The Durand File (An Aunt Bessie Cold Case Mystery Book 4) by Diana Xarissa

Author:Diana Xarissa [Xarissa, Diana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-10-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

Bessie walked alone the next morning, feeling oddly lonely. After all her years of walking on her own, she’d grown far too used to Andrew’s company, she decided. Scolding herself for being silly, she walked briskly past Thie yn Traie before turning back towards home.

“Hello, Bessie.” The voice seemed to drift down from above.

Bessie looked up and then waved when she spotted Elizabeth Quayle making her way down the stairs from Thie yn Traie to the beach below.

The girl was the youngest child and only daughter of George and Mary Quayle, who owned Thie yn Traie. Over the past few years, Bessie and Mary had become close friends, and Bessie felt as if she knew Elizabeth quite well, also. In her mid-twenties now, Elizabeth had dropped out of several universities over the years, as she’d been unable to decide what she wanted to do with her life.

When she’d decided to start a party planning business on the island, Bessie hadn’t believed that the island needed such a service, but Elizabeth’s small business had almost immediately become a success. When Elizabeth started both a personal and a professional relationship with Andy Caine, a brilliant young chef, the party planning company had flourished with Andy catering most of Elizabeth’s events.

A rather unfortunate set of circumstances had led to Elizabeth leaving the island for some months to travel with her parents. By the time she’d returned, two new party planners had opened for business while she’d been away. One of them, run by a woman named Jennifer Johnson, was even working with Andy. Not only that, but Andy had recently asked Jennifer to marry him.

Bessie had anxiously watched the situation as it developed. She’d known Andy since childhood, and she’d thought that he and Elizabeth were well suited. Additionally, she’d heard many things about Jennifer’s business ethics that concerned her. Bessie was also worried about Elizabeth, who was now working to reestablish the business she’d left behind so many months earlier.

“Hello,” Elizabeth said, pulling Bessie into a hug. “How are you?”

“I’m fine,” Bessie replied, studying the girl’s face. Elizabeth looked tired, and as if she hadn’t been eating well. “How are you?”

“Oh, fine.” The reply was automatic, and Elizabeth was staring as the sea as she said it.

“How are you, really?” Bessie demanded.

Elizabeth sighed. “It’s difficult — being back, I mean. I didn’t want to stay away as long as we did, but that was out of my hands. Now I’m back and everything has changed. I don’t care about the business, not really. I can do something else, start a different business, but I do care about Andy. I wish…”

Bessie waited for her to finish, but Elizabeth simply stared at the water in silence for several minutes. “What do you wish?” Bessie finally asked.

“I don’t even know. I wish things were different, but I’m not certain what I want to change.”

“Do you want Andy back?”

“We had issues, issues that we’d have to work through if we got back together. I wasn’t ready to do the work before I went away.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.