An Aunt Bessie Collection - PQR: The sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth books in the Isle of Man Cozy Mystery Series by Xarissa Diana

Author:Xarissa, Diana [Xarissa, Diana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 3823527185
Published: 2018-07-19T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

The drive into Douglas didn’t seem to take long. Thomas and Amy chatted easily with Grace, keeping up a running conversation that kept Bessie’s mind off the break-in at her cottage.

“Italian?” Grace asked as they all walked out of the car park in the town centre.

“That sounds good,” Thomas said.

“Baby seems to have a liking for pasta and garlic bread,” Grace said with a grin. “Or rather, I seem to be craving both nearly all the time, even at six in the morning when I first wake up.”

Bessie suggested her favourite Douglas restaurant, which was only a short walk away. “They do the best garlic bread on the island, as far as I’m concerned,” she told Grace.

“I won’t argue,” Grace replied.

The restaurant was busy. Bessie added their name to the waiting list and then they all settled in on couches in the small waiting area.

“I hope we don’t have to wait long,” Grace said. “I can smell the garlic bread from here and it’s driving me crazy.”

“He said it would only be fifteen minutes,” Bessie assured her. “Let’s talk about something other than food while we wait.”

“Dad said that someone broke into your cottage,” Amy said. “I hope they didn’t steal anything valuable.”

Grace frowned, but Bessie smiled at the girl. “It doesn’t appear as if they took anything at all,” she said. “They just made a huge mess, really.”

“That’s mean,” Amy replied. “We could see your kitchen when we were on the beach. It looked like a bag of flour exploded everywhere.”

“It does, yes,” Bessie told her. “I suspect I’ll be finding flour in unexpected places for weeks.”

“Thomas dropped a bag of icing sugar once and it went everywhere,” Amy told her. “Mum nearly killed him.”

“It was an accident,” Thomas said. “Anyway, Mum wasn’t nearly as upset as Harvey was. I thought he was going to hit me, really.”

“He did get really mad,” Amy giggled. “I don’t think he’s used to children. Mum told me that’s one of the reasons why they broke up in the first place. She wanted to have a family and he didn’t.”

“Well, he has one now,” Thomas said. “And I don’t think he’s overly happy about it.”

“It will be strange for him, becoming a parent to two teenagers almost overnight,” Bessie said, feeling as if she ought defend the man she’d never met. “I’m sure he’ll get better at it as time goes by.”

“We can help you clean up,” Amy said. “Thomas and I cleaned up all of the icing sugar, and that was sticky and awful. Flour shouldn’t be as bad.”

“No, I suppose it shouldn’t be,” Bessie agreed. “But you’re meant to be on holiday. You shouldn’t have to clean someone else’s house. I’m sure your father would much rather you cleaned his.”

Amy laughed. “Dad must have spent ages cleaning before we got here. His house is almost too clean. It doesn’t really feel lived in, though. I’m sure he works too hard.”

“You’re right about that,” Bessie told her.

“I don’t want to wait,” a loud voice said in the doorway.

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