Paula Lester - 03 Grits Gamblers and Grudges by Paula Lester & Lisa B. Thomas

Author:Paula Lester & Lisa B. Thomas [Lester, Paula & Thomas, Lisa B.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: paranormal cozy mystery, witch cozy mystery, small town cozy mystery, cat cozy mystery
Publisher: Paula Lester and Lisa B. Thomas
Published: 2019-06-03T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Something tickled her nose, and Paige sneezed violently. Then she sneezed three more times, sitting up in bed and pushing Casper and his furry face away from her. “Argh. Why are you in my face?”

The cat gave her a tiny meow and then walked over to the door, sitting down and staring at her.

“Oh. Is it morning?” She heard the vague sounds of a person downstairs. “Jenny’s here. Okay, okay.” Dragging herself out of bed, she stumbled over and opened the door for the cat so he could go down and beg Paige’s assistant for breakfast. Rubbing a hand over her eyes, she yawned.

After returning from her outing to the magic shop, she had finally been able to fall asleep and avoid crazy dreams. But it had probably only been a few hours at the most. Paige felt groggy and grumpy, and more than anything in the whole world, she wanted a cup of Lucy’s dark, flavor-intense coffee.

She splashed cold water onto her face, did what she could to tame her dark hair, and got dressed, obsessing over the coffee the entire time. When she got downstairs, she mumbled something not even coherent to herself to Jenny and lurched out the front door, blinking in the intense sunshine. Rationalizing that it was a good idea to go to Just Baked to keep up the appearance of normalcy with Lucy, Paige shuffled over and went into the bakery. She managed to avoid her friend since she’d found the shoes in the dumpster, but much longer, and Lucy would figure out something was wrong. The last thing Paige needed was Lucy to start questioning her while she was trying to root out the true killer.

As soon as she stepped into the shop, Lucy’s squeals reached her ears. “Paige!” She rushed over, grabbing Paige into a tight hug. “I haven’t seen you in a couple days. Is everything okay?”

Nodding, Paige’s eyes wandered to the coffee area. Lucy’s gaze followed hers. “Need some coffee, dear?”

“Yes.” Paige’s voice was croaky. She sat at the nearest table while Lucy poured her some coffee and brought it over.

“Looks like it’s going to be a beautiful day.” Lucy sat with her, which was unusual for that time of day, when she normally bustled about getting everything ready for an influx of morning customers.

“Definitely sunny.” The first gulp of coffee felt like the initial sip of water when you’re parched from an afternoon of yard work. Paige sighed and took three more sips.

“Have you been busy at the store?”

Paige nodded. “Inventory.” She knew the one- and two-word answers were likely to set off alarm bells for Lucy, who was used to having wordier conversations with her. But she didn’t want to risk saying something about Pippi. She was so tired her brain didn’t yet feel like it was working at full capacity.

“Inventory. That’s monotonous.” Lucy tsked and scooted her chair closer. “Is anything wrong, dear?” She leaned forward until she was closer than most people got to one another during casual conversation.

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