“Anyway, I told Kane I wanted to know who was giving The Rag all of this information about your private life. I told him I’d make living with me hell on earth if he didn’t find out right away. It took him all of five minutes to make a phone call and get the answer for me.”
Nicole wanted to cry. “You did that for me, after the way I treated you?”
“We’re always going to be friends, Nic. You can’t change that by being bratty one time. Besides, I can understand exactly why you felt the way you did about me. I’m living with the man who owns the tabloid that’s making your life miserable!”
Nicole laughed. “That definitely didn’t help matters.”
“I’m happy to help you to plug the leak, Nicole. I think that will be mine and Kane’s wedding present for you.”
“That’s a generous offer.”
“Kane told me that the name The Rag gave him for the informant was Marcie Tilly.”
“Are you absolutely sure, Danielle?”
“Yes, one hundred percent. Do you know her?”
“Apparently not as well as I thought I did.”
Nicole turned and looked through the window of the bakery, as Marcie sat shoveling cake into her mouth, guffawing and laughing along with Nicole’s mother.
“Well, I’ll let you go,” Danielle said. “Hope you’re doing well.”
“I’m sorry about everything I said before,” Nicole told her. “Really sorry. If you were her right now I’d get down and kiss your feet.”
Danielle laughed sadly. “Don’t worry about it. Maybe we’ll talk again, sooner rather than later?”
“Absolutely,” she said, and then Danielle was gone.
She closed her eyes, took a few deep breaths, and then Nicole went back inside the bakery.
The baker was in back getting the next cake for them to try.
“Nicole, are you going to even have some?” her mother asked. “We can’t pick a cake of the bride doesn’t taste any of them.”
“Yes,” she said, picking up a fork and digging into the white cake. It was good—amazing, even. She licked her fork clean.
“Are you all right, darling?” Marcie asked. “You look pale.”
Nicole glanced at her. She noticed—for the first time—that Marcie didn’t particularly like making direct eye contact. The large woman laughed and chattered a lot but rarely looked Nicole in the eye.
Nicole sighed. “I just got a pretty strange phone call.”
“Is everything okay?” her mom asked.
“Yes and no.” Nicole took another bite of cake, turning her attention to the wedding planner. “Marcie, has anyone from the tabloids ever called you for any reason?”
Marcie looked up with a startled expression. “Me? Why would anybody call me?”
“That’s an odd question to ask, Nicole,” her mother said.
Before Nicole could explain herself, the baker came back with the next cake, a chocolate devil’s food cake with vanilla icing. The baker talked about the properties of the cake, its flavors, and what wedding it might be best suited for.
Nicole could tell that Marcie was distracted and not her jovial self during the discussion.
“I’ll let you guys taste it and I’ll be just around the corner if you have any questions,” the blond baker said, smiling and walking off.
Marcie’s hands were twitchy and busy tugging at her large shirt. She smiled at Nicole. “You know, come to think of it—I do believe someone might have called me once.” She looked up at the ceiling and blinked furiously. “I’m trying to remember what they said. It was a reporter…I really didn’t tell him much.”
“Was it someone from The Rag?”
“I—I can’t even say.” She looked at Nicole and looked away again. “The whole thing is just so crazy. I’m a small town gal and we don’t really deal with tabloids and that sort of thing. I’m a trusting person, you know?”
“I do know. I wouldn’t blame you if you’d spoken to someone without realizing it could be a problem.”
Nicole’s mother was watching Nicole with a confused expression on her face. “What’s going on? Is someone going to clue me in?”
Marcie laughed. “You know, this is silly. I’ve done nothing wrong, but somehow I feel accused.”
“Well, someone’s been talking to The Rag about my wedding, and it’s allowing a hateful online gossip site to write horrible stories about us, revealing our private information to the world.”
“And you think it was me?” Marcie cried. “Why would I do such a thing?”
“You wouldn’t,” Nicole’s mother said. “Nicole, stop insinuating these things about Marcie. She’s a good friend and a very ethical person, which I happen to know. So unless you have evidence that she did something wrong—“
“Actually, I do have evidence.”
Marcie’s eyes practically bugged out of her head. “I swear—Nicole, I swear—if I did speak to someone in the beginning—“
“So you didn’t tell someone at The Rag about the date and time and location of our wedding?” Nicole said. She was calm, about as calm as she’d ever felt in her life.
“Nicole,” her mother practically shouted. “How dare you accuse her of that?”