She left the table and headed directly for her husband. The last thing I wanted to hear was a shouting match between the two of them, but then I saw Sara Lynn drag him into the kitchen and out of earshot.
Savannah said softly, "There"s trouble there."
"More than you know," Lillian confirmed. She looked around the room, then said, "There"s a good turnout tonight, isn"t there?"
Savannah nodded. "I think half of them are here to see that niece of yours onstage with Eliza."
"Don"t say that in front of Sara Lynn," Lillian said.
"I"m not about to," Savannah said. She looked at Lillian, then said, "I hate to admit it, but you clean up pretty good."
Lillian laughed. "I was just about to say the same thing about you." She turned to Pete and said, "You look rather handsome yourself."
"Thank you, ma"am," Pete said. "I think you look nice, too."
Lillian clapped her hands. "Why you sly old dog, you. Pete Jones, are you turning into a talker on us?"
Pete shook his head, but I could see that he was smiling, caught up in the excitement of getting out of his kitchen, if only for one evening.
They were just starting to serve when Sara Lynn rejoined us, without her husband in tow.
"Are you all right?" I asked her. My sister looked more shaken than I"d ever seen her.
She didn"t answer, but it was clear that further conversation wouldn"t be welcome. We all managed to talk around her as the servers delivered our food. All I knew was that it must have been some kind of a confrontation to leave my sister shaking like she was.
After a pleasant meal of roast beef, asparagus tips in cheese sauce, and garlic mashed potatoes, our servers whisked our plates away and replaced them with chocolate mousses adorned with raspberries.
Lillian studied hers and said, "I"m so full, I don"t think I can eat this."
I started to reach for her dessert plate before she could finish her sentence. "I"ll be glad to help you out with it."
She swatted my hand, and the entire table laughed. "If I can"t handle it, you"ll be the first to know," Lillian said.
I dug into mine, regretting the richness of the dessert for just a second before I gave in to it. Jack had outdone himself, and I knew everyone at that dinner would be talking about the meal for weeks. I was just finishing my dessert when I felt someone approaching me from behind.
"Jennifer, may I have a word with you?"
It was Greg Langston, and he was wearing a tuxedo that made him look like a movie star. His tie perfectly matched his deep blue eyes, and his normally wild blond hair was tamed in place. I felt my heart skip despite the current state of our relationship, and I tried my best to keep my voice level as I answered. "I"ll try to find time for you later. I"d offer you a seat, but we don"t have any extras."
His hand brushed my shoulder, and I felt a tingle at his touch. "This is important."
I started to ask him what his definition of important was when Savannah nudged my elbow. "Girl, go talk to him. Don"t worry, we"ll save your seat."
I rolled my eyes at her, then stood up and faced him. "What is it, Greg?"
"Can we step away from the tables and talk about it?" he asked in that soft voice he"d always used to get to me.
Be strong, I told myself as I nodded my acceptance. Greg and I might have looked like a perfect match on paper, but we were constantly out of sync, and I couldn"t imagine things getting any better between us. I was fully prepared to tell him no again, because I could see in his eyes that he was going to ask me out. My speech was all ready to deliver when he blurted out, "I"m seeing someone new-someone important to me-and I didn"t want you to hear it from somebody else first."
"You don"t have to keep me informed about the details of your love life," I said, just a little harsher than I"d intended.
He started to frown, then said, "Jennifer, I just thought you should know. I waited for you as long as I could, but I never seemed to get anywhere with you."
"Greg, I"m sorry, but there was just no way it was ever going to work out for us." There, at least I"d been able to deliver part of the speech I"d been ready to give. While I had been sincere when I"d said that Greg and I didn"t have a future together, I still wasn"t all that sure I wanted him dating other people. My own skewed sense of logic didn"t have to make sense to anybody else. It was just the way I felt.
I saw an attractive blonde staring at us, tall and slim and rather elegant in a dress that perfectly matched Greg"s tie. "You brought her here, didn"t you?" I asked.
Greg looked over his shoulder, then waved to the young woman in question. "Jen, you intimidate the daylights out of her. It was all I could do to convince her to let me come over here and talk to you."
I studied her again, then offered her a friendly smile I didn"t feel. I intimidated her; I sincerely doubted that. I knew I was cute enough, but no one would ever mistake me for the beauty he was with.
"Tell her she doesn"t have anything to worry about from me," I said, then to my surprise, I saw her start toward us. Suddenly my friendly smile wasn"t all that friendly any more.
Before I could make my retreat, she approached and offered a slender hand to me. "Hi. You must be Jennifer. It"s such a pleasure to meet you."
"You, too," I said, barely managing not to mumble.
Greg said, "Jen, this is Stephanie Staunton."
I managed to nod as I heard a tapping on the microphone on the stage. My friend Grady Farrar-who ran the best hardware store in seven counties-was trying to get everyone"s attention. "If you don"t mind, could everyone take their seats?"
Greg and Stephanie returned to their prime position while I rejoined my table in the back of the room.
Savannah said, "That did not look good, Jennifer."
"If it"s any consolation, it was worse than it appeared."
Lillian patted my hand, but I couldn"t meet anyone"s gaze. As I pretended to study the place settings, I noticed that though there were five of us sitting there, there were only four letter openers on the table. Funny, I was certain there had been five there when we"d first sat down.
My attention returned to Grady as he asked the audience, "Has anyone seen Eliza Glade? Eliza, are you out there?"
There were a few mutters from the crowd, but no Eliza. That was extremely odd, since I knew Eliza lived for her annual time in the spotlight.
Grady tugged on the lapels of his suit, whose fashion had last been stylish in the fifties, then said, "I guess that leaves it to me to do the honors."
He held up a small golden anvil, then said, "It"s my pleasure to announce the winner of this year"s award. Now I know Eliza"s probably going to skin me alive for skipping her thirty-minute windup, but it"s getting late and we all have businesses to run in the morning." That brought a chuckle from the crowd, and I could see that Grady was enjoying the attention. He"d been vice president forever, but from what he"d told me in the past, this was most likely the first time he"d ever been called on to speak.
"I"m going to read the name in this envelope, then we"ll hear from the winner and that will wrap up our evening."
He tore the envelope open, and the look of surprise on his face was undeniable. It appeared that he wasn"t quite able to believe it, but finally he held open the letter inside the envelope and read it aloud. "This year"s winner has proven that youth does not necessarily mean unproven ability. Our recipient took a sound idea, and despite heavy opposition from her employer-a woman who should have known better, I might add-she made a success out of something her sister proclaimed publicly would never work. This year"s winner of the Rebel Forge Businessperson of the Year award is Jennifer Shane."
I couldn"t believe I"d just heard my name called, even as Savannah tried to propel me out of my seat. I whispered to my sister, "Sara Lynn, it"s a mistake. It should be you."
Sara Lynn shook her head. "Nonsense. I can"t stand the witch, but she"s right. You made something work that I thought would fail from the start. Go get your award."
Lillian said, "Go on, Jennifer. You deserve it. No one else in the world knows how hard you"ve worked for it."
I stood, then started walking toward the front of the room. When I looked over at Greg, I saw that he was deep in conversation with Stephanie. I would have liked to see his smile, if just for a second, but he was otherwise engaged.
I was three steps from the raised platform, finally believing that it was indeed true that I"d won, when I heard a scream coming from the kitchen.
"She"s dead!" the woman"s voice shouted. "Someone stabbed her in the heart."
And that"s when all h.e.l.l broke loose.