The women lined up behind her. Mia stood at the end, already regretting every life choice that led her here. The music kicked in.
Joy grabbed the mic and launched into an off-key version of “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.”
The crowd whooped. Her friends cheered. Naomi rolled her eyes but sang anyway. Mallory swayed. Mia shook her head, laughing despite herself, but joined the chorus.
For a few minutes, nothing else mattered.
Then they were back in their seats while another singer took over. Finally, there was a break. The unexpected quiet was welcome. Glasses clinked. A few people laughed loudly before jazzy background music was turned on.
Mia took a sip of her drink. Joy leaned close to her.
“Did you ever find out what happened to your crackers?” she asked. “I felt so bad for you.”
“I remade them the next day. Somehow, I must have mixed too much salt with the flour because they came out the same.”
“That sucks,” Joy said.
“Yeah.” Mia blew out a breath. “It seems to be the story of my life right now. One big step forward, two gigantic steps back. I don’t know what’s going on. Just weird stuff. An event canceled that I didn’t cancel. Deliveries canceled. Food tastes wrong when it shouldn’t. Clients going quiet.” She shrugged, trying to make it sound smaller than it felt. “Probably stress. Or bad timing.”
Lainey leaned over. “Okay, but at what point does weird stop being random?”
Mia hesitated.
“Just know you can always talk to us,” Lainey added more gently.
“Thanks.”
The music kicked back on, people cheering as the next singer took the mic.
Joy lifted her glass. “To friends.”
They lingered a little longer, laughing through one last round and a final, truly terrible eighties ballad, one she secretly loved, before the crowd started to thin. When Joy finally checked the time, she groaned.
“Liam’s going to be calling in an APB if we don’t leave,” she said.
Mia grabbed her purse and followed the others outside. The night air was cooler, the music fading once the doors closed behind them.
For tonight, the quiet would do.
CHAPTER 38
Mia wokeup Sunday morning to an overcast day. She walked downstairs and greeted her father, who hadn’t slept well and was in a bad mood.
After pouring herself a cup of coffee, she mentally went through her day. She needed to develop a potential menu for the fundraiser even though it was several months away and check in with the couple who wanted to have an engagement party in a couple of weeks at the event barn. Then she couldn’t forget returning a few emails she’d been putting off and updating her calendar.
It wasn’t much. She sighed. She could upload Autumn’s pictures to her website and advertise a little. Advertising costs money, which she was sorely missing right now. But it was one of those things that you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t. She needed business, plain and simple.
After kissing her dad on the forehead, she stepped outside. The wind had picked up, but the rain was holding off.
Inside her kitchen, she inhaled the familiar scents of yeast and sugar, the acrid scent of coffee grounds from the other day. The space usually steadied her. Today it didn’t quite land. Yesterday she asked Roy to dump the canister of flour. Sheneeded to place a new order. And while she was at it, it didn’t hurt to see what other supplies she was out of.
Thankfully, Sarah was able to come out yesterday morning, drop off the previous week’s receipts and pick up what she’d sell this week. She’d also hired Norah to help Sarah, which took one more thing off Mia’s plate.
After the fiasco with the crackers, Mia accepted that she’d been trying to do too much at once and needed a little breathing room. Scaling back on the farmers’ market felt like the safest way to do it without drawing attention or questions.
She checked the supply closet and made a short list on her phone, shorter than she liked.
Tires crunched outside, and she looked out the window expecting to see Roy.
