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“Oh no, the princesses are shapeshifters! They’ve turned into the dreaded Bailey leg monsters!”
They squealed with laughter as I dragged them across the ground. Levi still had his arms crossed, but he smiled at his kids’ antics. Thomas stood in an identical posture, arms crossed like he was getting too old for this stuff, but still smiling.
“Annika must be inside?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Levi said. “I figured I’d let the kids burn off some energy while she visits.”
“What energy?” I asked, looking at Will. “You guys don’t have too much energy, do you?”
“No!” the girls said in unison.
Will tapped his chest. “Will big boy.”
“Yes you are, my dude.” I looked down at the girls, still wrapped around my legs. “Okay, leg monsters, I need you to go back to being princesses so I can go inside and see Grandma and Grandpa.”
“Come on, girls,” Thomas said, grabbing Juliet around the waist to pull her off my leg. “Listen to Uncle Z.”
Juliet let go, allowing her big brother to drag her away. Emma kept clinging to me until Thomas grabbed her too. I put Will down and he went straight for the rock wall.
Those kids were so great.
Levi tipped his chin to me and then scrambled to grab Will before he climbed on top of the beam holding the swings. I had no idea how he’d gotten up there so fast. The kid was a tiny monkey.
I said goodbye to the kids, promising I’d come play later, then wandered inside and shut the door behind me. I could hear voices coming from the kitchen. One was Annika. I didn’t hear what she said, but I recognized her voice. Then Mom’s. Someone else replied and I got this weird jumpy feeling in the pit of my stomach.
Marigold.
A slow grin spread across my face. Marigold was here?
I hadn’t seen her car, but she’d probably come with Annika. She was certainly no stranger to this house. Usually, seeing her at the kitchen table with my mom and sister was such a normal sight, I barely thought about it. I still ignored her, like I did any time we ran into each other.
But that was about to change. It was like fate had delivered her right into my hands.
Granted, I needed to find a way to get her alone so I could talk to her. I didn’t want to deliver my speech in front of Annika and my mom. But that didn’t have to be hard. Annika would totally have my back. All I had to do was pull her aside and tell her I was secretly in love with her best friend and I needed the chance to come clean. She’d find a way to get Mom out of there and I’d have Marigold all to myself.
Foolproof.
“A helicopter?” Annika asked. “You’re kidding me.”
“No, he took me out to that little airport outside town and there was a helicopter waiting,” Marigold said.
Wait, he? Some guy took Marigold in a helicopter? What the hell was she talking about?
“Where did you go?” Mom asked.
“Seattle. He flew me all the way to Seattle just to take me to dinner. He said it was because there aren’t a lot of good restaurants in town.”
“He had to be showing off, at least a little bit,” Mom said.
“I’m sure he was, but it wasn’t in a bad way. He didn’t seem conceited about it. It was more like he was excited he could give me that experience.”
“Oh my gosh, it sounds amazing,” Annika said.
Marigold sighed. “It was. It was the absolute best date I’ve ever had.”
I balled my hands into fists. Someone had taken Marigold on a date? And not just a date, the best date she’d ever had?
Well, it was time to plan a murder.
