Free Sweets Galore: The Sixth Samantha Sweet Mystery (The Samantha Sweet Mysteries) by Connie Shelton Page B

Nina Rae already had her purse
strap over her arm and was halfway to the door. She gave Bessie a quick peck on
the cheek, snagged Howard’s elbow and they were gone. Sam sighed. But she
wasn’t going to stress over it. The week had enough built-in stressors without
spending time worrying over her mother’s never-ending tendency to read drama
into every little thing. She’d long ago given up trying to please everyone.
    However, despite telling herself
to stop analyzing, to simply focus on getting through the next few days with
her sanity intact, she found herself thinking of ways to temper the situation.
No doubt there would be talk in the family about Sam being the sole heir to
whatever it turned out to be. She probably shouldn’t have told them about it.
    She dozed fitfully until her alarm
went off. Rolling toward Beau’s side of the bed she discovered that he was
already up. She still wasn’t used to the fact that he sometimes got emergency
calls during the night and awakening to an empty house was going to happen now
and then. However, a strip of light at the base of the bathroom door confirmed
that he hadn’t left yet. The light clicked off and she heard the door quietly
open.
    “I’m awake,” she said. “Let me
turn on a lamp for you.”
    “Sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb
you.”
    She pulled herself out of bed,
explaining why he was the least disturbing person in her life at the moment.
    He wore his rancher clothes—jeans,
plaid shirt, roper boots. “Thought I’d tend the horses early and try to finish
my day at the office in time to help out with whatever you need me to do
today.”
    “Have you seen my checklist? I
feel like there are a million things and a dozen people I have to satisfy
before I can relax.”
    “Don’t let your mother get you
down,” he said, wrapping his arms around her. “They’re only here a few days and
then we’re off on our trip. And I’m going to make sure that your family members
are the least of your worries during our honeymoon.”
    She gave in to the luxury of
leaning into his warmth for a full two minutes. How was it that he read her so
well?
    Beau went downstairs, where he
greeted the dogs in his gentle voice, and she heard the back door open and
close. She picked up her jewelry box from her end of the long dresser and held
it close for a minute. As always, the surface warmed to a golden glow and the
small cabochon stones of red, green and blue began to sparkle. Energy—give me the energy to get everything
done today.
    The wedding checklist was on the
kitchen counter and she scanned it while the coffee brewed, scratching through
a couple of things she’d already done, leaving Beau a note about helping Zoë
and Darryl with the rented tables and chairs.
    At Sweet’s Sweets Julio’s Harley
and Becky’s minivan were already there when Sam drove up. Bless them. The smell
of cinnamon and sugar greeted her, and she was pleased to see trays of scones
and muffins already on the cooling racks.
    “What are you doing here?” Becky
asked when she spotted Sam.
    “I’m not staying long. Figured I
would put the finishing touches on my cake, since you’ve got your hands full
with regular orders. After that, I have a few things to do.” She held up the
list, which now ran two pages long with only a third of the items crossed off.
    Jen walked in as Becky was shaking
her head over the enormity of it.
    “And this is a simple wedding,
right?” she said.
    “Way simpler than most,” Sam
agreed.
    “My mom did a lot of the planning
for me,” Becky said. “I was so young and all I knew was that I wanted a fantasy
wedding. At least Mom had a clue how much they could afford to spend on it
which, with two other girls coming along after me, wasn’t much.”
    Sam rolled her eyes at the thought
of the extravaganza Nina Rae would have put together.
    “Well, I better get the front door
open,” Jen said, picking up a tray of cinnamon rolls moments after Julio had
finished