Page 43 of A Dead End Wedding

Monday: Wedding minus 5 days

Molly was home.

Molly washome.

She walked into the shop, and my entire day brightened.

I loved Jack more than anything, and my family meant the world to me. But there was something magical about a best friend who’d known you your entire life.

“Molly!” I ran over to give her an enormous hug, and she hugged me back so tightly I knew she’d missed me just as much.

Molly Chen was a one-woman tempest in a tiny package. Her black hair that had been in a pixie cut had grown out to a shaggy, face-framing cut that looked suspiciously like a mullet. When I said this, she just laughed.

“It’s called a wolf cut these days, and it’s the thing,” she told me, grinning.

“Tomato, tomahto. That’s a mullet, my friend. And I’m going to tease you about it unmercifully!”

“Well, you’re marrying aboy.You’re going to getboy cooties!”

We hugged and laughed and even cried a little, and then I put theClosedsign on the door. I deserved a break, and I was going to take one. It was only five days till the wedding, and I was woefully unprepared. Jack had said he’d take on more, but he didn’t specifywhathe’d take. I didn’t want to bring it up, though, in case he thought I wanted to assign him tasks.

Isodidn’t want to assign tasks.

I’d broached the idea of hiring a wedding planner, but Aunt Ruby had gasped in horror. What she and Eleanor and Lorraine didn’t know about planning weddings wouldn’t fill a thimble, she’d assured me.

I’d sighed and agreed to let them coordinate everything.

But life and Dead End had been busy lately, and wedding planning had fallen by the wayside.

“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Molly gave me a long, steady look. “I really like Jack, but if you have the slightest doubt, I’ll drive the getaway car.”

“I’ve never been surer about anything,” I told her sincerely. “I love him so much it hurts. I’m not worried even a little about marrying him. It’s the wedding that’s giving me fits.”

We drank coffee and ate day-old donuts, and I filled her in on everything that had been going on.

In detail.

It took an hour.

“Way to go, Uncle Mike!” She punched the air. “He’s awesome.”

“They can’t wait to see you. I think Aunt Ruby and Uncle Mike miss you almost as much as I do.”

“I wish my parents did.” She sighed.

Her parents were lawyers, and pretty conservative ones, to boot. They didn’t quite know what to think about their rocker daughter with her elaborate tattoos and musician lifestyle.

“Have they come to any of your gigs?”

She scoffed. “Not hardly. I could barely get them to listen to one of my songs when we were driving to dinner, andit came on the radio.”

“Wait! Is your song on the radio? Why didn’t you tell me? That’s wonderful!” I jumped up and ran into the shop. “We have at least six radios out here.”

I grabbed the one that looked the newest and took it with me to the back. “Which station? Let’s turn it on now!”

“Tess. Tess! That’s not how radio works.” She laughed. “And you know it. But we’re on the streaming services, so you can listen anytime.”

Just in case, I turned the radio on low, and we settled in for a long chat. About an hour later, Molly suddenly jumped out of her chair.

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