The House that Christmas Made by Elizabeth Bromke

Author:Elizabeth Bromke
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Elizabeth Bromke

Chapter 27—Annette

The server, inane as he was, interrupted them with dessert menus.

Annette began to shoo him off. She was desperate to tell Quinn that Quinn was not a bad person. That she was a human being. And that whatever she’d done wrong, she could fix it. She really could.

But before Annette could successfully rid them of the intrusion, Shamaine slapped her hands down on the table. “Dessert is exactly what we need,” she declared. “And dessert drinks, too. A round of hot toddies and a pumpkin pie for the table. Don’t cheap out on the whipped cream, either,” she threatened the server, who scurried off.

Annette just laughed and shook her head. “Shamaine, I’m not sure if people are glad that you’re back in town or scared.”

“Hopefully a bit of both,” Shamaine replied before turning to Quinn. “Whatever you’ve done, it’s nothing that pie can’t fix.”

Annette let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding. Ultimately, Shamaine was probably right. She laughed and added, “Unless you killed someone.”

The table tensed briefly before Quinn let out a short laugh and flicked hair from her eyes. “Luckily, it’s not that bad.”

There was a hum of errant conversation while the server returned with drinks and pie, and Annette turned to Jude to get a read on her take of the whole thing.

But when she looked at Jude, the woman was iced over. Her face stiff and sunken, like she’d fallen onto a mortician’s table. Her hands knitted together so tightly Annette felt the compulsion to pry them apart.

“Jude,” she said, gripping the woman’s shoulder and giving a gentle shake. Jude’s face twisted into deeper grooves as she slowly turned to Annette. She didn’t say anything. Just shook her head. Annette glanced at the others. Everyone had started in on pie—even Quinn, whose tapping and bouncing and typing and oddities had all quieted, miraculously. Annette lowered her voice. “Jude, what is it?”

Jude opened her mouth to reply, but nothing came out. She just shook her head again, then swallowed.

“Do you know something?”

Jude’s tongue darted through her impeccably lined and painted lips. In and out. Another swallow. Her face broke and she nodded.

Annette, now aghast and agog and all things hungry and interested, turned furtive. “About Quinn?”

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