She was one of my father’s many mothers-in-law, but her daughter and my father split ways long ago. I like to tease that I got Georgie in the divorce. My father is sort of addicted to the idea of matrimony, and truthfully, I’ve lost track of how many wives he’s actually had. He’s currently dating my fiancé’s mother, which is weird and wild all in itself. But Georgie is family now, and even though her daughter decided to sneak back into the picture after an absence of nearly a half a decade, I’m still laying claim to her. No matter how kooky she is, Georgie just so happens to be one of my favorite people.
“Did we miss it? Did you already hack your next victim to pieces?” Juniper Moonbeam, Georgie’s daughter and one of my father’s infamous exes, stands before me with her freshly dyed blonde hair swept up into a messy bun.
Juni, as she’s known to the rest of us, is a younger version of Georgie, with a little more hippie flare and a penchant for getting into trouble. She just finished up a stint in a women’s correctional facility up north for unpaid parking tickets and bribery charges. And since then, she’s taken to living with her new boyfriend, Spike, who happens to be the bouncer at quite a few places, one of them being the pawn shop where she picked him up.
“No, you didn’t miss it.” I give a quick look to the crowd. “We haven’t started yet. And I doubt I’ll get to play the part of the killer.”
Georgie belts out a dark laugh. “You’re always the killer, Bizzy. Believe me, the entire town has been warned to stay on your good side.”
Juni nods. “Mom’s told me all about the bodies you’ve stumbled upon.” She says the word bodies in air quotes. “And you’re not just pretty good at the slaughtering gig. You’re pretty good at framing people, too.”
Georgie snaps her fingers. “That’s her specialty.”
I take a deep breath as I look to the two of them. “I try my best.”
Before we can extrapolate on my merits as a killer, the door whooshes open and in strides my own tall drink of water—black hair, silver-blue-gray eyes, and a body that’s put together in all the right ways—my fiancé, homicide detective Jasper Wilder.
“Am I interrupting something?” he says as he lands his arms around my waist and dots a kiss to my lips.
Georgie gives a playful roar. “No, but it looks like we sure are. I’d say get a room, but you might have more fun in the stacks.”
Jasper waggles his brows my way. I say we test her theory.
Just a couple of months ago, I let Jasper in on my secret. Only a few other people know about my strange ability to read minds—Georgie and Jasper’s old best friend, Deputy Leo Granger—and a few of my new friends in Honey Hollow.
Come to find out, I’m actually something called transmundane, further classified as telesensual. I didn’t know any of this until Leo filled me in on it. Georgie outed my ability to Leo’s aunt last fall and he quickly tracked me down.
Juni leans in. “When are the two of you getting married again? Spike and I are planning our next cruise and I don’t want to miss the show.”
I’m not sure if I like my wedding referenced as a show, but I have a feeling she might be onto something.
“September,” I offer. “End of the month.”
“Perfect.” Juni slaps her hands together. “That gives us plenty of time to put together a humdinger of a bachelorette party for you.”
“Oh no, that’s okay,” I’m quick to protest. But it’s too late. The two of them are off and scheming and I’ve already heard the words Vegas, strip club, and minor felony. “It’s not happening,” I assure Jasper.
“Let it happen.” He shrugs as he lands another kiss to my lips. “At the end of the day we’re happening. And we’re unstoppable.” His lips twitch. “Maybe nix the male strippers, though.”
“What’s this?” a female voice trills from behind and we turn to find Mackenzie Woods, a girl I’ve grown up with, the very same girl I can pin this rather strange mind reading malady that’s overtaken my life. When we were teenagers, Mack pushed me into a whiskey barrel filled with water and a few stray apples during a Halloween party, and after that, I happened to hear voices that weren’t coming directly out of people’s mouths. Then in high school she proceeded to steal all of my boyfriends, and that’s when I finally cut ties with her. “Sounds like a spicy conversation.” Mack gives a little wink.
She’s wearing her shoulder-length dark hair in a French knot, and she’s donned one of her many power suits. This one is in her favorite color, dragon’s blood red. Mack is beautiful in a cutthroat way, and ironically, she specializes in proverbially cutting an artery or two.
“Mayor Woods.” I lift my chin her way. It’s true. Much like her father and her grandfather before that, she’s procured the coveted spot as mayor in our cozy little town. “This is a private, spicy conversation. What are you doing at the bookshop? Let me guess, you’re volunteering as the victim?” That might change my stance on not wanting to be the killer.
Just as she opens her mouth to answer, my best friend in the whole world, Emmie Crosby, pops up with the current man she has her eye on, Deputy Leo Granger.
“Bizzy!” Emmie pulls me into a quick embrace. She holds the faint scent of cinnamon from working in the kitchen of the Country Cottage Café and she’s still wearing the same T-shirt and jeans she had on this morning. Emmie and I have been close friends since preschool. We share the same long dark hair and same frosty blue
