CHAPTER NINE
Blue
“Thank you for agreeing to have lunch with me,” I say.
Across the table, Peach frowns. Her cheeks are still pink from the cold and her hair is mussed from the woolen hat she just pulled off her head. “I never said I wanted to cut you out of my life, Blue.”
“You’re just cutting me out of the most important event of your life.” Around us, silverware clinks and diners chat. I force a smile so no one gets the idea I’m here to argue with my sister.
Peach sighs. “You’re still in the wedding party and you’re still in charge of my bachelorette party. I heard you and Garrick are planning the holiday festival. You don’t even have time to worry about my wedding.”
She’s right, but I hate it. “Please just promise me, Peach. If anything goes wrong or you need help with anything, promise you’ll call me and let me help.”
She spears a spinach leaf and a bit of cucumber on her fork and smiles. It’s a worrisome smile. “I’ll promise to ask for help if I need it if you do the same.”
I shove my salad around, pretending to be seeking a wayward baby tomato or chickpea. “I don’t need any help. I’m doing great.”
“So the story about you getting lost in the woods and calling your arch nemesis for help is a lie?”
Damn it. I look up and drop my fork in my salad bowl, appetite gone. “I hate small town gossip.”
“Or is Garrick Evergreen your secret lover? I’m getting conflicting reports.”
I could tell her everything. There’s a part of me that wants to, desperately. But she’s got a wedding to plan and I’m supposed to be taking care of her, not the other way around. “He and I had a difference of opinion, but we’ve called a truce.”
Her eyes twinkle as her smile grows. “Uh-huh.” My sister has always been a die-hard romantic, and it’s gotten worse since she’s fallen in ‘love.’ Her smile fades. “At least call me to provide sweets and treats for the festival. You know I can help with that.”
“But you’ve got a wedding to plan. And the festival is going to need—”
Peach holds up a hand. “I can handle it. Can you trust me to handle it?”
My sister looks fierce in her defiance and I remember the tiny little girl she once was, so cowed by our mother’s demands and so desperate to keep the peace. She really has changed. How did I miss that? “I trust you, Peach. I’ll get an official order to you before the weekend.”
She beams. Maybe Peach has always been stronger than I’ve given her credit for. Or maybe she just got stronger while I wasn’t paying attention.
“Hey cousins,” Cherry says loudly enough that everyone in the restaurant looks her way. She’s oblivious as she shimmies into her seat. “Sorry I’m late. A reindeer made a break for it and Josephine and I had to chase it down.”
“Pretending to be one of Santa’s reindeer was too depressing?” I ask.
Cherry snorts. “No, a group of particularly whiny and handsy children scared the bejesus out of her.”
She scans the menu, places her order with a server, and focuses all her attention squarely on me. “What’s this I heard about you and Garrick getting caught screwing in town hall?”
Ugh, I feel a head cold coming on, and I never get sick. “I wouldn’t screw Garrick Evergreen for all the money in the world. I—”
“That’s good to know.” Garrick takes a seat next to Cherry and smiles charmingly at my sister and my cousin. “It’s good to see you again, Cherry. Peach. I’m sorry for your grave misfortune in being related to Mayor Demon here.”
“Oooh, Demon,” Cherry says, her eyes lighting. “Love the pet name.”
“It’s not a pet—” I say.
“We’re both beyond lucky to be related to Blue,” Peach says. “From what I hear, you’ve been nothing but rude to her.”
He frowns in mock concern. “Demon. Have you been spreading naughty rumors about me?”
Cherry laughs in delight. “Oh, you’re way more fun than I thought you were, Garrick.”
“Do not encourage him,” I say.
“She’s telling you the truth, though,” he says, looking far too handsome when his eyes sparkle with mischief. “We didn’t have intercourse in town hall. She tackled me to the cold, hard ground simply because I didn’t answer immediately when she asked me to wait for her.”
“You probably should have waited for her,” Peach says. “Blue hates being ignored more than anything.”
Garrick turns an interested gaze on me. “Is that right?”
“But you want to screw her in the town hall,” Cherry says, playing up a party girl attitude for effect. “I see the way you’re looking at her.”
Garrick’s eyes go wide for the merest moment before he recovers his smirk. “I learned a long, long time ago never to lie with a demon.”
Cherry shivers in delight. “Oooh, biblical. I love it.” She pauses. “I mean, it’s not literally biblical, I don’t think. I’ve never read the bible, but it reminds me of what this evil pastor said in that horror movie about the killer swans. Have you seen it?”
Garrick stares at my cousin for a long moment. “Usually, I can tell right away when someone’s fucking with me, but you’re good.”
Cherry’s smile is wicked. “I’ve had years of practice. What I can’t tell for sure is if you’re fucking with my cousin because you’re just an asshole, or because she’s truly wronged you in some way.”
“You don’t believe the rumor that we’re secret lovers?” Garrick asks.
Cherry and Peach laugh at that.
“Blue doesn’t date, and she definitely doesn’t love any man for more than a night or two,” Cherry says.
“Besides,” Peach says. “Blue would have told us if she’d slept with you. She always shares the postmortem with us.”
Garrick snorts. “Postmortem? How fitting.”
“You wish you had any idea,” Cherry says. “Blue once sexed a man up so good, he followed her around for two weeks trying to convince her to run off with him.”
“Cherry.” My stomach aches. I don’t like Garrick talking to my family. “Garrick doesn’t need to know about my sex life.”
Peach leans across the table toward Garrick. “Are you still pissed at Blue because you think she’s the one blocking your permits?”
And that’s enough. “Okay, Garrick.” I shove at his shoulder. He doesn’t budge. “Time to go.”
“No,” Garrick says. “I want to hear this. Are you telling me Blue supported my requests?”
“She’s not telling you anything,” I say.
“Of course she supported them,” Cherry says. “Anything that helps business grow is good for the town. And your business draws new tourists in. Blue’s not stupid.”
“She doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” I say, but no one is paying any attention to me.
“If she’s not blocking my permits,” Garrick asks, all skepticism, “who is?”
“The council, of course,” Peach says. “They aren’t agreeing to anything she asks for because they hate her and want her to fail as mayor.”
Garrick turns to me. “Is that true?”
“My sister isn’t a liar,” I say, because how dare he?
“Why did you let me think you were blocking my permits?”
“Would you have believed me if I told you the truth?”
He studies me. “Fair point.”
“Great. Now go away so we can finish lunch.”
He pushes back his chair and stands, looking weirdly somber. “I’ll pick you up at nine tomorrow. Be ready.”
We all watch him walk away. It’s depressing how much I like the way that man moves.
“What’s he picking you up for?” Peach asks.
“It must be sex,” Cherry says, all teasing.
I drop my head in my hands and groan.