Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie Page B

watching her face.
    Agnes swallowed. “Brenda’s trying to move it to the country club. She even had some insane idea about using the flowers there.”
    “ What?” Lisa Livia said.
    “And Evie wants to have it at the country club, but not use their flowers.” I don’t believe this. Brenda would not do this to me.
    “Jesus, 1 should hope not the country club’s flowers.” Lisa Livia sat back. “But there you go. Anything that keeps the wedding from happening here by Saturday noon means you lose the house and Brenda gets it back and she keeps your down payment. I knew there was no way she’d let this house go. She’s been hanging on to it for twenty-five years, but she’s broke, she’s in debt up to her ears, big debt, Ag, and she’s desperate for cash.” Lisa Livia shook her head. “1 told you, she learned this crap from that shyster she married. Real Estate King, my ass. People used to come to the house and threaten to kill him.”
    “I don’t believe she’d do this,” Agnes said, looking at the paper. “It’s too far-fetched. I know you and she have your differences, LL, but she was good to me. She taught me to cook, for heaven’s sake. She’s like a mother to me.”
    “She is a mother to me,” Lisa Livia said. “And I’m telling you, she’s doing it.”
    “Lisa Livia, I have real problems.” Agnes poured herself another glass of wine. “A kid died in my basement last night after trying to kidnap my dog at gunpoint, and now I’ve got this wedding—”
    “Died? As in dead? And you’re still here?” Lisa Livia’s face changed, and she straightened. “Wait a minute. Brenda sent him.”
    “Oh, for the love of God, LL,” Agnes snapped. “Your mother is not responsible for everything.”
    “She’s trying to scare you out so you can’t do the wedding so you’ll have to forfeit and she’ll get the house back. I betcha. Don’t you leave this house.” She drank more wine.
    “I’m not.”
    “You’re not staying here alone, are you? Get that worthless Taylor out here.”
    Agnes shook her head. “Joey got his nephew to come stay. Shane.” Lisa Livia choked on her wine. “Shane?” she said, wiping her mouth. “Little Shane?”
    Agnes thought of the guy filling up her kitchen that morning. “He’s grown.”
    “This I have to see,” Lisa Livia said. “But I am not kidding about my mother.”
    “You are overreacting,” Agnes said, and when Lisa Livia glared at her, she glared right back.
    “There you are!” Brenda called through the screens as she came up the walk, Evie following with Maria behind her, looking cautious. “Evie and I had lunch and talked over things, and then we called Maria and came back out to see you all for a moment.” She came up the steps and caught sight of Lisa Livia. “And there you are, honey,” she said, smiling. “I was wondering when you’d get here.” She bent to kiss Lisa Livia on the cheek, but LL stiffened away so that it turned into an air kiss. When Brenda straightened, her smile was still in place, but it was tight and fixed.
    Ouch, Agnes thought. Would it kill you to let her kiss you, LL?
    “So, Ma,” Lisa Livia said. “How’s the country club? Tell you what, I’ll create a disturbance, and you grab the flowers.”
    “Hello, Lisa Livia,” Evie said, with no warmth. “Welcome home.”
    “Thank you, Mrs. Keyes,” Lisa Livia said. “Always a pleasure to be here.”
    Brenda smiled at Maria. “We brought Maria because we wanted to talk about the wedding. About her theme.”
    “Theme?” Lisa Livia said dangerously. “What theme?”
    “We feel strongly,” Evie said to Lisa Livia, “that a flamingo theme, while adventurous and young and ... uh, funky, might be something Palmer and, of course, Maria might regret in years to come when they look back at their wedding pictures.”
    “A flamingo theme?” Lisa Livia said, looking staggered.
    “Forgot to mention that,” Agnes said to her. “There was a lot to catch you up