Free Triple Dip Debacle: A Cozy Mystery (Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book 7) by Constance Barker Page A

unless you want to elope. Even small weddings require intricate preparation. However, if I knew Stormi’s mother, there wouldn’t be anything small about this wedding.
     
    Stormi and Brandon’s mother, Miss Dottie Rogers, was a force to be reckoned with. If you thought Stormi was a bulldozer…Dottie was a tank. She could breeze in, pummel you with southern hospitality, and leave bodies in her wake. Now as much as it sounds to the contrary, I love Miss Dottie. I grew up around her, so her abrasive and barnstorming ways aren’t foreign to me. But there are others in town that never quite saw the charm in Dottie’s behavior. One such person was our good friend Trixie. Although Trixie loved Stormi, she never quite got along with her mother. Trixie respected Dotti because she was left with two young children to raise after her husband ran off when Stormi and Brandon were young tikes. But Trixie and Dottie’s personalities clashed so they simply remained polite in that southern kind of way. You know, the bless your heart with a brick.
     
    Dottie Rogers now lived in a suburb of Atlanta. She generally didn’t make it back to Caesars Creek much, preferring to remain close to her friends in her apartment complex. Stormi and Brandon didn’t seem to mind this arrangement either. Yes, they loved their mother, but she was a control freak. It was easier to love her from afar than up close. She talked to her children every week on the phone, but Dottie had not met Greg yet. In fact, Stormi hadn’t told her she was engaged until a few days ago. Now you might wonder why Stormi would keep such good news from her own mother. But Stormi’s defense was that Dottie would take over, and guess what, she was right. Stormi knew she couldn’t hold out any longer in telling her mother of her upcoming wedding so when she did, Dottie decided to clear her schedule and make her way to Caesars Creek to help plan the wedding. She was set to arrive in a few days. Brandon had been avoiding Stormi from the time he heard his mother was coming because he knew she wanted something from him. Unfortunately, for Brandon, he didn’t see Greg and Stormi sitting at the table in the corner of my ice cream shoppe that evening. As soon as Stormi spotted Brandon, she flew out of her chair and cornered him.
     
    “Why haven’t you been returning my calls?” Stormi asked accusingly.
     
    Brandon nervously pushed a hand through his thick dark hair. “What are you talking about?” He asked unconvincingly.
     
    Stormi pointed a finger at his face as Brandon backed against the sidewall. “Don’t you play coy with me little brother. I know exactly why you’ve been avoiding me and I won’t have it.”
     
    “Storm, you’re being ridiculous.” Brandon, you should know by now you’re only stoking the fire.
     
    “Oh really? I’m being ridiculous am I?”
     
    I peeked out the back shoppe door into the store. I thought I saw Brandon gulp.
     
    “I’ve been calling you for the last week. I’ve told Tara to have you call me and I know she did. Don’t even try to tell me she didn’t because I’ll rip your lying lips off your face.”
     
    Wow, she’s really hot. I hadn’t seen her this bad since Brandon put worms in the foot of her bed and she flew out screaming. Of course, we were a lot younger then. At that time she horn swaggled him to the ground and sat on him for 15 minutes. I was wondering if she planned to do the same tonight.
     
    “What’s got you in such a lather?” Brandon asked.
     
    Still pointing her finger Stormi said, “You know good and well why I’m in a state…our mother!”
     
    Brandon still feigning ignorance said, “What about her?”
     
    “She’s coming in a few days and she’s not staying with me. I told her she could stay with you.”
     
    Now Brandon was the one with steam coming out his ears. “You what? How could you do that? You didn’t even ask me!”
     
    “I would have if you would answer your phone and