And thankfully, she never will—although Ella will one day. Is it too soon to start stressing over her wedding? Hopefully, she’ll marry Elliot, and then Emmie can stress out along with me.
Several songs pass with guests clinking glasses, spinning on the dance floor, and positioning themselves for the perfect InstaPictures shot. Phones flash constantly as people document every moment—the cake cutting, the flower toss, the bride’s laugh echoing across the water. The party reaches fever pitch when a nine-foot figure covered in a black suit studded with programmable LED lights appears on the deck.
“What in the actual—” I start, but the words die in my throat as the mysterious dancer flicks one robotic finger, summoning everyone to the dance floor. His face remains completely hidden, and he’s clearly on stilts, but he moves with impossible grace while his suit flashes in synchronized patterns.
Guests scream with delight as they flood the dance floor, and Georgie is absolutely living for this moment, dancing with the abandon usually reserved for people escaping natural disasters.
“Get over here!” Conrad shouts toward Jasper and Leo, who both growl their reluctance but start moving toward the pulsing dance floor anyway.
“You three need to join us,” Leo calls to me, Buffy, and Emmie as they head into the crowd of gyrating wedding guests and flashing lights.
My phone buzzes with a text from Jordy about a computer malfunction at the main desk, and I sigh. “Duty calls. I need to grab the backup laptop from my office.”
“Want company?” Buffy offers, but I wave her off.
“Stay and enjoy the robot dance spectacular. I’ll be right back.”
We’re coming with you,Fish announces, hopping down from her seafood surveillance position.
The party is too loud anyway,Sherlock agrees, shaking sand from his fur.And Truffle doesn’t like crowds.
Truffle barks rapidly in agreement.OH MY GOSH, yes, there are SO many big shoes everywhere and they keep moving around and I have to dodge them constantly, but also there are SO many interesting smells and sounds, and OH, did I mention the shoes are really big compared to my tiny paws and some of them have sparkles and some smell like different places, and it’s all veryexciting but also kind of scary!the tiny terror yips enthusiastically.
“I happen to agree,” Buffy says, and I nod her way because so do I.
I wave to Buffy and head inside, leaving the pumping music and flashing lights behind for the relative quiet of the inn’s interior. The contrast is immediate—from chaos to calm, from strobing LEDs to soft lamplight, from hundreds of voices to more or less blessed silence.
“I think each of you deserves a snack,” I say to my furry entourage as we make our way through the lobby.
SNACKS!Sherlock barks and spins in a circle as does Truffle, who is currently lost in a hurricane of barking herself.
This wedding has everything except subtlety,Fish sighs.
And common sense,Sherlock adds.Did you see the size of that ice sculpture? It’s going to melt all over the deck and then raise the ocean table enough to shrink the world by half.
“You may not be far off,” I say with a laugh.
I liked the sparkly lights,Truffle yips with boundless enthusiasm.SO many colors and they kept changing and flashing, and OH MY GOSH, did you see how they made everything look like a fairy tale? And the music was SO LOUD but in a good way, and there were people spinning and laughing, and I wanted to spin, too, but my legs are too short for proper spinning, but I tried anyway and got a little dizzy, but it was AMAZING, and also there might have been confetti somewhere! Good thing the last venue canceled on us!
“Bizzy!” Bea appears near the staircase, looking somewhat less composed than usual. Her silver hair has escaped its elegant chignon, and there’s a slight flush to her cheeks that suggests she’s been sampling the champagne liberally. “Congratulations on hosting such a spectacular evening. This has exceeded even my wildest expectations.”
“Thank you,” I reply, genuinely pleased. “Your daughter looks absolutely radiant tonight. That second dress is something elseentirely.”Mostly because it glows more than the moon,I muse to myself. “And that tall robotic man with all the lights is not like anything I’ve ever seen before.”
“Oh yes, Charlotte insisted on the LED situation. It cost more than my first car, but she wanted to be sure she’d stand out on social media.” Bea’s smile turns slightly bitter. “Everything has to be perfect for her followers, you know. Can’t have a simple wedding when you have millions of people watching.”
At least the hussy that my new idiot son-in-law was cheating on my daughter with is dead,she thinks with startling clarity.Whoever killed her did us all a favor. Poor girl, though—having to deal with Piers’s inevitable lies, and now poor Charlotte. Who knows? Maybe the killer will strike again and rid us both of that idiot for good.
My mouth falls open, and I nearly stumble at the venom in her thoughts, but manage to keep my expression neutral. I guess Bea is definitely off the suspect list.
“Well, Piers seems completely smitten with her,” I say, forcing a smile. “I’m sure they’ll be very happy together.”
Wait, did she imply that Piers had an affair with Tessa?
“Oh, I’m sure they will be,” Bea says with false brightness. “As long as Charlotte never finds out about his gambling problem, or his tendency to sleep with wedding planners, or the fact that he’s marrying her for money that doesn’t actually exist.” She laughs, but there’s no humor in it. “But what bride doesn’t deserve a few surprises in her marriage?”
The casual way she drops this information makes my skin crawl. Either Bea has completely lost her filter thanks to champagne or she’s more calculating than I gave her credit for.
“I should let you get to whatever you need to do,” she continues, already turning away. “Don’t let me keep you from your duties.”
