I had stopped at Betty's bright and early to get a latte and my favorite muffin for sustenance on what I knew was going to be a long, impossibly stressful day. I was also not about to let Katy and Wendy go without sustenance either, because their help had been extremely invaluable yesterday. Without them, there was no way I would have even come close to getting all of the flower arrangements done.
I had thought that putting together the designs of the animals was going to be the hard part, but I had been completely wrong. That was easy compared to the painstaking attention to detail that it took to get all of the flowers woven into the animal and forest vine skeletons just perfectly, where you could only see the color in the design and not a single stem or empty spot. Just when I thought I had zero patience left, we finished. The only reason it didn't take us all night was because Wendy was amazing, and Katy was shockingly good at flower arranging. I teased her that if she got tired of working at the salon, she could have a job anytime.
I was already running a little late. Katy and Wendy had texted me that they were already at Adams Creek Farms. Betty’s had been extremely busy; I thought the majority of the people getting coffee were headed to the same place I was. I finally made it to the event center, and the parking lot was buzzing with cars. I could see up to the hill where the main entrance was, and where people who weren't exhibitors got their tickets. There was already a long line. That made my nervousness grow even more. I grabbed the bag of pastries and the drink carrier, thanking my lucky stars I hadn't spilled anything yet, even though I wasn't sure how I hadn't. I slung my purse over my shoulder, balancing everything as I made my way into the event center.
"Sorry I'm late," I said as I reached the booth, and Wendy and Katy gladly took the treats out of my hand.
"Well, thank you for stopping at Betty's. I don't think either one of us is going to complain if that’s what made you late," Katy said.
Wendy eagerly nodded. "You won't hear a peep out of me," she added, opening the pastry bag, and grabbing one of the treats. I'd bought an assortment of six, knowing that we would probably all need a sugar fix at some point during the day.
"You guys did an amazing job. You've already got everything out and perfectly presented. It looks wonderful."
"You think so?" Wendy's eyes lit up. She was really good at what she did.
"Yes, it's amazing. I would've never thought to bring in this greenery from the shop. Is this Christmas stuff?"
She nodded. "Yeah. I felt with the forest animals, we needed to have some kind of forest foliage, and I thought of the evergreen boughs that we had to use at Christmas time, so I went back to the storage closet and grabbed them. I think it adds a nice touch."
"It totally does," I said.
"I swear, Betty's lattes breathe new life into me every time I get one," Wendy said.
"Same," Katy said.
"Since we're all set up and there's nothing we can really do right now but stand here nervously waiting to see how we're going to be judged, how about we go look at what everyone else did?" Wendy suggested.
"That's a great idea. I would love to see some of the other great ideas people had. I didn't realize until I helped you guys that there were so many things to do with flowers."
"I work at a flower shop, and I didn't either. But I am a little bit scared," Wendy said.
Katy looked at Wendy, a frown on her face. "What are you scared of?" she asked.
"I'm afraid to look at the competition and think our stuff isn't good enough."
"I guess that's a legitimate concern. But I wouldn't look at it that way. I would look at it as a way to get ideas for next year," Katy said.
I groaned. "I don't even want to think about next year yet. This year has been crazy enough," I said.
"There's nothing wrong with thinking ahead. Now, let's go check everyone else out." Katy looped her arm through mine, and we all headed out. We went to the right and made our way to each table. I was blown away before we had even made it halfway through. I thought Susan had really knocked it out of the park, but there were a lot of original arrangements here. I didn't realize there were so many things to do with flowers. I was in awe.
"Presley! Hey, Presley," I heard someone call my name and started looking around.
"It's Bernie," Katy said and pointed off to the right of the crowd, where Bernie was waving and jumping up and down.
As soon as I saw her, I walked in her direction and gave her a huge hug. "Bernie, it's so great to see you," I said.
"Same here. Did Petal Pushers enter into the contest?" she asked.
"Yep, we're at table sixteen," I said, pointing in the direction of our table.
"I will definitely make sure to check it out, but I'm sure it's fantastic."
"I appreciate your vote of confidence."
"I will come see you guys later. I'm meeting my daughter here, and my granddaughter. I need to go look for them," Bernie said.
I gave her another quick hug, and as she walked away, Wendy nudged me. "Josie's display is right over there," she said.
I looked over to where she was pointing. A big part of me didn't want to go over there. Josie seemed so volatile; I just wasn't sure I wanted to deal with the drama. But I couldn't deny that I really wanted to see what design she'd come up with.
"I guess we better go check it out," I said, and we headed in that direction.
We reached her table, and Josie and a young man, probably in his thirties, whom I didn't recognize, were standing behind the table. I found it a little interesting that they weren't out mingling. But then, Josie seemed arrogant enough that maybe she honestly didn't care about anyone else's designs.
"Hi, Josie," I said, with a smile on my face, determined to be pleasant regardless of how she acted.
"What are you guys doing over here?" she said in an abrasive tone, and the young man with her seemed to shrink into himself just a little bit, like he was scared of her. He reminded me of a dog who had been beaten and cowered every time his master raised his voice.
"Just checking out the competition."
"Check out all you want, but don't get any ideas."
I looked over at Wendy, who shrugged. Did Josie really think we were going to steal her ideas? Maybe there was something to her not doing her own original designs. People who had something to hide were often the ones who were most suspicious.
I wondered if it was even worth it to make any more small talk when, all of a sudden, Josie started waving her hands.
"What?"
"Get out of here. The judge is coming, and I don't want you impeding her view of my display."
"Okay then. Good luck," I said, and I admit my tone was not entirely sincere, but how could it be after that? She was quite a piece of work.
We walked away, and once we were out of earshot, Katy just looked at me. "You weren't joking about her."
"I told you," I said. "She is clearly not a happy person."
"You can say that again," Katy said. "What is it they're judging on?"
"Today is creativity and then tomorrow is execution and appearance. Then they average those scores, and the winner will be announced tomorrow night."
We continued to make our way around the tables, and I was especially excited to see Jenni's finished product, especially since she’d had trouble earlier. But then, when I heard a scream come out, the sound came from behind us, and we whipped around to see a bunch of people standing around someone. I couldn't tell who they were looking at. We quickly walked over to the crowd, and I gently pushed my way through. When I saw who was lying there, I gasped. It was Josie, and there was a knife sticking out of her neck.