Trapped in Christmas River: A Christmas Cozy Mystery Novella (The Christmas River Cozy Mystery Novellas Book 6) by Meg Muldoon

Author:Meg Muldoon [Muldoon, Meg]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Vacant Lot Publishing
Published: 2022-05-10T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

It was true – I was slammed at the pie shop. I hadn’t exactly been focusing on my work lately, and I’d been putting far too much of it on Tiana, Tobias, and my seasonal hires. So when I got back to the shop, I called Warren to see if he’d be able to look after the pooches for the evening. Then I put on my upbeat Christmas playlist, rolled up my sleeves, and kicked it into high gear. I resolved to be a hurricane of pie baking.

I heated up a large pot of cranberries, orange juice, lime zest, and sugar for the Santa’s Florida Vacation pies. Then in a sauce pan, I began melting some dark chocolate with some heavy cream for the Chocolate Hazelnut pies. In another bowl, I began mixing up some cherries, sugar, and a healthy helping of cinnamon for the Mountain Cherry pies. It wasn’t long before the kitchen started smelling like Christmas and I began to feel a lot better about my recent slacking at the job.

But despite all the good aromas and the upbeat sounds of Dwight Yoakam’s Santa Can’t Stay blasting through the speaker, I felt as though a dark cloud was hanging over me.

There was no way to feel good about the situation. Either Daniel and the Sheriff’s Department had it wrong and had arrested an innocent woman. Or Jess really was guilty, and I had become a bad judge of character—

My phone suddenly let out a sharp jingle. I dusted my hands off on my apron and went over to where it was resting on a nearby counter. I answered, pressing it to my ear.

“Hey, what’s up—”

“I don’t know if I can do it, Cin,” he said, his voice nearly quivering with panic. “In some ways, I know Stevie’s right and I’d be stepping up for the group. But at the same time, it feels like some sort of betrayal. Like I’m just trying to take Jess’s place. And I can’t possibly be up to that. I mean, Jess is one of a kind. How can I take her place? That’s what everyone in the group will think – I know it…”

Brad trailed off, leaving me some time to catch up and try to figure out what he was saying.

But after a few seconds, I still hadn’t quite figured out what he was talking about.

“I mean, they’re all swell people. And I think they like me okay,” Brad continued rapidly. “But to lead the trail runs, Cin? For The Wolves? It just seems…”

Brad trailed off again.

“Maybe you could start from the beginning, Brad?” I said, going over to the stove and stirring the pot of cranberries.

The berries had started popping, and the mixture was a lovely, vibrant hue of a winter sunset before a storm.

“You’re right, you’re right. Sorry. I just get carried away,” he said, speaking fast. “Okay, so a few minutes ago, I got a call from Coach Stevie. And she said since Jess is no longer

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.