The Peridale Cafe Series Volume 5: Books 17-20 (The Peridale Cafe Cozy Mystery Box Set Series) by Agatha Frost

Author:Agatha Frost [Frost, Agatha]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Pink Tree Publishing LTD
Published: 2020-11-24T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

The café was moderately busy the next day thanks to Percy’s arrest and subsequent release. With Jessie by her side, it would have been a breeze. Still, Julia stuck to her word, letting Jessie have the day off for her role in confronting the American on Mulberry Lane. The brunt of the workload fell on Julia’s shoulders, which would have been easy to handle without the twice hourly trips to the bathroom; the baby had doubled down on her bladder. Still, the customers never would have known. Julia never let a busy day impede a friendly greeting.

After locking up, Julia drove straight home. She pulled up behind Katie’s pink car, ready to get into bed. She wasn’t prepared, however, for the chaos she knew would greet her the moment she opened the door. The days when she had been able to return to a quiet home weren’t too long gone, and yet she yearned for them like a lost love.

Julia opened the door, expecting the usual wall of noise accompanied by a hazy nail polish cloud, but neither did. Cartoons drifted from the sitting room, and she could detect the faintest whiff of acetone, but both were at their lowest levels yet. Feeling like an atomic bomb might land on her any minute, she kicked off her shoes; the relief was too sweet to put them on to go back out again.

She followed the noise of the cartoons and found her father and Vinnie sat on the hearthrug in front of the fireplace that hadn’t seen flames since the cooler spring days had passed. Rather than the crying Julia had grown used to, Vinnie’s joyous laughter filled the air. How long had it been since she had heard her baby brother laugh?

“Having fun?” Julia asked, tossing her handbag over the sofa.

Brian spun around, revealing the source of Vinnie’s joy. Against all the odds, Mowgli lay on his back between them while Brian tickled his fluffy white tummy. While surprising that Mowgli had ventured out from under the bed, the most unexpected twist was the little outfit he wore.

“The boy came out voluntarily,” Brian explained as Mowgli flipped over when he spotted Julia. “The dress, on the other hand, was Vinnie’s idea.”

Mowgli sauntered over in a little white dress and rubbed his bonnet-adorned head against Julia’s leg. She picked him up and gave him a snuggle, unsure how they had wriggled Mowgli’s fluffy legs into a dress clearly belonging to a Maine-Coon-sized doll.

“Where’s everyone else?” Julia perched on the chair arm, holding Mowgli in her arms like a baby.

“Barker’s hiding in the bedroom,” Brian replied with an almost apologetic look, “and Katie’s with a client in the dining room.”

“I can’t smell the—”

“I bought her an air purifier,” he interjected as he stood up with the aid of the coffee table. “Well, I bought it for you, really. I got a good deal from a mate. I know the bottles say they’re non-toxic, and Katie tries to use the stuff only when you’re not in, but I didn’t like the thought of you breathing all that in, considering.

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