Chapter 44
“So?” Georgie said the following morning after she called an emergency meeting outside the town bakery because she needed to pick up a birthday cake for her granddaughter’s eleventh birthday and said she couldn’t wait until after the party later in the afternoon to get an update straight from the canary’s mouth. “What did he say?”
“Who?” said McKenna.
“Nate,” said Barb.
“When?” said McKenna.
“Last night,” said Gus.
“About what?” said McKenna.
“Harry,” everyone yelled back at her, except Evie, who yelled, “Jeffrey,” then said, “I mean, Harry.”
“Shh,” said Georgie. “People will hear.”
“We are standing in the middle of the sidewalk in the middle of downtown in the middle of a Saturday morning,” McKenna pointed out.
“Yeah, why can’t we go inside the bakery where there’s chairs?” said Barb.
“And air conditioning,” said Evie.
“And donuts,” said Gus.
“Because we don’t have time for chairs, air conditioning, and donuts,” said Georgie. “We need to be entirely focused on getting ready for Harry. I assume that’s all you and Nate talked about after we left. Did you guys come up with a plan of attack to get the B&B ready?”
“Oh. Well . . .” McKenna tried to think of what all she and Nate had said about Harry last night. They had to have said something. This was Harry they were talking about. Of course they’d said something.
She was still trying to think of something when a voice pierced their huddled group like a flaming arrow. “Ah. What do we have here? Another meeting about how to effectively waste everyone’s time without accomplishing anything?”
Based on the soft snarl from Georgie, the long-suffering sighs from Barb and Evie, and the world-class eye roll from Gus, McKenna had one guess as to who was approaching.
“I’m going inside for that donut,” muttered Gus.
“Good idea,” Barb said, motioning Evie to follow Gus inside. “It’s already humid enough without having to listen to any of her hot air.”
The bakery door closed, leaving Georgie and McKenna to face off with the thin wrinkle-faced woman walking straight toward them like a hungry jackal. McKenna smiled, somewhat eager to meet the evil little villain she’d been hearing so much about.
“You must be Lottie,” McKenna said, holding her hand out.
“And you must be McKenna,” Lottie said, gripping McKenna’s hand with a surprisingly firm shake.
“I am,” McKenna responded, unable to hide her surprise. “How did you—?”
“I make it my business to know what goes on in this town,” Lottie said. “That’s the key to making things happen. You’re a photographer, right?”
“Y-yes?” Okay, this lady was a little scary.
“We need a photographer for the Dominoes Dance coming up. Can I put your name down?”
“I—”
“Since when are you in charge of the Dominoes Dance?” said Georgie.
“Since everyone realized I was the best woman for the job,” said Lottie. “Now can I count on you or not?” Lottie said to McKenna.
“I—”
“Great. You won’t regret it,” said Lottie. “You’ll find it’s the one fundraiser in this town that actually raises some funds.”
“Not true,” said Georgie. “Our backyard celebrity concert will rake in triple the funds as the Dominoes Dance. Won’t it, McKenna?”
“I—”
“How?” said Lottie. “I heard Barb’s barn went up in flames.”
“We have another backyard that’s perfect,” said Georgie. “Don’t we, McKenna?”
“We—”
“The question is do you have a celebrity,” said Lottie.
“The answer is yes, we do,” said Georgie. “Don’t we, McKenna?”
McKenna didn’t even bother opening her mouth this time. Lottie was already butting in with a “Who?”
“Not telling,” said Georgie.
“Because you don’t have one,” said Lottie.
“Because it’s a surprise,” said Georgie.
“Then announce it the night of the Dominoes Dance,” said Lottie.
“Sure,” said Georgie.
“Really?” said Lottie, her head rearing back.
Georgie looked at McKenna with the sort of look that said It’s okay that I said “Sure” because you and Nate have everything under control so we’re good to go with having Harry perform at the B&B, right?
McKenna looked back at her with the sort of look that hopefully conveyed I meant to talk to Nate about that, but we ended up having this heart-to-heart talk about our families which made me fall a little bit in love with him, so I never actually brought up anything to do with Harry, but I’m going to try really hard to stay focused on Harry from now on because I think we all agree that Nate and I wouldn’t do well having a long-distance relationship after this summer, and besides that, my entire future still hinges on this whole Harry thing turning out perfect.
Then they both looked at Lottie and said, “Sure.”