Cozy Mystery: Gone Missing (Black Cat Detective Mystery) (Tea Shop Women Sleuth Series) by S. Y. Robins

Author:S. Y. Robins [Robins, S. Y.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-09-05T21:00:00+00:00

~ Your Free Story ~

Scoop Away

by S. Y. Robins

Chapter One

Outside the weather was burning hot, but inside the display shelves spilled over with fluffy, deviously inviting mountains of cream and sugar mixed into that heavenly desert known as gelato. The scent of vanilla, hazelnut, and chocolate hit my nose as I surveyed my creations. The aroma hit my stomach - I'd be hungry if I wasn't so nervous.

Technically we’d been open for three days but today was the 'real' opening - the other days had been trials, a 'soft open' which had done little to qualm my nerves. In fact, with every scoop, cone, and sundae my blood pressure only seemed to increase. What would people think? Would they enjoy my creations? Would they tell their friends? Most importantly - would they return for more.

My livelihood depended on it. I put everything into this venture, and it had to pay off. There was no other option, no back up plan, no plan b in place. What else was I going to do? I poured all my life savings into The Cow & Moon Gelato shop. It had been an uphill battle getting the thing set up. From day one, I'd been up against a national ice cream franchise - Frozen Planet - who'd tried to out bid me for the shop space. In the end a petition by the community to have more locally owned businesses in the street was the only thing that had saved me. Now everything rested on the store being a success - aside from making ice cream, the only other thing I was good at was reading murder mysteries - and I was hardly going to make a living at that was I?

"Amber? Hellllooo?" June, my 19 year old employee, and the one and only staff member I could afford, waved a hand in front of my face. "Are you in there? Earth to Amber..."

I shook myself back to conscious thought and brought a bright smile to my face. "Yes, I'm here! All good. Just hoping we've got enough to go round... it's a hot day out there." Not that my real concern was that we'd sell out of ice cream. In fact, just the opposite was true, but as the boss it was my responsibility to put on a brave face.

June seemed to see right through it. She rested her hand on her hip and cocked her head to look at me. "Amber, relax." She grinned at me. "It's going to be fine. I'm sure we'll be turning a profit by the end of the week!"

That was easy for June to say, of course. She was only 19, still a student at my former university. She knew nothing of the kind of responsibility that starting a business took. The sleepless nights, the rapidly depleting bank account, the 80 hour work weeks. Still, June was a sweet girl, and there was only a 6-year age gap between us. Even though we were technically boss and employee, I liked to think we were friends.

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