Assault and Batter(7)

“You don’t have to do that, Suzanne.”

“I don’t mind,” I said as she took the tub from me.

“Just for that, you get a ten percent employee discount today,” Trish said with a smile.

Jack Jefferson said, “I refilled my tea glass. Do I get one, too?”

“Jack, I should charge you more,” she said with a smile.

“Why?”

“Because I can,” she replied with a grin. After Trish wiped the table down, I took a seat across from Emily.

“Now, I’ll be honest with you. I don’t even know where to get started,” I said.

“It won’t be that bad, I promise. Mom’s taking care of the venue and the food afterwards, Max reserved the Senior Center stage for the venue, and he’s having the rehearsal dinner catered. You’re doing the wedding donuts, so really, all that leaves are a few details here and there. It’ll be over in a snap.”

“Are you sure about having donuts served at your wedding?” I asked her. “Goodness knows that I love them myself, but it’s kind of unconventional, wouldn’t you say?”

“We passed that exit a long time ago when you agreed to be my maid of honor,” Emily said with a smile. “Not many women would agree to serve such a vital role at their ex’s wedding.”

“What can I say? It’s taken me some time, but Max and I have come a long way since the bad old days.”

“I’m in awe of that, if you want to know the truth,” Emily said.

“Don’t give me too much credit,” I said with a slight grin. “I’m human enough, and if you don’t believe me, just ask Jake.”

“He’s coming to the wedding too, of course,” Emily said.

“If he can get away,” I replied, intentionally leaving it a bit vague. Hopefully Emily wouldn’t ask me anything else about my current boyfriend.

She must have seen something in my expression, though. “Suzanne, is everything all right?”

“It’s fine,” I said, not wanting any of her focus on me. This was Emily’s time to shine, and I was going to make sure that I didn’t do anything to spoil that. “What do your three buddies think about all of this?” I wasn’t talking about her real friends, though the three stuffed animals that had played such a vital role in her childhood were still near and dear to her. She had them perched on a shelf at her store, and we all loved to see how she was going to outfit them next.

“Spots is excited, Cow isn’t quite sure about it, and Moose is being his usual inscrutable self.”

“Are they going to attend the wedding?” I asked her.

“You bet. I’ve been working on tuxes for all three of them since Max proposed. They are all going to be quite dashing.”

“I’m certain that they will be,” I said. “Now, let’s get down to the details.”

Trish came by and we both ordered lunch, but it didn’t even break our rhythm. By the time we were ready to leave, we’d ironed everything out. Besides the donut wedding treats, I was in charge of getting the reverend to agree to perform the ceremony, and I had the added dubious task of keeping Peter from drinking too much at the rehearsal dinner and the reception the next day. How I was going to do that was anybody’s clue.

I insisted on treating Emily to lunch, and sure enough, Trish gave me the employee discount. “You’re crazy. You know that, don’t you?” I asked her with a grin.

“I know good help when I see it. Anytime you want to moonlight, come to me.”

“I might have to take you up on that someday,” I replied.

“You don’t even have to ask,” Trish said.

Emily and I were standing outside when Max rushed up to us.

“Hello, darling,” Emily said, and her face truly did light up when she saw him.

Max’s expression was more one of concern. “Hi, Em. Have you seen Peter, by any chance?”

“No, I haven’t,” Emily said.

“I have,” I piped up. “He was at the donut shop a little before eleven.”

“Then it appears that you were the last person to see him,” Max said. “I’m getting worried about him. It’s not like him to just disappear, and to top things off, I just heard that Jude was back in town.”

“He came by the shop, too,” I said.

“What did he want?” Emily asked me. She was clearly upset learning that he’d resurfaced.

“He wouldn’t say.” I turned to Max. “Why are you so concerned about Peter’s whereabouts?”

“We were supposed to get together twenty minutes ago, but he never showed up. He promised me that he wouldn’t pull any stunts this week, and now he misses our first rendezvous time.”