“Well, that was special.” Gracie walked in through the front door of Trish and David's house without knocking.
“Did you shoot him?” Trish was stretched out on the couch with a glass of wine her hand.
“Almost. I dumped him out on the side of the road halfway to Canterville.”
“Nice. Why?” Trish didn't look particularly surprised by the news.
“I got tired of listening to his mouth.” Gracie kicked off her heels and flopped down into David's recliner. “Apparently Ian doesn't like me very much. Or so he told his his new buddy Lowery.”
“Don't worry, he doesn't like me either.” Trish curled her legs underneath her and pulled the heavy crochet blanket off the back of the couch so that she could wrap herself up in it.
“Ian doesn't like you?” Gracie frowned in surprise.
“Not according to the texts he sent David in the middle of the night a couple of weeks ago. He was out drinking and he wanted David to come join him. David was sound asleep and so I texted him back saying he wasn't coming because it was late. I guess he thought David was the one texting him because he sent back a really ugly reply that was completely uncalled for.”
“What did he say?”
“Oh, lots of nastiness. Nothing I particularly care to repeat. He was completely furious that David wouldn't come out and play with him on a week night and he blamed me.”
“What did David say when you told him?”
“He was pissed. He said he'd deal with it. I don't know if he ever did. Tonight was the first time I've seen Ian since that night. I know that he and Katie are having problems.”
“Ian and Katie have been having problems for the last year or so. Pretty much ever since she got pregnant with Hannah Mae,” Gracie said. “She's got more patience than I do. I would have left him already if I were her.”
“Sometimes it's hard to get out of a bad relationship, especially if you've been in it for a long time.” Trish picked up her cell phone. “And speaking of bad relationships I can't get out of, guess who called me tonight?”
“Who?” Gracie asked.
“Nellie. She left me three different voicemail messages, all demanding I call her back. She says she needs to talk to me about Curtis.”
“Are you going to call her?”
“Would you?”
“I'm a spiteful bitch. I'd never speak to her again after what she did.” Gracie reached for the bottle of whiskey that David kept on the coffee table next to his chair. She helped herself to a single swallow directly from the bottle and then grinned at Trish. “Want me to call her for you?”
Trish shook her head and laughed. “Like it would do any good. My relationship with my mom and step-dad is kind of shaky right now. Telling Nellie off again would only make it worse.”
“Really?” Gracie was surprised. “Your mom seemed to be taking everything really well while she was here.”
“Mom refuses to believe that Nellie knew she was handing me over to a killer. She wants me to forgive her,” Trish said. “She's in total and complete denial about Nellie's role in how everything played out with Curtis.”
“Oh. Crap.”
“She still seems to think that we'll be able to do holidays together. Just Mom, Perry, Me, Nellie and David. One happy family.”
“I don't see that happening.”
“Neither do I,” Trish said. “I'm really frustrated with her. She's trying to force us to reconnect. She probably told Nellie to call me and keep calling me until I answer.”
“Change your number,” Gracie suggested.
“I already did once, remember?” Trish sighed. “Mom gave both Nellie and Curtis's parents my new one.”
“Your mom is still talking to Curtis's parents?” Gracie gaped at her.
“Evidently. She says they were always nice to me and I owe it to them to answer their questions and talk to them about their son's last couple months on Earth. I don't feel like I owe anyone anything after what I went through this summer. I just want to be left alone to put my life back together.” Trish drained the last of the contents out of her wine glass. “Is that really so much to ask for?”
“Do you really want me to answer that question?” Gracie raised one eyebrow in Trish's direction. “It doesn't matter how little you ask or what you deserve. You only get what people are willing to give you.”
“In my case, that would be no privacy and a bunch of bullshit.” Trish stood up and walked to the kitchen to refill her wine. “Are you staying here tonight or going home?”
“I don't know. Have you heard from David lately?”
“Not since he called and asked us to go get Ian. I thought about calling him back and telling him what an asshole Ian and his buddy were, but all it would do is ruin his night.”
“True. I hope they're having fun.”
“Me too,” Trish said. “It would do David good to let off some steam. He's been pretty cagey lately.”
“Haven't we all?” Gracie asked. “I can't believe someone registered me for thousands of dollars worth of frog kitsch. Do you have any idea how long its going to take me to return all of the gifts I got tonight to Beckman's?” She took another sip from the whiskey bottle. “I'll be glad when the wedding is over and done with. It's really stressing me out.”
“Speaking of the wedding and all of your hideous frogs..” Trish pointed a huge box of guest favors that were sitting on top of the dining room table. “I had kind of a horrible thought.”
“Any chance you're going to keep it to yourself?” Gracie pursed her lips at her bestie. “I've had enough problems tonight.”
Trish continued as if she hadn't heard Gracie. “What if the same person who invited all those people to your bachelorette party also sent them invitations to the wedding?”
Gracie sighed. “Do you think two days before the wedding is too late to call a bunch of people and tell them not to come?”
“Considering that we don't know who has an invite and who doesn't?” Trish poured herself a fresh glass of wine. “Sadly, yes. I don't think we can call everyone in the entire county, ask them if they're going to your wedding and then tell them there's been a mistake and they're not really invited. I know you don't mind being a little tacky at times, but that would be a whole new level of trashy.”
Gracie let out a loud hmph and them slumped down her the seat. “I'm going to kill April Lynne.”
“Are you a hundred percent certain April Lynne is responsible for the extra invites?” Trish pursed her lips, looking thoughtful.
“I can't think of anyone else who would get off on making me miserable,” Gracie said.
“Think you can still log into that old email address that was on the invitations?”
“Hmmm. Maybe. I don't know.” Gracie cast a glance around the room. “Where's your laptop?”
“On the shelf under the coffee table.”
Gracie located the computer and pulled it out, opening it on her lap and typing in Trish's password without having to ask for it. Two minutes later she was frowning at Yahoo's email login page.
“I haven't used this account since middle school,” she grumbled. “I don't remember the password.”
“Have you tried using the recovery option to reset it?” Trish asked.
“Working on that now.” Gracie stayed silent for several minutes, frowning at the computer screen as she tried various combinations of emails and passwords. Roughly five minutes later she was in.
“I'm in. Yay. Go me for remembering Granny Pearl's old password and resetting my email password through hers. We are good to-. Oh....oh shit.” Gracie stared at the computer screen. Her turquoise eyes were wide and her mouth had fallen open in horror as she scanned the emails on the screen.
“What's wrong?” Trish walked over so that she could lean over Gracie's shoulder and read.
“We have a big problem. A really big problem.”
“Everyone who was at the bachelorette party has already RSVP-ed to the wedding?”
“Well, that.” Gracie pointed to several of the lines on the screen. “But that's not the worst part. Whoever hacked into this old account has been in contact with almost all the vendors for the wedding and she's been pretending to be me.”
“Oh crud.” Trish swallowed unhappily. “Why do I have the feeling that this is going to be really bad?”
Gracie opened the chain of emails between her impostor and the florist. “It's worse than bad. I'm screwed. She's changed or canceled almost everything we ordered for the wedding.”