Lana'i of the Tiger (The Islands of Aloha Mystery Series) by JoAnn Bassett Page A

couldn’t risk ordering from her, even
though I knew she’d come through with not only something delicious, but she’d
probably insist on hand-carrying it to Lana’i on the ferry.
    I called Darryl in Honolulu.
    “Sorry to bug you. How are mom
and baby doing?”
    “No worries, call anytime. Ewa’s
a natural-born mother. We checked out of the hospital yesterday afternoon. She
was driving the nurses pupule hanging out in the nursery all the time. They
told her to get some rest but she wasn’t willing to leave Ethan. Say, how’s the
wedding coming along?”
    “Everything’s going great,” I
said. “I have a question, though. Where can I get a cake made? I need a small
wedding cake.”
    There was a pause on the line
and I wondered if we’d been disconnected.
    “Darryl? You still there?”
    “Yeah.” He sounded perturbed.
    “Did I say something wrong?”
    “No. But I’m the one who always
makes cakes for people in Lana’i City. You got a graduation, a birthday, any
stuff like that—I’m the one who makes the cake.”
    “Nobody else?”
    “Never needed nobody else for
the past five years.”
    We chatted a little longer and
then we hung up.
    I was about to call Tyler to see
if he’d be willing to pay to have a cake flown in from Honolulu when he came
crashing through the front door. His eyes told me I wasn’t going to like the
news he was bringing.

 
    CHAPTER
7
     
    Tyler plopped down on the sofa.
He didn’t say anything and neither did I. In the past couple of years, I’d learned
to read would-be bride’s moods so I knew in cases like this it was best to wait
and allow them to make the opening volley.
    “She’s not gonna do it,” he
finally said.
    “Not going to do what? Not going
to get married?”
    “She’s not willing to getting
married here .”
    “Oh.” I sat down across from
him.
    “She’s already got everything
set up with the wedding coordinator up at the Four Seasons. She didn’t say a
damn word to me about it until we were flying back with the wedding license.”
    “Well, okay. I understand.” Of
course it wasn’t okay, and I didn’t understand, but what could I
say?
    “I’m so sorry, Penny. I know you
and Mr. Shu—”
    “It’s actually Mr. Ho,” I broke
in. I usually don’t interrupt so abruptly, but it was my chance to show Tyler I
really wasn’t as okay with what was going on as I was pretending to be.
    “It’s a different guy?”
    “No, it’s the same guy. But in
Chinese culture the first name is the family name. Ho Wing Shu would be Mr. Ho,
not Mr. Shu.” I couldn’t believe I was nit-picking cultural niceties when what
I wanted to be saying was, Speaking of ‘ho’, why on Earth are you marrying
that sneaky bitch ?
    “Anyway, I’m really sorry about
this,” he said. “I’ll be happy to pay everyone…”
    I probably should have assured
him I wouldn’t feel right taking any money since I didn’t provide him with a
wedding, but I didn’t. Even if I ended up declining my own commission, I wanted
to make sure Darryl and Ewa still got their thousand dollars for baby Ethan’s
college fund.
    “What can I do?” he went on.
“Deedee says she’s always had her heart set on a formal wedding. Big white
dress, ballroom reception, catered dinner, you know—the whole fairy-tale
number. And she’s right. She deserves that.”
    “But you’ve only invited a
handful of guests.”
    “Nah, she’s pumped the guest
list up to about eighty. Most of ‘em are big-shots from her dad’s bank. Or her
mom’s tennis friends. Or Deedee’s friends from her cheerleading days at
college. So far, everybody’s said they’re coming. So what can I say? You gotta
admit, it’s not gonna be easy for her to be married to a guy like me.”
    I wanted to correct him and say
that from where I sat, it looked like he was the one in for a tough go
of it.
    “Well, these things happen,” I
said. I stood up. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m going to have to get on the
phone.