
“He’s still working. Still dating his way through half of Clearwater.” He’d already dated everyone he considered acceptable in Pelican Bay.
The dressing room curtain crinkled open and Tabitha walked out in her jeans and a graphic T-shirt of a unicorn with a knife taped to its horn threatening to cut anyone who ticked her off. I knew what she was going to ask before her mouth even opened.
“So, what’s up with you and Riley, anyway?”
I shook my head. They’d heard the answer a hundred times before but never chose to believe it. “Guys, we’re friends. Riley and I have been besties since elementary school. He’s a brother to me.”
“You guys never kissed?”
“Eww.” Kissing Riley would be like kissing… my brother. If I had one.
Tabitha accepted my answer easily, but I held on to my guilt. I should tell them about Pierce, but I didn’t. He’s a secret I’d kept for longer than I’d be willing to admit. They wouldn’t understand. People like Pierce and me were meant to be mortal enemies, not lovers.
He’s from the classically East Coast rich family and I’m from the normal down-on-your-luck long-suffering poor family. Only in the books and movies did a rich man sweep the poor woman off her feet and solve her problems. In real life, the tycoons used the servants like they were pieces of meat and then discarded them to the dogs when they finished.
“I’m so excited you two are my bridesmaids. We’re getting the old crew back together,” Tabitha said, cutting into my pity party.
Anessa jumped with her a few times, and the three of us piled into a big hug. Something settled in my system with my two best friends’ arms wrapped around me—their acceptance.
When Tabitha pulled away, she wiped a happy tear from her eye. “Now that Pete is taken care of, Ridge can relax and we can have this wedding without any worries. Life will be calm.”
Anessa nodded. “Pelican Bay will finally be the peaceful seaside town we pretend it is.”
I laughed. They were missing a very important piece of this puzzle. “No, the next thing is you guys are going to have kids and then be changing diapers constantly.”
“Yeah, what are we talking about things getting quiet?” Tabitha said, staring at me with a look in her eye. “You found a dead body last night.”
Anessa’s gaze swept to mine and stuck.
Dammit. Ridge Jefferson and his pillow talk. I peeked behind me, glad to see Gisele wasn’t close enough to hear. She busied herself at the front of the store. “I’m pretty sure the police report doesn’t say my name.”
“Yeah, it’s funny about that,” Tabitha said as she raised and lowered her head slowly, leaving out the rest of the sentence.
“Did you touch it?” Anessa pressed as she searched my fingers as if I would still have blood on the tips of them.
“No.” I hadn’t even gone back into the closet when the body had been there. I didn’t even have a wonderful story to tell. “It’s no big deal, really.”
“Only Katy Kadish saw a dead body at the high school reunion and considered it no big deal.”
I laughed. It sounded like something I would say. “Pierce and I were arguing in the hallway and I opened the closet door to shut his mouth.”
“How would the closet shut him up?” Tabitha asked. Damn me having smart friends.
I rolled my eyes for dramatics. The key to this moment revolved around my ability to pretend he was nothing more than a bug I found annoying. “I threatened to lock him in there.” Okay, so it didn’t go completely that way and I hated lying to my friends, but things with Pierce needed to stay between Pierce and me. Like everything.
“And that’s why only he saw it. Then Pierce called the police. It wasn’t that dramatic.” Both of them looked saddened by my lack of storytelling skills. I usually wove a better tale, but I knew they’d ask too many questions this time. “I’m thinking about looking into it.”
“No!” Tabitha said her eyes wide in fear.
“Absolutely not,” Anessa agreed in her matter-of-fact way. “The police are handling it. You said so yourself.”
“You can’t die before my wedding.” Tabitha’s gaze flew back to the dressing room where she’d hung up her wedding dress less than five minutes earlier.
