Chapter 4
Rafe
“What are the odds?” I tried to get Jojo to smile as we raced back to the Phillips House. “Did you know it’s illegal to release foil balloons in some places? They can get tangled in power lines and cause the power to go out.”
“You don't say?” Jojo shot me a look of disappointment mixed in with contempt. “Someone should have told those birds that.”
“What kind of birds would build a nest that close to a transformer? It doesn’t make sense.” I flicked the windshield wipers into high gear. The rain had picked up, making it almost impossible to see out of the windshield.
“Crows. I’ve seen them sitting up there when I’ve been setting up events. They just stare at me and caw.”
“A group of crows is called a murder, you know.” Damn, I wish I could shut myself up. But Jojo made me nervous and when I got nervous, I talked too much.
“A murder didn’t kill the transformer.” Jojo huffed out a breath. “A piece of foil ribbon did it. That’s all.”
I didn’t respond. The only sound was the squeak of the windshield wipers trying unsuccessfully to keep up with the rain.
We pulled back into the parking lot of the Phillips House.
Jojo made a run for it, and I wasn’t far behind her.
When we got to the porch, we were both breathing hard.
She pulled the key out of her bag. Thankfully, there was still a little daylight left, at least enough for her to fit the key into the lock.
As I took a step to follow her into the house, something dark and wet darted between my legs and right through the doorway.
“What was that?” Jojo shrieked. The dark mass shot across the foyer toward the dining room.
I jogged after it. “I think it’s that cat from earlier.”
“The black cat you almost hit with a hearse?” She flipped the light switch, but nothing happened.
“No power, remember?” I let out a laugh. “Poor cat probably just wanted to get dry.”
“Well, we can’t leave it in here.”
“Leave what where?” Suzy came out of the kitchen holding an old lantern up to her face with one hand. The light made her eyes glow and cast dark shadows against the wall.
“Suzy! You almost scared my soul right out of me.” Jojo put her hand to her heart. “What are you still doing here?”
“Finishing up the flowers. Power went out but I found this lantern in the garage. I’ll be back in the morning to do the rest. Lacey said they won’t have it back on for hours.
That’s some bad luck if you ask me.” She swung the lantern my direction.
“This wedding has been doomed from get go. It probably started when the bride decided she wanted thirteen layers of cake.”
I wasn’t superstitious about the number thirteen or any of the other things that had happened earlier this afternoon but that didn’t mean I couldn’t have a little fun with Suzy. “I’m pretty sure it was the black cat that ran in front of the car when we left earlier.”
“Lucky?” The older woman waved me off. “Pshaw. That cat must have at least fifteen lives. I’ve seen him lose about ten of them already.”
“Then maybe all this bad luck is coming from when Jojo spilled salt,” Rafe suggested.
Suzy sucked in a breath. “I hope you tossed some over your left shoulder.”
Jojo turned toward me and pointed. “That was an accident. You walked under a ladder on purpose though.”
“The two of you are just asking for it.” The lantern bounced as Suzy shook her head. “You’d better be careful. Bad things usually happen in threes. We’ve already had a coffin destroy the cake. Now the power’s out. What do you think will happen next?”
“No. We’re not going to play that game.” Jojo must have turned on her flashlight app. A bright beam of light cut across the room. “Let’s get the cake from the cooler and head back to the Burger Bonanza. The worst is over. Everything’s going to be fine from here on out.”
“I hope so, Jojo.” Suzy set the lantern down on the edge of the cake table. “I’m gonna head out. I’ll see you in the morning. Good luck with fixing that cake, hon.”
Feeling the need to do something useful, I picked up the lantern. “I’m going to see what I can find to support the cake so we can move it.”
“Great, thanks,” Jojo said. “I’ll walk out with Suzy and grab the boxes I used earlier from my car.”
The two women headed back outside while I moved into the kitchen to look around. I didn’t have any idea how much a wedding cake might weigh, but I’d moved my fair share of fragile props. Based on how things were going, I wanted to make sure moving the cake didn’t cause any further damage.
Using some of the packing material from the skeletons and a piece of plywood I found in the garage, I constructed a frame worthy of transporting a cake even bigger than the one Jojo made.
Working together, we were able to get it moved into the back of the hearse.
Jojo insisted on riding with it even though I assured her it wasn’t going anywhere.
“I just want to be sure,” she said as she climbed inside.
“That’s commitment. I’ll have to tell Luke that you were willing to ride inside the back of the hearse for the sake of his cake.”
“It’s the least I can do. If I thought you’d fit back here, I’d make you do it.” She narrowed her eyes at me as she sandwiched the frame between her legs.
The sight of her straddling the two bottom tiers of cake shouldn’t have made my cock twitch, but it did. I’d always been a sucker for a confident curvy gal full of sass and Jojo might as well have been custom-made to ruin me.
“Are you going to stand there and stare at me or can we get moving?” she asked.
I chuckled and shut the back door.