Basket Case by Karen MacInerney

Author:Karen MacInerney
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gray Whale Press

15

I wasn’t too surprised to see several women with dark circles under their eyes waiting for me when I pushed through the swinging doors at 8:00 with a carafe of coffee in one hand and a cake plate of fresh Sunshine Lemon Bundt cake in the other. I did a mental headcount almost involuntarily, relieved that we weren’t short anyone.

“You’re here early!” I said, and Agnes grimaced at me.

“Is there coffee in there?” Kayla asked, squinting at the carafe.

“Please say yes,” her friend Pippa added.

“Lots of it, and more brewing,” I assured her. “Let me just put the cake down and I’ll fill you right up. There’s sugar on the tables, and I’ll be out with half and half in a minute,” I said. Kayla walked up to the table to be first in line for coffee, holding out a slender hand with a coffee cup in it. She wore a diamond bracelet that winked in the morning light, and my thoughts turned to the bracelet in the photo I’d found. Was the photo of Kayla? She sipped her coffee (“black, unless you have heavy cream,” she’d said, then announced, “I’m doing keto, so no cake for me, unfortunately”), and I studied her hand; instead of a sapphire ring like the one in the photo, she wore a slender gold wedding band. And in any case, her hair was honey-colored, not red like the woman in the photo.

Once I’d filled everyone’s cups, I left them (well, everyone but Kayla) to the cake and hurried to the kitchen to refill the carafe and retrieve the half and half. By the time I got back to the dining room, the ladies had made quite a dent in the cake. “I’ve got scrambled cheesy eggs, bacon, and berry salad coming, too,” I announced. “Save some room!”

As I bustled back and forth from the kitchen to the dining room, laden with coffee and fruit salad, I could sense the caffeine start hitting as the conversation grew into an animated hum.

“I still can’t believe she died of a peanut allergy,” Phoebe was saying as I refilled her coffee. “She was always so careful.”

“It doesn’t make any sense at all, does it?” Mary answered, shaking her head.

A moment later, at the other table, Kayla’s friend Pippa was talking about the house construction. “Do you think you can bring the project before the HOA board again? Maybe they’ll approve it if Justine isn’t there.”

“It’s too early to think about that,” Kayla said. “It just happened yesterday. Besides, we’re thinking about selling. Jeremy has always wanted to build a house, and he has a line on a waterfront lot on Mount Desert Island…”

“You’re leaving Windabay and moving to MDI?” Pippa asked, looking hurt.

“It’s only a few miles away! We’ll see each other all the time. Promise.”

“You couldn’t pay me to live on MDI, with all that summer traffic,” Pippa said. “Besides, what about the schools?” As they discussed the relative educational merits of Mount Desert Island and Ellsworth, I drifted away to check on Agnes, who was sitting by herself staring out the window.

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