favors tomorrow, but they were running out of time and she wasn’t sure how much Geanie would actually be able to do. It was time to call in reinforcements, even if they didn’t want to help.
Neither Melissa nor Veronica wanted to help assemble all the favors and were pretty blunt about it on the phone when Cindy called each of them. She in turn was blunt with them and gave them a raking over the coals for abandoning Geanie in her hour of need and disgracing the name “bridesmaid”. In the end she had guilted both of them into promising to be there the next day to help.
With that taken care of she said goodnight to the guys, went to her room, and promptly fell asleep.
Cindy waited in Geanie’s hospital room the next morning and found herself chafing at the delay as much as the other woman was. It was ten o’clock and she still hadn’t been released. Cindy felt a bit guilty thinking of how she should have just gone in to work and waited for the call. For that matter, Joseph could have picked Geanie up.
Finally she called Sylvia. “Geanie hasn’t been released yet. I’m not going to be there before lunch at this rate.”
“You know what? Don’t worry about it. I had a feeling something like this was going to happen. I got Dave to draft one of the high school girls into helping design and print Sunday’s bulletin. He’s covering the phones for you and seems to be enjoying himself a little too much. I think people keep thinking it’s April Fools around here. Monday is Martin Luther King Day and the office is closed so why don’t you just take the rest of today and tomorrow.”
“Are you sure? I don’t know how much sick time I have left.”
“Don’t worry about it. The Royal Wedding needs you. We’ve got things more than covered here.”
“I feel bad-”
“Look, you’re taking care of another staff member and a church member who just happens to be our biggest financial supporter. As far as I’m concerned this is work adjacent. Besides, talking to grownups for a while is good for Dave. He forgets how you know.”
“Thank you,” Cindy said.
Half an hour later they finally released Geanie. Once they were in the car and on their way she launched into a laundry list of the things that had to be done. She ended with “I don’t know how we’re going to get all those favors assembled.”
“Don’t worry,” Cindy said. “Melissa and Veronica will be over today after work to help with all of that.”
Geanie leaned her head back with a sigh. “I don’t know how you pulled that off but I have five words for you. Best. Maid. Of. Honor. Ever.”
“I’ll take it,” Cindy said with a grin.
Mark’s day had not been nearly as productive as he would have liked. The car that had nearly run down Geanie and Cindy the day before turned out to have been stolen before the incident. He wasn’t sure if that made it more or less likely that they were being targeted. It was possible the driver had just spooked and they happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.
The thief had abandoned the car a few blocks from the minimart and had left behind no fingerprints to help them. Bomb squad and arson investigation officers were still going over the scene at the bridal shop to determine the cause of the explosion. Unfortunately, the bodies of the two ladies who had been helping Geanie had been recovered inside.
All-in-all he felt like nothing was accomplished by the time five o’clock rolled around. With nothing left to do but wait for some word on the cause of the explosion he called Traci and let her know he’d be home on time for once. She sounded thrilled and he had a flash of guilt. There’d been a lot of late nights lately.
As he drove home his thoughts returned to Paul and the mysterious note he’d received the day before. He had forensics testing the note and the envelope but he didn’t anticipate that they would actually find anything.
When he finally pulled up outside the house
Learning to Kill: Stories