Love in the Headlines by Penny Zeller

Author:Penny Zeller [Zeller, Penny]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Maplebrook Publishing
Published: 2023-05-08T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter seventeen

Carleigh used her fifteen-minute break to make a speedy jaunt to Oakville Bibles and Gifts to choose a present for her prayer partner’s birthday.

The charming and cheery gift store was located three businesses away from The Oakville Daily. It boasted a trademark red awning and creative window display and had just celebrated its fifteenth anniversary.

When Carleigh was younger, Mom’s women’s Bible study group founded the prayer partner ministry and precious Mrs. Barnes had been, and still was, Carleigh’s prayer partner. Now Carleigh embraced the chance to be a blessing to Isla, her own prayer partner, just as Mrs. Barnes was to her.

Carleigh stepped inside and found a brightly-colored prayer journal with Isla’s favorite Bible verse on the front. She requested it be wrapped in birthday-themed gift wrap, and returned to work with five minutes to spare.

Two hours later, she gave Lindy the thumbs-up signal, indicating she was at a stopping point in her article and ready for their lunch date. Three bouquets covered Lindy’s desk, all with different varieties of eye-popping flowers. Her friend still had no idea who was sending the flowers, and Carleigh and Trey hadn’t had a chance to rehash the clues to solve the mystery.

Lindy appeared at Carleigh’s desk, purse in hand. “I am so ready for lunch. This has been a crazy-busy day.”

“You’re telling me. Let me just switch my shoes and grab my purse.” Carleigh slipped off the shoes she had been wearing in favor of her pink wedge sandals. “I wasn’t going to wear my sandals, but it looks absolutely gorgeous outside.”

“Almost seventy-two degrees. I love summers in Oakville.”

“Me too.” Carleigh put on her pink wedges and stood.

And that’s when she noticed.

One wedge was clearly taller than the other. She stood, half-slumped, with one foot much lower than the other. “What on earth?”

“It looks like your wedge broke off your shoe.”

“But how could that be? I’ve had them here since last week. How could it have broken?” Sure enough, when she removed the shoe and flipped it over, a portion of the wedge was missing. What appeared to be chew bites replaced the former wedge. “It looks like someone chewed on my shoe.”

Lindy began to laugh. Her petite frame tipping slightly on her own two-inch wedge sandals. “I’m sorry, that’s just so…so funny. So, someone is chewing on your shoes. If that’s the case, there’s an employee of The Oakville Daily who is awfully hungry!”

Carleigh knew her accusation sounded ludicrous, but there was no other explanation. Haphazard bite marks lined various portions of the underneath of the left shoe. “It isn’t even in a straight line, and there’s a massive chunk out of this corner. My shoes are ruined.”

“Shoe eaters apparently aren’t picky about how they eat their shoes. Kind of reminds me of how some people eat corn on the cob.”

“Funny, Lindy.”

“Who do you think could have eaten it?”

“Wait! That’s it! It was Trey.”

“Trey ate your shoe? Wow, I always knew he was a little different, but shoe-eating? That’s a steep departure from normalcy, even for him.

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