Syrup to No Good by Catherine Bruns

Author:Catherine Bruns [Bruns, Catherine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks

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Noah had a tour scheduled for first thing the next morning, so I didn’t have a chance to speak with him before it began. I stayed in my office, trying to get caught up on bills while also arranging a shipment of syrup to England. I left the office briefly at noon to chat with the gardener I’d hired for the summer. I wanted to put in more flower beds around the sugar shack and main building. The main building also needed a paint job, and I was busy getting estimates on that as well. These were all things that Noah could do, but he was only one person. There were far more important jobs I needed him for, such as the tours, checking and repairing sap lines, and making candles.

As I walked back to the main building, I decided an all-day festival might be a fun event in the fall to drum up some extra business with the holidays around the corner. We could host a waffle breakfast and rent space to local vendors for the day. A pie-baking contest might be fun as well. I couldn’t wait to ask Noah his opinion about it. But the next thing on my agenda was coffee, so I headed into the Sappy Hour Café.

My mother had been busy baking muffins and shortbread cookies all morning. In addition to the breakfast sandwiches, there were a different variety of goodies available each day that she wrote up on a chalkboard. She liked to change things up. Mom had left the house while I was still in the shower, so we still hadn’t gotten a chance to speak about my dinner date. Like a lion, she pounced on me when I went behind the counter.

“You got in late last night. Things must have gone very well.” She beamed. “Tell me all about it.”

Good grief. My face warmed. “There’s nothing to tell, Mom. We went out to dinner, and that’s all.”

Thankfully, before she could grill me any further, a couple approached the counter and requested maple lattes. My mother made them in the espresso machine, served hot or cold. She used coffee, nutmeg, maple syrup, and whipped cream, and they always tasted delicious.

I quickly grabbed a muffin still warm from the oven and a cup of coffee. I was determined to get back to work in my office, but Mom was having none of it. She held up a finger. “Wait a second, Leila,” she said as the couple paid for their lattes and sat down at a nearby table.

Oh no. Thinking fast, I held up my phone. “Sorry, Mom. I need to take this.” I hurried out of the café, down the walkway, and over to my office. As soon as I sat down behind the desk, my phone buzzed for real, startling me. I glanced at the screen. Heather.

“What’s going on?” she asked. “You sound like you’re out of breath.”

“I just lied to my mother.”

She chuckled. “Uh oh. It must have had something to do with Mark or Noah.

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