Free Line Dancing Can Be Murder by Stacey Coverstone

tighter. “Wayne and I did some shopping last night, and today we’ll be stopping at a park in Idaho Falls for a picnic lunch. We even managed to pick up a birthday cake. How about that, everyone?”
    The people on the bus clapped, and Annette seemed overwhelmed. “Thank you, Keith and Wayne. You’re both so nice to have gone to the trouble.”
    “We normally don’t need a reason to party on this tour,” Wayne said, glancing over his shoulder and winking, “but a birthday gives us a legitimate excuse.”
    Annette returned to her seat smiling from ear to ear.
    “Have you heard from Bruce and Dustin?” I asked from the seat behind her. Suddenly, her smile vanished, and I knew the answer. “Cell phone service is not good while on the road. The day’s still young,” I said, patting her shoulder.
    “Right,” she mumbled.
    I had no idea why I was making excuses for those two. I’d be royally pissed if they disappointed her. My intuition told me to be prepared to add them to my dog list.
    The drive through Idaho was beautiful with its wheat fields, majestic mountains, and herds of horses everywhere we looked. Wayne stopped in Idaho Falls at a pretty park filled with birdsong and the soothing sounds of a rippling creek. When he and Keith spread a lunch worthy of kings upon the picnic tables, we were impressed—and hungry.
    “I wouldn’t mind being fifty again,” Joyce said, as we wolfed down sandwiches, potato salad, chips, and fresh fruit.
    “What would you do differently if you had a do over?” I asked.
    “I’d probably accept my boyfriend’s proposal all those years ago. As it is, we’ve been together nineteen years and I don’t see a reason to get married now.”
    “You’ve had a boyfriend for nineteen years?” Kim asked, almost choking on a pickle. Nine more years of living with Eddie without a marriage certificate and she’d be in the same boat.
    “Yep,” Joyce answered, shrugging. “It’s worked out fine. He lives thirty miles away, so we’re not under each other’s feet all the time, and he can’t boss me around! If he tries, he knows he won’t be spending the night in my bed.”
    We laughed, and I gave Joyce a high five.
    “At this age, it’s better not to be married anyway, for tax purposes,” she said.
    I noticed Kim’s gaze dipped to her lap. She suddenly seemed to have lost her appetite.
    “Time for cake,” Keith interrupted, carrying a store-bought, but personally decorated cake with Annette’s name. He gingerly placed it on our picnic table. When he started singing the happy birthday song, everyone gathered around and joined in. I thought Annette might burst into tears. Wayne slipped a lighter from his pocket and set the few candles they’d stuck in the cake aflame.
    “Make a wish and blow out the candles,” Norma said.
    Annette closed her eyes, made a wish, and blew. Everyone clapped.
    “What’d you wish for?” Keith asked, sidling a little too close for comfort.
    Their gazes connected. Something in her flirtatious tone alarmed me when she answered, “That’s for me to know and you to find out.”
     

CHAPTER ELEVEN
    Million Dollar Birthday
     
    By the time we reached Jackson, it was raining and fifty-six degrees.
    “It’s cold!” Crystal cried, wrapping her arms around herself as Keith and Wayne unloaded the luggage in front of the Antler Inn.
    Jackie eyed the two-story log dwelling with suspicion. “This doesn’t look like a four-star hotel.”
    “It’s one block from the town square,” Wayne said, “and steps from numerous restaurants, shops and art galleries. I think the inside will surprise you. The place is quite nice, even if there are actual elk antlers attached to the sign.”
    “The world-famous Million Dollar Cowboy Bar is also within rolling distance,” Keith supplied.
    Jackie turned her back on him, once again making me curious as what had happened between the two.
    “I like it!” Annette said. “Looks rustic and completely charming. And