Wonkytonk Witch: Wonky Inn Book 16 by Jeannie Wycherley

Author:Jeannie Wycherley [Wycherley, Jeannie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bark at the Moon Books
Published: 2024-06-14T00:00:00+00:00

Somewhere above my head, on the floor above, something was tapping.

Tap. Silence. Tap. Silence. Tap. Silence.

I opened my eyes, momentarily confused. Where am I? I’d been dreaming about trying to hop on a steamboat pleasure cruise, but I’d fallen in front of the enormous paddles and drunk half the Mississippi before being saved by Huckleberry Finn. I knew it was Huckleberry and not Tom Sawyer because he’d then turned into a blue dog with a little hat and begun tap-dancing.

Tap. Silence. Tap. Silence. Tap. Silence.

But now I was awake, and the slow tap dance was continuing.

I reached for my phone. Eight sixteen. Groaning, I pushed back the covers of my gorgeous new duvet and sat up. The pub had been wonderfully busy the night before. The fishermen who’d saved me had turned up and brought a few friends with them. There were the regulars, of course, plus some folk from further afield who’d heard about the music.

And John.

By the look on his face, he was fully prepared to fire both Grox and myself, and, after the day I’d had, I might have welcomed it.

At six we’d begun serving the Yum Tum tapas. They were as glorious as they had been when Grox had introduced me to them. For ease, we simply arranged dozens of helpings on gleaming serving platters and the ghosts circulated with them so the customers could select their own dainty morsel. Serving dish after serving dish, each practically licked clean, was sent back to the kitchen to be washed and refilled.

Grox and Florence had worked hard to get everything prepared in time. As promised, Grox’s tradesgoblins had been quick to arrive and sort out the issues with gas and water, so by the time I arrived at the Slope John B, still soaked after my dunking and near miss with the Thames dredger, all systems were go and enticing fragrances were tickling the noses of everyone hanging out in the bar.

John, face set in a stubborn scowl, had watched the time with exaggerated care, turning his wrist every few seconds to stare at his watch.

At six sharp, I nodded at Luppitt, who promptly began to perform his first set of the evening. A little Elizabethan Elton John and a touch of Tudor Billy Joel, much to the amusement of the regulars.

Then it had been time to bring out the tapas. The regulars fell on the food like piranhas who hadn’t seen meat for a century. I had expected this. In the midst of a drinking session, most of them forgot to eat, although the bar snacks I’d brought in had been selling well. But I wasn’t worried about the customers; I was more interested in John’s thoughts.

Florence served John separately to everyone else, arranging small dishes of everything on a clean tray along with a couple of paper serviettes and a glass of water to cleanse his palate. John didn’t bother with the water. He went straight to the heart of the matter and popped morsel after morsel straight into his mouth.

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.