Was she playing with fire letting herself fall for this man before she knew for certain that Bobbi was settled?
Probably. But right now, tucked inside Nate’s arms, McKenna just couldn’t bring herself to care.
“There you are,” Georgie said, wedging herself between Nate and McKenna. “Grab your camera, McKenna. I want to make the big announcement before Lottie tries locking me in the bathroom again.”
“I did no such thing. If you don’t know how to handle a simple lock, that’s your—” Lottie, wearing a black-and-white-striped vintage-styledress with a bowtie neck, paused long enough to let the chocolate-smeared boy take a picture of her as she posed with one shoulder tilted forward and her hand propped on her waist—“problem,” she finished as soon as he snapped the picture and handed her the Polaroid.
“I’ll get the camera.” Nate gave McKenna’s shoulder a gentle squeeze, then started after the boy.
“You’re going to have a double chin, just so you know,” said Georgie, pointing at the picture.
“Anyone would. It’s a horrible angle.” Lottie fanned herself with the Polaroid. “So? Are you ever going to make this announcement or not?”
“McKenna, tell Lottie I’ll make the announcement when I’m good and ready.”
“McKenna, tell Georgie we all know she’s stalling because she knows she’s only going to embarrass herself.”
All the dancing had stopped and now a small crowd was gathering around them.
“McKenna, please inform Lottie that the only person about to be embarrassed is her when she sees how tiny tonight’s earnings are compared to the glorious riches we’re going to heap on the town of Bugle after our big concert next Saturday.”
“The big concert put on by who? Larry the Beekeeper?”
“Am I doing a concert?” a male voice asked from somewhere behind them.
“If you hadn’t been locking me in the bathroom all evening, then you’d know by now who our celebrity is,” said Georgie.
“Oh, come off it,” snapped Lottie. “Everybody knows not to use the third stall. The door gets stuck every time.”
“I was in the second stall,” said Georgie with an accusatory glare.
“I thought I heard to stay out of the first stall,” said Barb, stepping over with a small plate filled with cake and mixed nuts.
“That’s the stall that ran out of toilet paper.” Evie, wearing a cute black dress that accentuated her baby bump, waddled closer with one hand massaging her back. “Probably because of me.”
“Hey ladies, sorry to interrupt.” Ms. Harry Caray Glasses, wearing a bright blue dress with giant red flowers all over it, tapped Georgie on the shoulder. “But if you don’t mind, can you go ahead and make the announcement? Larry’s starting to get really worked up about whether he’s supposed to put on a concert next week or not.”
“Can you also announce what’s going on with all the stalls in the bathroom?” shouted a voice that McKenna was pretty sure belonged to Bracelets.
“And maybe whether Nate and McKenna are officially a couple?” That voice definitely belonged to Vegas.
“And will there be any more cheese trays tonight?” Gus? Really?
“And what do we know about the potholes out by the Piggly Wiggly?” another voice shouted.
“They’re not as big as the ones near me,” Lottie shouted back.
McKenna imagined an avalanche would be less painful than getting buried under all the random questions that continued to follow.
“What about the fish fry?”
“Is that next Saturday?”
“What time is Larry the Beekeeper’s concert?”
Finally, a loud whistle pierced the air. “Quiet,” a deep commanding voice shouted. It worked. Even the music stopped playing.
Took McKenna a second to realize the deep commanding voice belonged to Nate. He held his hands up, one of them clutching the Polaroid camera, as he walked through the crowd, parting them like a zipper. “Listen up. Georgie has something to say.”
