“Why don’t you just pull it up over the monitor?”
“It will stretch out my sock.” Cold’s nose wrinkled up in disgust.
Grinning, Jimmy hugged Cold’s neck and kissed his cheek. “We all have to make sacrifices to get through this difficult time.”
Cold growled.
“It’s really going to bother you, isn’t it?” Jimmy patted Cold’s shoulder. “Maybe you could try wearing ankle socks?”
“Never.” Cold actually looked offended.
“Come on,” Jimmy said with a fond smile. “Let’s go eat.” He walked downstairs with Cold, stopping in his tracks when he saw Charlie setting the table. “What are you doing here?”
“Right! Sorry,” Charlie said with a sheepish smile. “After you sort of ran off into the house, Jerry told me to wait in the kitchen to stay out of everyone’s hair. So, well, I waited.”
“You’ve been in there all of this time?”
“Not the entire time,” Jerry answered, swishing in from the kitchen with a happy grin. “When I foundMonsieurSwenson still in our company, I put him to work.”
“Oh?” Jimmy glanced between the two men expectantly and smiled wide when he saw the way they were looking at each other. “To work, huh?”
“With dinner!” Jerry exclaimed, blushing furiously and holding his nose up high. “MonsieurSwenson is quite the aspiring chef, I will have you know.”
“Coming from you, that is indeed high praise,” Cold said, taking his seat at the head of the table. He seemed oddly calm regarding Charlie’s continued presence.
“Thank you both,” Charlie said shyly. “I do hope you enjoy it. You know, I must say, it’s giving me so many ideas for your wedding—”
“Later,” Cold said sternly.
“Right! Later! Yes, Mr. Legrand!”
Jimmy sat down next to Cold, eyeing Charlie for a moment. His sweet affection for Jerry seemed genuine enough, but there was something that felt off.
When the flower clerk started screaming, was it really because he saw Jimmy? He had been going there ever since he had first stopped to get flowers for his mother’s grave. It seemed so strange that Jimmy’s presence would have been so upsetting.
Maybe it was because of the trial.
Perhaps the police had made threats...
Or was it because ofCharlie?
Jimmy’s gut turned at the thought.
Charlie was just the wedding planner, and he had been hand-picked by Cold himself. There wasn’t any reason to worry. Jimmy silently berated himself for getting so carried away even as his suspicions worried at his stomach.
After serving dinner, Charlie opted to eat in the kitchen with Jerry, leaving Jimmy alone with Cold.
“What’s troubling you?” Cold asked pointedly. “You have the oddest look on your face.”
“Sorry,” Jimmy said. “I just...”
Think our wedding planner is bad news? A spy?
“Just worried about all of this.”
“All you need to do is worry about the wedding,” Cold said with a faint smile.
“Right. The wedding I’m not going to.”
