Midlife of the Party: Paranormal Women's Fiction Cozy Mystery (Sweet Mountain Witches Book 5) by Cindy Stark

Author:Cindy Stark [Stark, Cindy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Blackberry Moon Publishing
Published: 2022-02-23T16:00:00+00:00

Fourteen

Thank the Goddess that Gideon gave me ample time to prepare for our dinner guest that evening. As opposed to when Gideon had invited his boss to join us, and I hadn’t gotten the message. This time, I had hours to prepare myself for Ted Trevino’s arrival.

I spent the afternoon organizing my thoughts about what I wanted to ask Ted and the ways that I could sneak in questions that appeared to be innocuous on the surface.

But an hour before I was set to leave work, Gideon had to go and ruin it all when an emergency came up. He let me know that not only would he not be home in time to cook, but that he might even be a little late. He offered to postpone our evening with Ted, but I found it unreasonable to reschedule with someone who, if guilty, might commit another crime in the meantime.

I released a heavy sigh to share my frustration with Gideon. “No, it’s okay. I don’t want to miss the opportunity. I’ll pull something together. It won’t be your gourmet cooking, but I’m not completely useless in the kitchen.”

He gave a soft and supportive chuckle. “Of course, you’re not. I have faith in you.”

I hung up with my head spinning, wishing I could emulate his feelings. I left Aeri in charge of work and headed out early, calling my mom on the way home to ask for a simple yet delicious recipe idea. She suggested roasting a chicken with carrots, onions, and potatoes, and she assured me that it was practically impossible to mess up.

Yes. I was fairly confident that I could pull it off. I’d roasted a chicken a few times in the past, and it had turned out pretty good.

Once I was home, I gathered the necessary ingredients, put the chicken and vegetables in the oven, and then headed for the shower.

When I returned to the kitchen forty minutes later and opened the oven to see if the bird had started to brown, I gasped when a pink chicken greeted me along with zero heat from the oven. My heart jumped into overdrive. I immediately glanced at the oven controls, only to find that I hadn’t turned it on. I distinctly remembered setting the temperature, but I must have failed to push the start button.

I wrapped my arms in front of my stomach and held back tears. If I allowed myself that release, it would dissolve every bit of hope that I could muster into a puddle of failure on the floor. I had to hold it together.

I closed my eyes for a moment to shut off my other senses so that I could think. I could order something from Deliziosa and have it delivered. But that wouldn’t be the homecooked meal that Gideon had likely promised.

Still, what I’d get from Deliziosa would be an upgrade from anything I could make in the spur of the moment. No doubt, I could whip up pasta easily enough. But with jarred sauce, it wouldn’t be the same.

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