“No, Ringo!” I ordered, rushing over to grab the bridle.
“Some people have no home training.” The shopkeeper harrumphed.
I dragged the horse away. “You need to go home,” I told him.
He tried to turn me back toward the french fries.
“No!”
I looked around. There was no way I was driving my car through the crush of the festival. Music started in the town square, and people cheered.
“This is a madhouse.”
“How are we getting to Costco?” Alfie asked.
I patted the horse.
“We’ll take Ringo back first and grab another car.”
I boosted Alfie up then swung onto the horse’s back and urged the horse forward. He was large, and it took him a minute to get going, but then we were off.
After bribing and coaxing, we made it as far as the Svensson estate before Alfie complained that he was hungry. Hunter had a horse trailer and could take us the rest of the way, so I pushed the buzzer at the front gate.
“Thank god you’re here,” Hunter said in the video camera.
Alfie and the Svensson brothers clambered to take care of the horse while I dusted off my clothes and went inside.
Meg was slumped at the table, hands tangled in her hair, bags around her as she’d just returned from town.
“This wedding is a disaster,” Hunter said angrily. “Meg is beyond stressed.”
“How did this get so out of hand?” she asked in shock. “There are goats in city hall.”
“Maybe after the concert, we can ask people to go chase them out,” I suggested.
“There’s a concert?” she shrieked.
I gulped and took a step back.
“There was not an authorized concert for tonight.”
“Oh, well, it’s happening.”
“We need to get this under control. Now.”
“I need to go to Costco before it closes,” I said, “then maybe we can have a working session.”
Meg just laughed, though it had a hysterical edge. It was even more unnerving when she suddenly stopped laughing.
“Costco has run out of food.”
“How?”
“They didn’t expect festivalgoers until Friday at the earliest, and the supply trucks are not arriving until that morning.”
“But I need food for the rehearsal dinner!”
“You’re just now planning that?” Hunter asked.
