The Vintage Vendetta: A Thrift Shop Cozy Mystery (Secondhand Sleuth Mysteries Book 1) by Mel Morgan

Author:Mel Morgan [Morgan, Mel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Stonefire Press
Published: 2022-05-08T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

SINCE I COULDN’T survive on canned food and leftover cheesecake forever, I decided to do a little shopping. I revved up the wood-trimmed wagon and headed downtown for some rations.

Most of the businesses in Pine Grove were still family-owned, but not all of them. I pulled up in front of the Super Foods grocery store, and when I checked my parking job, I found the back end of the huge wagon sticking out two feet past the end of the space, its hatchback hanging almost out into the road. I’d better just be in and out as quickly as possible.

Inside, I found a cart and filled it with the essentials: frozen pizza with extra cheese, chips and cheese dip, and a tube of chocolate chip cookie dough. I dropped a bunch of bananas on top to balance out my diet and a dozen cans of meaty cat food for McCoy. No more boring dry chow for my kitty—he was getting spoiled. When I approached the first open lane, I had another blast from the past moment I hadn’t expected.

“Jessie? Jessie Braun, is that you?” A short, plump woman with over-bleached hair was giving me a perfect-toothed grin from behind the register.

Running into the head cheerleader from your high school while you’re in line at the grocery store is one of those clichés that actually happens sometimes in real life, just like in cornball movies. Saint Claire High School was only fifty miles away from Pine Grove, and it wasn’t surprising that some people I had known there would move here. But I was a little surprised she even remembered my name.

“Yeah…” I tried to think of a way to avoid an awkward “old times” conversation with her, but I was drawing a blank. So I said, “Tanya Taylor. It has been a long time.” I smiled at her weakly. We were never truly friends in school, only acquaintances—but it’s funny how details like that were forgotten when reminiscences started to flow.

“What are you doing these days? You ever become a hot-shot business woman out in Colorado?” She had the state wrong, but I was impressed she remembered I’d left Saint Claire for a business major.

I softened a little toward catching up with her. “Not exactly. How about you? You look as great as ever.” It wasn’t totally true, but it was the right thing to say to make her day, and she grinned at me again.

“Thanks, you always were a sweetheart. I’m so sorry about your aunt passing away. I suppose that’s why you’re back in town.” She was scanning my groceries as she talked. “I saw your uncle up at the casino, and he told me all about it.”

Uncle Rick was at the casino? I was not happy to hear that he was still gambling, and I hoped he hadn’t run himself into debt with his favorite vice again. But maybe the books I’d found didn’t help him after all.

“What are you going to do with that mess out at her house?” Tanya asked.

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.