Page 79 of Cadaver Lab: Mind Over Murder

“Yes?” he asked again.

“Yes.” She nodded.

Then his mouth was on hers and he was backing her toward the bedroom. And even though she saw from the bag on the counter that he’d picked up dinner at the Italian place in Sidney and it smelled amazing, she was perfectly content with eating later. Possibly much later.

In fact, it was more than an hour before they got back to the kitchen. Hunger and thirst finally driving them from the bedroom.

Liam poured the champagne now that the ring was out of the glass and on her finger. “So where do you want to have our wedding? Because it seems Harper already took the shop. Do you mind?”

Natalie shook her head. “Not at all. I already know where I want to have our wedding. If you agree, of course. It’s a bit… off beat.”

He raised his gaze from his own glass and met hers. “I’m afraid to ask. But go on. Tell me.”

“I was thinking the old cemetery on Main Street. Next October?” She cringed. “But only if you’re okay with that.”

He smiled. “Since our entire relationship has been a bit off beat from the very beginning, yeah, I’m okay with that.”

“So it’s set then? We’re getting married in the cemetery in one year?”

“Yes. And I can tell you I can’t wait to settle into a nice calm boring married life with you.”

“I’d be insulted if I didn’t know exactly what you mean. And I agree.” Boring sounded pretty good to her. Nice and boring. It would be perfect.

Chapter Forty-One

The next morning Natalie was still reeling from her new reality and still not used to the weight of the absolutely perfect antique Victorian engagement ring Liam had chosen.

Engaged.

That was going to take some getting used to. Maybe some more coffee and finally getting around to texting everyone the good news would help it sink in.

“Hey, Nat, what are we doing for Halloween this year?” Gabe asked, walking through the back wall without knocking, since he couldn’t, and without Millie so only Natalie heard him. So much for her no ghosts in the apartment without an invite rule. That had gone out the window a while ago.

“Good morning. And I don’t know.” She turned to Liam. “Gabe’s here.”

“Yeah, I guessed that.” Liam’s lips tipped up ever so slightly in the smallest of smiles. It was a nice change from his usual scowl when Gabe showed up unannounced.

“What do you want to do for Halloween?” she asked Gabe, waiting for him to notice the ring on her left hand.

“I don’t know. I’m not as excited for it this year.”

“Why not? You love Halloween.”

Gabe shrugged. “Millie’s going to visit her family in Sharon Springs again. I mean she went last year too but I was with you in Utica so it didn’t matter so much.”

As Gabe talked, Natalie felt the blood drain from her face as the bottom dropped out of her nice, normal, boring life.

“Oh my God,” she breathed as her pulse began to race as even the joy of being engaged seeped out of her.

They’d made a huge mistake and there was no possible way to fix it now.

“What’s wrong?” Liam asked.

Gabe frowned at her. “Nat? You okay?”

“I can’t believe I forgot. How could I forget? And now it’s too late.”

They could never correct this situation. The brain was gone. Dumped in the ocean where they could never retrieve it.