Read The Whole Enchilada for Free Online

Gertrude.”
    I sighed. “I can’t deal with this right now. My business is almost booked for the summer anyway.”
    Marla said gently, “I know. I just thought you should know, in case anyone brings it up tonight.”
    â€œThanks.” I swallowed and tried to refocus my attention. “Now, where are you going to put the drinks?” That’s when we discovered that each of us had bought plastic cups. Unfortunately, we both thought the other one was providing beverages.
    â€œNot to worry,” Marla trilled, as she bounded off for her Mercedes. She called over her shoulder that she would buy cases of nonalcoholic drinks for the kids, and beer and wine for the adults. She promised to be back before the food was served.
    Tom, handsome and smiling, appeared just before five. Julian, his hair wet from his shower, joined us. A few moments later, Arch piloted his Passat up the driveway, and the first batch of his pals spilled out.
    â€œDrew’s mom is bringing him,” Arch announced. He wore flip-flops, khaki cutoffs, and a T-shirt featuring the logo of a band I’d never heard of. “The rest of the guys are parking down on the street.” He nodded to me, but his eyes contained a warning: Hug this birthday boy at your peril.
    I hadn’t been paying attention to my driving and had almost hit a guy in Marla’s neighborhood. I’d run my van into a boulder. A rival caterer in town was trying to steal my business, starting with the name.
    But at least I hadn’t strung up a piñata.

3
    B y half past five, most of the fencing-team parents and kids, plus assorted girlfriends, had shown up. The boys’ bald heads always gave my heart a jolt. They’d all shaved their scalps in sympathy with one of their teammates. He’d been stricken with leukemia and was going through chemo. The boy was doing well, but wouldn’t be at the party.
    The parents marched through to Marla’s kitchen, proudly holding their favorite Mexican dishes aloft. Tom asked them how long their entrées needed to heat, and if anything ought to be refrigerated. Then, as carefully as he took notes at a crime scene, he wrote down everything in his notebook.
    Marla honked the announcement of her arrival. Parked behind other vehicles in her own driveway, she called for Tom to push out a dolly so he could haul in three cases of Dutch beer, two of nonalcoholic brew, a case of wine, and several twenty-four-packs of juice, water, and pop. Tom placed all the drinks in Marla’s second refrigerator, located in the garage.
    â€œI’m having a shower and getting dressed,” she said, then disappeared. Fifteen minutes later, while Julian and I were assembling the chips and guacamole, she trotted into the kitchen. That had to be another record. She flicked her highlighted gold-and-brown hair back from her ears to reveal dangling chocolate diamond earrings. She cocked a hip and presented herself, swathed in a leopard-print pantsuit with a sequined belt.
    â€œYou look fantastic,” I told her. “Anyone who can lose that much weight—”
    But I didn’t finish the thought, because Marla wasn’t listening. Suddenly distracted, she gazed over my shoulder, through the kitchen windows with their magnificent view of her pool and her flat land, and beyond, the mountains. She asked, “When did Bob Rushwood and Ophelia Unger arrive?”
    â€œBob Rushwood?” I asked, puzzled. “The trainer from Aspen Meadow Country Club? What’s he doing here? Why is Ophelia Unger here? Her party isn’t until Monday night.”
    â€œThey came while you, boss, were helping the Smythes bring in their dishes. You were out getting the drinks, Marla.” Julian tilted his head to indicate the windows. “Ophelia is engaged to Bob. They’re going to do their pitch when I’m trying to make my first round with the appetizers the parents brought.”
    â€œWhat