View to a Grill (Iron and Flame Cozy Mysteries Book 3) by Patti Benning

Author:Patti Benning [Benning, Patti]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Summer Prescott Books
Published: 2024-04-29T00:00:00+00:00

SEVEN

Doubt was a terrible thing to live with. Lydia had grown up in Quarry Creek, and after culinary school, she had returned to make her life here. This town was very much her home. She thought she knew the people who lived here. But now, she was beginning to wonder if she was wrong. Sierra, Taylor, even Cynthia… She had known all of them for years. Was her uncertainty about whether one of them had something to do with Mariah’s death a sign that she didn’t know them as well as she thought she did, or was it a sign that something was wrong with her? Maybe she wasn’t the person she thought she was, if she could suspect her friends of a horrible crime so easily.

After the weekend, she tried to get back to a semblance of normalcy, though she was more distracted in the kitchen than usual. She paused to see if Morning Dove was open whenever she passed the little café, but even well into the next week, it hadn’t reopened. She was beginning to wonder if it ever would.

It was Thursday, a little over a week since Mariah’s death, when Taylor finally responded to the text message Lydia had sent her over the weekend, asking how she was doing. It wasn’t much, but after how terribly her conversation with Sierra had gone, she hadn’t been in the right mental space to have a real sit-down conversation with Taylor.

Taylor’s response was a polite, cheerful text message asking if she wanted to meet at Iron and Flame today for lunch. Lydia had the evening shift today, which meant she didn’t have to be at the restaurant until four. She sent a text back, asking if Taylor wanted to meet at two. That would give them enough time to chat, and if their lunch didn’t take as long as she expected, she could start her shift a little early. Jeremy could just deal with it if he didn’t like sharing a kitchen with her for an hour.

Taylor beat her to the restaurant. She must have said something to Jaelin, the hostess on shift, about meeting Lydia, because as soon as Jaelin saw her enter the restaurant, she gestured toward the table Taylor was at. Lydia thanked her with a smile, then walked through the restaurant to join her friend.

“Thanks for meeting me,” Taylor said. “Sorry it took me so long to text you back. I’ve been a little distracted, as you can probably imagine.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Lydia said. “I was feeling bad for not reaching out sooner. What happened to Mariah hit me hard, I guess. I’m so worried about it happening to one of our guests.”

Taylor’s expression softened into one of understanding and sympathy. “Oh my gosh, I didn’t even make that connection. I’m sure you don’t have anything to worry about, Lydia. You’re such a good chef, and you’ve got great employees. Who knows what happened to Mariah, but I’m sure whatever it was, it won’t happen here.

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