Girls' Night Out Murder (Ryli Sinclair 2) Read online

  You’re a good man, Jim.

  “I love it when Jim lets us stop by there.” A young boy of about eighteen exited Jim’s shop carrying two large, yellow halogen work lights. The easy way he carried the heavy objects, it was obvious he didn’t need any help.

  Jim reached out anyway and helped him set the lights in the back of his truck. “You just like the girl that works there on Saturday mornings,” Jim chuckled.

  The boy’s face turned red. He blew his sandy blonde hair out of his eyes and smiled shyly at me.

  “This here is Josh, my after-school and weekend helper,” Jim said.

  Josh reached over and shook my hand. Nice, strong grip. “Nice to meet you. That your house over there?” he said, pointing with his thumb at our place.

  “Sure is.”

  “I’ve always loved the symmetrical deck and natural lighting you get from the windows,” he said.

  I shot Jim a look. What kind of high school kid talks this way?

  “Josh here is strong and smart. I’m showing him the ropes on the contractor’s side of things. But he’ll be leaving in the fall for college. Majoring in architecture,” Jim said proudly.

  Josh ducked his head and shuffled his feet in the snow, obviously embarrassed by Jim’s praise.

  Jim slammed the tailgate closed on his truck. “Well, I suppose we should get going. We’re hopefully going to finish up on a house tonight before my date. An out-of-town couple who’ve been pretty anxious for me to finish.”

  Josh chuckled. “Anxious is putting it mildly.”

  You don’t say?

  “And I should get the groceries inside. Aunt Shirley is on a mission to make sure we’re drunk every day this week.”

  Jim threw back his head and laughed. “Your aunt is definitely one of a kind.” He looked over at our lake house and grinned. “Speaking of…isn’t that her right now?”

  Afraid of what I’d see, I slowly turned to look. Suppressing a groan, I watched as an obviously freezing Aunt Shirley sashayed to the end of the wrap-around porch in leopard print high-heeled boots. She looked like she’d just escaped from the zoo. We all pretended not to notice when she slipped on a slick spot of frozen snow and almost toppled on her ass, which caused her leopard print mini skirt to ride dangerously high on her thigh. Righting herself, she started waving her hands in a nice friendly manner. “Hey, Jim. Good to see you,” she yelled over coyly. “Don’t you look handsome today.”

  Jim waved back and whispered, “Is your aunt wearing a leopard print mini skirt and leopard print high-heeled boots in the dead of winter?”

  “Don’t ask…just go with it.”

  Jim chuckled and gave Aunt Shirley a big wave.

  Chapter 6

  “Are you sure you don’t want to come with us tomorrow?” I asked. We were all sitting around the kitchen table later that evening, watching Aunt Shirley make her jello shots. I had to admit, not only did they smell delicious, but they looked pretty good, too. I almost couldn’t wait until tomorrow night to try them out.

  Mindy patted my hand. “No, thanks. I want to help your momma and Bea get ready for the wedding. You guys go and look over the cake. I’m sure you’ll want to catch up with your old friend, too. I’m better used here.”

  “I’m going,” Aunt Shirley said from the island barstool. I watched as she carefully poured the cranberry vodka shots into tiny cups. Between the cranberry, cinnamon, and peppermint shooters, the kitchen was beginning to smell a lot like Christmas.

  Paige groaned.

  “I heard that!” Aunt Shirley said.

  Mom chuckled and placed a warm mug of herbal tea in front of me. “What time are you expecting your cousin, Paige?”

  “I think Megan should be here around dinnertime. She said her boss is letting her leave work a little early so she doesn’t have to drive completely in the dark.”

  “That’s nice of him,” my mom said as she delivered the last of the tea to the table. “So here’s what I’m thinking as far as timeline. Bea, Mindy, and I will run to the store tomorrow and get the food for the bachelorette party and both the rehearsal and wedding diner. Since it’s just a small gathering for the bachelorette party, how about we do finger foods? Maybe some spinach dip, pinwheels, and a veggie tray? And, of course, some chocolate. Then Saturday we’ll spend the day prepping for the rehearsal and wedding feast.”

  I grinned over at Paige. Our moms were great cooks, so anything they made would be better than what we could do. “It sounds wonderful, Janine,” Paige said. “Please don’t go to too much trouble. I feel bad you guys are going to be spending most of your days here cooking instead of relaxing and having fun.”

  Bea patted her daughter’s hand. “Honey, we want to do this for you. Believe me, Janine and I are having a great time. We get to bond over cooking and the fact our babies are getting married.”

  Sniffles and wet eyes popped up around the table. “Hey, no crying,” Aunt Shirley yelped from her area in the kitchen. “There’s no crying at bachelorette parties.”

  “This isn’t a bachelorette party,” I informed her snippily. “And it’s no crying in baseball…not bachelorette parties.”

  “Whatever,” she huffed. “I should’ve made some of these beauties up in advance…loosen you girls up!”

  Paige got up from the table and went to stand by Aunt Shirley. “They look delicious. Thanks again for doing this.”

  Aunt Shirley grinned wickedly at her. “Don’t thank me until you’ve seen your wedding-night gift,” she said wiggling her bushy eyebrows.

  We all laughed at Paige’s red face. The poor girl had no idea if Aunt Shirley was serious or not. Me, I knew Aunt Shirley was serious. Whatever the gift was, it was bound to be embarrassing and totally outlandish.

  “It’s getting late, Aunt Shirley. Are you about finished?” my mom asked.

  “Yep, pouring the last of this ambrosia nectar right now.”

  I somehow had a hard time picturing the Greek gods sitting around the table doing jello shots. But then again, what do I know? I’ve never met a Greek god that I know of, so I guess anything’s possible.

  I decided to head downstairs and call Garrett for the night. I hadn’t spoken to him or Miss Molly since arriving—just text messages.

  I slid my finger over his name and watched as my phone dialed his number. Putting the phone to my ear, I bit my lip when it went to voicemail. I knew he was on an important case, but I was worried that he hadn’t called me. Not that I was jealous or anything.

  Who was I kidding? I was very jealous.

  I left a quick message for him to call me, shut off my light, and turned down the bed. I tossed and turned thinking of what he was doing and with whom he was doing it with.

  I heard the bedroom door open and Paige slipped quietly into the room. “I know. I miss you, too. Saturday can’t come fast enough. Me, too.” There was a huge pause then a giggle. “No way!” she hissed. “Because your sister is sleeping in the same room as I am.” Another pause…then laughter. “Yeah, I thought so. Okay, I’ll talk with you tomorrow. I love you so much, Matt. I can’t wait to see you Saturday.”

  When I heard a heavy sigh I figured she was done talking. I rolled over and faced her on her bed. “You two love birds able to survive for a few more days?”

  “Barely. Did you talk to Garrett tonight?”

  I sighed. “No. I could only leave a message.”

  Sensing my frustration, Paige said, “I’m sure he’s fine and totally missing you.”

  I smiled. “Thanks for being my best friend.”

  I rolled back over and willed sleep to come. I must have done a good job because I don’t remember much after that.

  * * *

  Pulling on my black leggings, I still couldn’t believe how unseasonably warm the weather was for December. I hoped it held out until the wedding. I yanked on a long, loose flowing red turtleneck and paired it with my equally long black cardigan sweater. I then zipped up my Michael Kors black and mocha knee-high b
oots. They were an expensive splurge, but well worth it.

  Twirling in front of the mirror, I decided I looked modern yet causal enough to pick out a wedding cake and chat with an old friend I hadn’t seen in nearly ten years.

  Today called for a fancier updo than my normal messy bun on top of my head. I’d recently been experimenting with Dutch braiding…and I loved the results. I decided to do a Dutch braid down each side of my head. After pulling at each braided strand and making them bigger and looser, I then pulled the Dutch braids and the rest of my hair on the back of my head into a low ponytail. I only went halfway through on the last loop around the rubber band and then tucked the rest of the hair inside the opposite side of the rubber band. After pulling and loosening the strands, I bobby pinned the mess onto the back of my head.

  Super cute if I do say so myself. I was thinking of doing this for the wedding, so I figured today would be a good day to unveil it and see what everyone thought.

  As I walked up the stairs into the main center of the house, I couldn’t help the fluttering of nerves in my stomach. I knew it was guilt because I was going to see Susie today. After hearing about how bad it was for her after the fire with losing pretty much her entire family, I was anxiety ridden over what to say to an old friend. An old friend I never bothered to contact after hearing the news. I know most people would excuse it and say I was young, but now that I’m older I just feel rotten.

  “There you are, sleepyhead,” my mom said as I made my way to the kitchen table. Like usual, I was the last to arrive. “I was just getting ready to call down and—oh.”

  Every head turned to stare at me. “What? I can’t be that late!”

  “It isn’t that,” my mom said. “It’s your hair. It’s absolutely lovely.”

  I touched it self-consciously. “Do you really think so?”

  Paige got up and turned me around so everyone could see the back. “Oh, Ryli,” she gushed, “It’s absolutely divine.” Turning me to the side she tentatively touched one of the braids. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Are you going to wear it like this for the wedding?”

  Turning to face her I said, “I was thinking about it. What do you think?”

  Squealing she gave me a huge squeeze. “I think it’s perfect! I’m just jealous I can’t do that to my hair,” she said as she sat back down and fluffed up her choppy layered bob.

  “What time are you girls supposed to be at the bakery today?” Bea asked.

  “Around two,” Paige said as she scooped up the last of her scrambled eggs.

  Mom set a plate of eggs, bacon, and toast in front of me. I slathered the eggs and bacon with hot sauce. Twisting off the lid to the boysenberry jam, I spread a generous dollop on my toast. “I was hoping to leave around eleven thirty. Maybe drive around the town, see all the new stores and houses going up.” I bit into the toast and continued, “Then maybe get a cup of soup or something for lunch in town before we head over to the bakery.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Paige said.

  “Me, too,” Aunt Shirley agreed.

  Mom gave me a stern look. “I want you to promise to be on your best behavior. Don’t go getting into trouble.”

  I gave her my best “who me” face, but she wasn’t buying it. “I’m serious. This is a big deal for Paige. You three have a tendency to run smack dab into trouble when you’re together.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Mom, that was months ago. Believe me, we don’t plan on upsetting anyone, much less find a dead body or two while we’re here this week, okay. Trust me on this.”

  Me and my ultra big mouth.

  Chapter 7

  “I can’t believe all the houses that have popped up over the last few years,” I said as I eased the Falcon back onto the blacktop road. We’d been driving around for about an hour, looking at all the new commercial and private properties. Over half of them had Jim Cleary’s name on the property signs. He was obviously doing well for himself.

  “Do you suppose this is how Jim and Julie met?” Paige asked. She was staring at a For Sale sign in the yard of a house that didn’t look to be completely finished yet. The listing realtor was Julie.

  “I think that’s what she said,” Aunt Shirley said.

  “Do you think they’re an odd pairing?” I asked, hoping I didn’t sound snobby.

  Paige leaned forward in her seat. “What do you mean?”

  I wrinkled my nose. I didn’t want to sound judgmental, so I decided not to say anything.

  “What?” Paige demanded.

  I sighed. “I don’t know. It’s just he’s obviously rolling in it. I know you can’t tell by the way he lives, but you know he has to be doing amazingly well for himself. He’s handsome, obviously a bigwig in the community…” I trailed off because I realized how bitchy I sounded.

  “Hey, chunky girls need love, too,” Aunt Shirley said, patting her slightly protruding belly. “Besides, it says a lot that he likes normal gals. Means I still have a shot at him.”

  “It isn’t just that,” I continued, ignoring her ridiculous statement. “I’ve really only seen a few realtor signs with her name on them, so she’s probably not that successful. I’d venture to say she didn’t leave town like most people did and then came back to settle down. She’s probably been here her whole life. I don’t know, she’s just not what I was expecting a high profile contractor worth lots of money to go for.”

  “Julie has always had that thing, though,” Paige said quietly from the backseat. “Remember how sweet and innocent she was when we were young. She was so shy because of her size. But there was also something so appealing about her in a nurturing kind of way.”

  Now I did feel like a heel. Of all the girls we hung out with, Julie was by far the most innocent and sweet. Not at all like Whitney. When Julie mentioned Whitney was still in town, I wanted to ask why in the world Julie even still spoke to her. But obviously she had to if they were both in real estate.

  Whitney Lark had been my least favorite local girl to hang with. She was the kind of girl that wasn’t from the right side of the tracks, yet made fun of the girls that were. As we got older she’d brag about someday living on the rich side of town—the side my grandparents had built on. Even though my grandparents were far from rich.

  She was mean and vindictive, and I was glad I didn’t have to be around her all year. I never understood the pull the other girls had to her, but they were loyal to her.

  And now I sounded just as spoiled and bitchy as Whitney had always been. “You’re right. She’s a sweet girl who obviously deserves someone like Jim. I really hope this works out for them.”

  “Speaking of putting some meat on the old bones,” Aunt Shirley said, “I could use a bite to eat.”

  I wasn’t really hungry, but I wasn’t going to argue with Aunt Shirley. We drove back into town, taking in all the sights. After scoping out all the places, we decided on the Cavern Beach Bar and Grill for lunch. With it being winter, a lot of the summer restaurants and bars were closed.

  The Cavern Beach Bar and Grill was your typical small-town dive. It was a brick building located along the main two-lane highway that ran through town. As we walked through the front door, the smells permeating the air made my stomach rumble. Obviously I just thought I wasn’t hungry—the smells told my body something completely different.

  “Hey there,” a perky teenaged girl called to us with a wave. “I’ll be right there.” She wove her way between the tables and hurried our way. Her fresh-scrubbed face, naturally blonde hair, and tightly toned body screamed cheerleader on Christmas break.

  “Hi, welcome to Cavern Beach Bar and Grill. My name is Madilynn,” she pointed to her nametag on her chest, her ponytail bouncing the whole time. “Is this your first time with us?”

  “Yes,” I said, not sure how I felt about her abundant perkiness. It was refreshing after being with Aunt Shirley the last few days, but it was also kind of giving me a headache. No one should be this perky…ever.

  “Well, right
this way,” she said as she led us over to a booth by the window. “Best seat in the house for new customers. Everything here is delicious,” she rambled on, “but I would definitely recommend the baked potato soup with the avocado and bacon grilled cheese sandwich. It’s my favorite!”

  “Oh my God…that sounds divine,” Paige exclaimed as we slid into the booth.

  “I promise you it is,” Madilynn said as she handed us our menus. “Darla will be your server, but I can get your drinks for you.”

  “Water with lemon,” Paige and I said at the same time.

  “What kind of beer you got on tap?” Aunt Shirley asked.

  I gave Aunt Shirley the death look. She ignored it.

  “What?” Aunt Shirley said innocently. “Sign says ‘Cavern Beach Bar and Grill’ so I’m assuming there’s a bar here somewhere.”

  Madilynn laughed. “There is, but I can’t get it for you. Too young,” she said with a shrug. “But Darla should be here in a second and she can get you one.”

  “Perfect,” my aunt said.

  We chatted over the menus as Darla brought us our waters. Everything on the menu looked delicious, but we all decided on the baked potato soup with the avocado and bacon grilled cheese sandwiches.

  After Darla took our order and brought Aunt Shirley her beer, we pretty much fell into silence, deciding to people watch out the window instead. Since it was winter, pretty much the people in town were the ones who lived here year round. In the summertime, this place was jumping. The town came alive with the nightlife. Most people would drive their boats to local restaurants and bars that had popped up all over the channels.

  Where we lived, the lake house was still relatively secluded, but at the rate Jim and other contractors were building, pretty soon our little isolated paradise would disappear. Kind of sad when you think about it.

  “Hey there, Tom,” Darla called to the man that entered the restaurant. “Go ahead and sit in your usual if you want.”