Lily buckled Connor into his car seat as Ian tossed the diaper bag in the back of the car. She glanced back at him, the hatch open, and asked, “Does this mean we have Sunday to ourselves?”
“Looks that way.” Since Ian’s parents had moved to Frederickport, Ian, Lily, and Connor, along with Ian’s sister, Kelly, and her boyfriend, Joe, had been having Sunday dinners with Ian’s parents. But earlier that week, Ian’s mother, June, had asked them if they could come for dinner on Friday instead of Sunday, as she and her husband, John, had other plans for Sunday.
Ian slammed the rear hatch closed while Lily shut the back car door and then opened the door to the passenger side of the vehicle. Wearing denims and a green pullover sweater, Lily sat on the passenger seat, closed the car door, and began buckling her seatbelt. She had her red hair pulled back in a high ponytail, and the only eye makeup she wore was a hint of green eye shadow, thin brown eyeliner, and mascara.
“I think we should go to Pearl Cove Sunday,” Lily told Ian as he got into the driver’s seat a few moments later.
“Hey, we’re going out to dinner tonight. Two times in a weekend?” Ian teased while shutting the door behind him.
“The weekend doesn’t officially start until midnight.”
Ian chuckled and buckled his seatbelt.
When they arrived at Ian’s parents’ house, Kelly and Joe were already there, sitting in the living room with June while John prepared cocktails.
“I bought olives,” June told Lily after snatching up her grandson and showing him the new toys she had purchased for him. Placing Connor on the floor with the toys, June told John, “Make Lily a martini.”
“Thanks, June, that’s sweet. But I really don’t feel like a martini tonight.” Lily took a seat on the loveseat with Ian.
“Do you have a headache?” June asked.
“No, I feel great.” The moment Lily said the words, she regretted it.
“John, fix Lily a martini; she’ll change her mind,” June insisted.
Lily and Ian exchanged glances but said nothing.
A few minutes later, John brought Lily a martini. As he handed it to her, he looked at Ian and asked, “What can I get you to drink?”
“I don’t really want anything right now. Let me think about it,” Ian told him.
John gave a nod and walked across the living room and took a seat next to his wife. By his feet, his grandson played with the toys.
Lily glanced at the martini glass and then looked at Ian. He smiled, reached over, snatched the glass from her, took a sip and looked over to his parents, who were currently in a discussion with Joe about the murder on Beach Drive. They didn’t look his way. He took another drink of the martini and removed the toothpick with the olives. Ian popped them into his mouth.
Lily frowned at Ian. The next moment, he removed the toothpick from his mouth. The olives were still intact. He grinned and handed them to her. “I removed the vodka for you,” he whispered.
Lily giggled and accepted the offering. She ate the olives while Ian set the now empty glass on the table. “I’m going to have to drive home,” she whispered.
“Ian, you really need to sell your house and move,” June said, now turning her attention to Lily and Ian. “Beach Drive is not a safe neighborhood.”
“We are not moving,” Ian said with a sigh.
June glanced from Ian to the table, spying the now empty martini glass.
“Lily, see, you changed your mind. My, you drank that fast. You might want to slow down,” June chided.
Lily flashed June a weak grin.
Returning to the conversation about the murder, John said, “I can’t believe they haven’t located the woman who was with her this morning.”
“Didn’t Heather find the body?” June asked.
“Her and Chris,” Kelly said.
“Heather was certain the buyer of Pearl Huckabee’s house was the same woman with Betty Kelty an hour before they found the body. The description matched, even down to what she was wearing. But it couldn’t have been her. The woman was on a flight at the time of the murder. She gave us copies of her flight information. And it looks like she was telling the truth,” Joe explained.
“Perhaps it wasn’t her flight information. Another possibility, they were forged,” June suggested. “If Heather described the woman’s clothing and said she looked like the same woman, it’s possible those papers she showed you are fake.”
“They aren’t fake. But the chief is requesting video footage of the flight, to verify she was on it. That will take some time, but from what the chief told me before I left work, I don’t think we’ll need it,” Joe said.
“Why is that?” John asked.
“After the flight arrived, there was a car waiting for her at the airport. Apparently, she purchased a new car and had it delivered. The dealer wanted to take a photograph of her for their website—to promote their customer service, and she agreed. The chief spoke to the dealer this afternoon, and he emailed copies of the photos they took this morning. Unless the dealer is in this with her, I don’t think she’s the same woman Heather claimed to have seen. It’s a bizarre coincidence that both women wore the same jacket and look so much alike.”
“And there are no leads on that poor woman’s murder?” John asked.
Joe shook his head. “Unfortunately, no.”
“Well, I’m glad they didn’t accept your offer for that house. At least one of my children is safe!” June said.
June stood up and excused herself to go check on the dinner. When she returned a few minutes later, she said, “Dinner will be ready in about ten minutes. Does anyone want another cocktail?”
“You want a drink now?” John asked Ian.
Ian shook his head. “No, thanks, Dad, I’m good.”
“Well, I’m not going to ask Lily if she wants another drink,” June chided. “Not considering how she guzzled that last one.”
Lily flashed her husband a frown.
“But Lily always says martinis are like—” John began.
“Yes, yes, you don’t need to say that with Connor here,” June scolded.
Ian laughed. “Mom, Connor knows what a woman’s breast is. He was breast fed, remember?”
June rolled her eyes, and Ian laughed again. On Lily and Ian’s first date, Lily had told Ian a martini was like a woman’s breast. One was not enough, but three was too many. Thinking it funny, Ian had shared the joke with his parents. His mother did not find it amusing.
“Did you want another martini?” John asked Lily.
Lily looked to Ian. “We should tell them. We were going to tell them on Sunday anyway, and since we aren’t coming on Sunday.”
“Tell us what?” June asked.
“Yeah, what’s going on?” Kelly asked.
Ian reached over and took one of Lily’s hands in his. “We have an announcement.” He looked at Lily and said, “You want to tell them?”
Lily smiled and said, “Connor is going to be a big brother.”
The room went silent. After a moment, June gasped. “You shouldn’t be drinking martinis!”
“Mom, you forced it on her,” Ian teased.
“But she shouldn’t have taken it!” June shrieked. She looked at Lily. “What were you thinking? Don’t you know how harmful alcohol is to the unborn child?”
“Mom, settle down. Lily didn’t drink the martini,” Ian said, no longer teasing.
June pointed to the empty glass on the coffee table. “What do you mean she didn’t drink it? The glass is empty!”
“I think what Ian is saying, he drank the martini,” Kelly said.
June stared dumbly at Kelly. She turned to Ian and frowned. “You drank it?”
Ian nodded. “Yes.”
“Ian never mentioned you were trying to get pregnant,” Kelly told Lily.
“We weren’t trying. But birth control is not a hundred percent,” Lily said, not sounding upset. “And while we wanted our kids to be three years apart, I guess it might be nice if they’re less than two years apart. And it’s kinda cool that my best friend is pregnant at the same time.”
“Oh, another grandbaby!” June exclaimed, as if the full announcement finally registered.
“When is this baby due?” Kelly asked dully.
“End of July,” Lily said.
“July?” Kelly squeaked.
“Oh my. The wedding’s in July,” June muttered.
“I understand this complicates things, but we’ll work something out,” Lily promised.
Kelly didn’t respond, but sat quietly. The others continued to discuss the upcoming pregnancy. After ten minutes, June announced they should take the discussion into the dining room.
Kelly stood up. “Excuse me, but I think that wine didn’t sit right with me.” She looked at Joe. “Can you please take me home?”
Kelly began to cry the moment she got into the car. It wasn’t until Joe got into the driver’s seat that he noticed her tears.
“Are you sick?” he asked, sounding concerned.
“No, I’m not sick!” Kelly snapped. “I want to get out of here! Hurry before one of them comes out here.”
“I doubt anyone is coming outside; they were all sitting down for dinner.” Joe shoved his key into the ignition and turned on the engine. “If you’re not sick, why are we leaving and missing dinner?”
“Lily ruins everything!” Kelly sobbed. “I wish my brother had never come to Frederickport!”
With a frown, Joe pulled the car out into the street and headed home, silently driving while Kelly cried. They were about halfway home when Joe said quietly, “If your brother hadn’t moved to Frederickport, we wouldn’t have met.”
Kelly made a hiccup sound, pulled a tissue out of the glove compartment, and blew her nose. No longer crying, she said, “It’s just that Lily ruins everything. She’s taken my brother away from me.”
“You see Ian all the time.”
“And they promised we could have our wedding at their house.”
“Lily said they would work something out.”
“Think about it, Joe. This isn’t going to happen. Lily is going to be nine months pregnant in July. Ready to pop at any minute.”
“She said she wasn’t due until the end of July. The wedding’s mid-July.”
“It’s a good thing we haven’t ordered the wedding invitations yet.”
“Why?” Joe asked.
“We can’t have a wedding in July at their house. How do we have a wedding where the hostess is waddling around, about to have a baby at any minute? And what if she goes into labor early, in the middle of the wedding?”
“It would make for a memorable wedding,” Joe teased.
“This isn’t funny.”
Joe let out a sigh and reached over and grabbed one of Kelly’s hands, giving it a quick squeeze before returning his hand to the steering wheel. “I get this messes up our plans. But we have time to figure something out, and aren’t you a little excited about having a new niece or nephew? You are crazy about Connor.”
Kelly slumped back in the seat and looked out the window into the dark night.
After a few moments of silence, she said, “I am a horrible person.”
“You are not a horrible person.”
“Yes, I am. I learned something about myself tonight. I didn’t even realize it.”
Joe glanced to Kelly. “What’s that?”
“I didn’t realize how jealous I am of Lily. Not really. But when she said she was due in July, it was like this flood of emotion came rushing out. I had to leave, or I would say something really horrible to Lily, and Ian would hate me.”
“Ian would never hate you.”
“Yes, he would,” Kelly said in a dull voice, still staring into the darkness. “If I had said what I was thinking, he would hate me. And I would hate me too.”