Chapter 64
“Hey—” Nate didn’t have time to say more than that before McKenna was opening the pantry door and shoving him inside.
After showing the third Harry to his room, Nate had been on his way to find McKenna and make sure she wasn’t too upset about whatever snafu Georgie had created.
Nate may not be able to pick Harry Connick Junior out of a lineup, but he was one-hundred-percent certain none of the three Harrys who’d arrived at the B&B just now were Harry Connick Junior.
Something had gone wrong. Terribly wrong.
But maybe McKenna wasn’t too upset and things hadn’t gone too terribly wrong if she had a secret make-out session in the pantry on her mind. That was what she had on her mind, right?
“I like how you think,” Nate said, circling his arms around McKenna’s waist once she pulled the door shut behind her.
“Hey, watch your elbows, pal,” a voice whispered to the side of him.
Nate jerked. “Georgie?”
“Shh,” said another voice. This time Barb. “They’ll hear us.”
“Who?”
“All the Harrys,” Gus’s voice answered behind him.
So maybe a secret make-out session in the pantry wasn’t on McKenna’s mind right now. He tugged the lightbulb string, finding himself surrounded by way more than canned goods and nonperishables. “Just how many people are in here right now?”
“Only us,” said Evie.
“And why exactly is this happening?”
“Shhh,” they all said with their fingers over their lips. Good thing this pantry was big.
“We needed an emergency meeting,” Georgie answered once they’d finished shushing him. “We’re in a bigger pickle than we were with the pickle salad.”
“You know, I tried it, and it wasn’t too bad,” said Gus.
“Shh,” said Georgie. Then, “Really? Thank you. Now start taking notes.”
“Me? I’m not the notetaker,” said Gus.
“You are today.” She shoved a pen and notepad into his hands. “All right. First order of business.” Georgie panted for several seconds. “I don’t know the first order of business. What do we do here? Kill off one of the Harrys? Rob a bank? How are we going to afford to pay all of them?”
“All of them? How many more Harrys did you invite while I was hiding in the bathroom?” said Evie.
“One. None. Possibly three.” Georgie winced. “My granddaughter and cleaning lady were helping me out. I’m thinking maybe we were all communicating with three different Harrys this whole time.”
“None of them the right one,” McKenna added in a subdued tone. Nate nudged her foot with his. That was about all he could do to offer support in the space of a sardine can. When her gaze lifted to his, he gave her a reassuring nod. They’d figure this out. Somehow.
“Why can’t we just send away all the wrong Harrys and invite the right Harry?” Evie said.
Georgie shook her head. “We’d still owe the wrong Harrys money. Besides, people are expecting a concert in two days. We don’t have time to get the right Harry.”
“Will the wrong Harrys still be able to put on a concert?” asked Evie.
“Maybe,” said Georgie. “First one plays bass. Second one—”
“Tall Harry,” said Gus. “He’s got a few inches on Bass Harry.”
“Fine. Tall Harry has a podcast,” said Georgie.
“What kind?” asked McKenna.
“I don’t know,” said Georgie. “The talking kind?”
He and McKenna shared a look. How did they ever think Georgie had convinced an actual celebrity to visit Bugle?
“Sounds like Tall Harry’s hoping to be a stand-up comedian someday when we talked in the kitchen earlier,” said Gus.
“He said right now he’s living with his mom and mostly just trying out new material on a weekly podcast that he does inside his closet because that’s where the acoustics are best. But it sounds promising. Who doesn’t love a comedian?”
“Right now, me,” said McKenna. “In fact, I’d say I don’t love them any more than I love bass players.”
Nate tapped her foot again. He’d fix this. He didn’t know how. But he would.
Gus elbowed Nate’s side and handed him the notepad. “My hand’s getting tired. Can you finish?” Nate looked at the notepad where so far only one word had been written. Pickle.
“What about Harry number three?” said Evie.
“Hairy Harry,” said Gus.
“Hairy Harry?” said Barb. “I haven’t met him yet. What’s he do?”
“He’s an author,” said Georgie. “Specializes in writing and giving lectures about the early Jazz Age.”
“See what happens when we think outside the box, you guys?” said Gus. “We get ourselves an author.”
“Not funny,” said Georgie.
“A little bit funny. Make sure you put it down in the notes,” Gus whispered to Nate.
“So where are all the Harrys right now?” asked Evie.
“Napping,” said Georgie. “Apparently this has been a big day for them.”
“Well, to get back to the original point of this meeting,” said Gus, opening a box of Cheez-Its he must’ve pulled off a shelf, “I say we bump off Hairy Harry first.”
“Which one was Hairy Harry again?” said Evie.
“The tall guy,” said Gus.
“I thought that was Tall Harry,” said Barb.
“Tall Harry is the comedian with the mole on his chin.”
“So why aren’t we calling him Chin-Mole Harry instead of Tall Harry?” said Barb.
“Because he was the tallest Harry before Hairy Harry arrived,” said Gus.
“Is Hairy Harry hairy?” asked Barb.
“He’s bald,” said Gus. “But since he’s an author I thought he’d appreciate the irony.”
“Here.” Nate passed the notebook on to Evie. “Your turn.” He was tapped out on taking notes after writing Is Hairy Harry hairy?
“So how much money are we looking at, Georgie?” asked McKenna. “Nine thousand dollars just to break even after we pay all the Harrys?”
“Well . . .” Georgie tugged on her green beaded necklace like it was choking her. “Maybe more like . . . twenty thousand dollars.”
“What?” everyone said. Georgie lifted her finger to her lips, wearing a constipated look as she shushed them.
“What do you mean more like twenty thousand?” Barb said. “Did more Harrys arrive just since we’ve been hiding in the pantry?”
Georgie scrunched her face tight. “When I said three thousand dollars, I may have underrepresented the total amount I offered. I may have promised I’d pay another three thousand once the concert was over.”
“Okay, back to the killing-them-off idea,” said Gus.
“Shh. Stop. Nobody’s killing anybody,” said Nate.
At least not yet. And at least none of the Harrys.
He wasn’t completely ruling out Georgie’s demise.
“People will still want to come and enjoy a nice evening with a little entertainment to support a good cause. So it’s not the Harry we thought it would be.
Or the Harry anyone in town currently thinks it will be.
Or the Harry we’ve been spreading word all over Tennessee it will be.
We’ve still got a Harry. Three Harrys to be exact.
We can still deliver on what we promised. ”
“How?” said McKenna. “We promised everyone a big-name celebrity. I promised Oliver a perfect proposal opportunity. Right now all we’ve got is a bass-playing, joke-telling, jazz-lecturing group of Harrys nobody’s ever heard of. That’s not even enough to make my portfolio stand out.”
Nate cupped McKenna’s face, really wishing they weren’t squeezed inside a pantry with four other people who were crunching on Cheez-Its and breathing all over each other.
“Listen to me. It’s not on your shoulders to fix this.
I’m going to help you figure this out. And I promise you, we will figure this out. Together.”
She held his gaze, her turquoise eyes swirling with doubt beneath the surface. But her foot tapped against his. “Okay,” she said with a tiny nod.
“Okay,” he whispered back to her. After all they’d been through, no way was he losing McKenna in two days because of a stupid miscommunication caused by Georgie.
No, he couldn’t get Harry Connick Junior here, but that didn’t mean Nate couldn’t turn this around.
He would give McKenna that perfect proposal for her sister.
He would give her an opportunity for a great portfolio so she could pursue opportunities in New York.
He would fix this somehow, someway. Even if the somehow, someway, already forming in his brain made his gut churn. Did this pantry contain any antacids?
“What do we tell all the Harrys in the meantime?” said Barb.
Nate gave McKenna a quick wink, then reached for the pantry door behind her. “We tell them everything is going exactly how we planned, we’re happy they’re here, and that with a little luck none of their checks will bounce. Meeting adjourned?”
“Meeting adjourned,” said Georgie.
“Thank goodness,” sighed Barb. “I think the Harrys had the right idea in taking a nap. I know I could certainly use one.”
They shuffled out of the pantry one by one to find Tall Harry smiling back at them from the kitchen island. “Oh cool,” he said. “Are you guys doing a podcast too?”