Mackenzie, Jasper, and I make our way back to our friends and family and what appears to be everyone I’ve ever met in my entire life.
Mom is holding Ben’s hand and looking pleased with her life. Georgie is eating someone’s abandoned lobster tail and has zero shame about it. Huxley has little Mack sitting on his shoulders, the toddler clapping at every explosion. Emmie and Leo are standing close together with Elliot asleep on Leo’s shoulder—somehow that sweet boy is sleeping throughapocalypse-level noise, which is either impressive or concerning.
And Macy and Jordy are making out near the tide line, barely coming up for air between firework bursts.
Romance is alive and well in Cider Cove. Also, slightly nauseating.
The finale ends with one last massive explosion that turns the entire sky white, then cascades into a waterfall of every color imaginable. The crowd roars. Applause, cheering, whistling, car horns honking from the parking lot.
Cider Cove celebrates its freedom while I stand here covered in sand and wondering if my insurance covers attempted murder by renovation contractor.
The beach starts emptying immediately as families pack up blankets, haul coolers, and carry sleeping children. Vendors are closing down their carts. The staff begins to extinguish the tiki torches one by one, and the twinkle lights are still glowing but half of them are flickering out.
This balmy summer night is winding down. The party is over and it’s time to go home.
Macy and Jordy finally detach from each other’s faces and head our way. Macy’s lipstick is smeared and Jordy’s shirt is untucked and they both look extremely pleased with themselves.
“Nice takedown, sis,” Macy says, grinning. “You’re such a drama mama.”
“Taking down a killer during the fireworks show,” Jordy adds. “Classic, Bizzy.”
“I try to keep things interesting,” I say with a laugh. “Anyway, we need to take off.” Macy winks, and I immediatelyregret having eyes. “It’s time to make some fireworks of our own.”
Everyone groans in unison.
“What? I’ve got an entire crate of candles to burn through,” she continues, completely unbothered by our collective disdain. “Those would be the stink bombs,” Jordy says with a laugh. “Hey, Bizzy—you could kill your next victim with them.”
More groans. A little laughter, and that’s mostly from Georgie.
“Limited time offer,” Macy tells me. “I’ll give them to you for half price. We can call it the murder weapon special.”
“I’ll pass.”
“Your loss.” She snaps her fingers and a white Samoyed appears, wagging her tail. “Come on, Candy. Let’s go home.”
They take off down the beach with Candy trotting happily beside them, and I’m left wondering how my sister turned a viral disaster into a successful product line.
Leave it to Macy to monetize humiliation.
Bizzy, look, the fancy bimbos are leaving,Fish meows, while looking in the direction of the big white tent.
Does this mean we can eat the buffet now?Sherlock asks with a bark.Because, let’s be honest, the buffet was untouched and that’s a lot of food to go to waste.
I look over and gasp. What the? The buffet’s been dismantled!
This day has been a BETRAYAL,Biscuit Gravy groans, genuinely mournful.
Georgie waves my way and that oversized purse of hers sure looks stretched to capacity.
You ate seventeenhot dogs,Fish points out.
Sixteen,Sherlock fires back.I’m not a glutton.
Kennedy and Blaire appear through the thinning crowd, heading toward me. Kennedy looks nervous, while Blaire has her phone out as if she’s planning her next social media post.
“Bizzy, Mackenzie—” Kennedy starts, then stops to take a breath. “Thank you. For solving this. For everything.”
The gratitude on her face is genuine, and I feel something soften in my chest despite my best efforts.
