Snuffed Out (Book 2 in the Candlemaking Mysteries) (20 page)

“
Then why did she put a
price tag on them? A hefty one at that.”

Eve asked suspiciously, “How much did you
charge for them?”

When I told her, she started to smile, then
her laughter followed. It was the first time since we’d been
working together that I’d ever heard that particular sound coming
from her.

I said, “Do you mind telling me what’s so
funny?”

After she settled down enough to speak, she
said, “I was right. Belle never intended them to sell. That price
tag was her way of insuring that they stayed.”

“
Well, he paid it without
flinching.” After her merriment, I wasn’t about to admit that the
customer who’d bought them had done so as a jibe and not a real
gift. 

“
I suppose it’s true after
all. Taste is subjective.”  I added, “It helped a rather
lackluster day at that. How are you this morning?”

“
I’m fine. Why do you
ask?  Have you heard something?”

“
Easy,” I said, “I was just
checking.”

She studied me a second, then said, “We have
work to do.”

“
Hey, I’m not the one
standing around,” I admitted, a If I’d said it a few days earlier,
she probably would have walked out on the spot. As it was, she
clucked a few times, I then said, “You’re right. I’m getting busy
right now.” As she walked away, I heard her mutter to herself, “I
can’t believe anyone found them attractive.”

I found myself diverting my step to the
storeroom for the rest of day, intentionally missing the candles
that weren’t there anymore.

Millie visited At Wick’s End ten minutes
before we officially opened. She knocked on the door, holding two
coffees and a bag in her hands.

I opened the door for her, then locked it
behind her as one of my customers tried to follow her in. “We’ll be
open in ten minutes,” I said.

“
Then why does she get to go
in now?” The woman asked plaintively in a definite Northern
accent.

“
Hey, what can I say? She
brought me food.”  The woman asked in all earnestness, “So if
I bring you a chocolate cake tomorrow I can shop early?”

I said, “Ma’am, if you add milk-chocolate
icing, I’ll let you in half an hour before we officially open.”

She shook her head as she said, “That’s some
way of running a business you’ve got there.”  Millie called
out, “Harrison, are you coming? I need to speak with you.”

I nodded to my customer and locked the door.
I should have let her in, but I wanted to talk to Millie without
having to worry about being interrupted.

“
What’s going on?” I said as
I took the coffee she offered. “Did you bring me a
treat?”

“
I’m trying a new recipe,”
she said, “and I thought you’d like to sample it.”

“
Always happy to help,” I
said as I reached for the bag.

“
Harrison, that’s not why I
came by. Heather’s back in her shop.”

“
I know,” I said as I ate a
lemon tart no bigger than my thumb. “I talked to her last
night.”

“
Then you know Mrs. Quimby
is leaving me. I don’t know what I’m going to do, I’ve been so used
to having her help in the mornings.”

“
Have you thought about
asking her to stay part-time?” I asked. “Heather doesn’t open till
ten. That should take care of most of your morning rush and your
lunch prep work.”

She kissed my forehead. “What a grand idea.
I’ll go talk to her right now.”

I unlocked the door for her and motioned my
customer in, though it was still four minutes before I was
scheduled to open. She glanced at her watch and said, “Are you
certain? I don’t even have any baked goods with me.”

“
I’m
extending you credit on my cake,” I said with a smile as I flipped
the
closed
sign to
open
. She came in and Eve glanced sharply at me. I wasn’t about
to tell her about my humorous exchange.

“
You can finish the order,”
I said. “I’ll wait on her.”

Eve scowled at me a second, then returned to
her work.

After browsing through much of the store,
the woman bought a healthy supply of new wax and a mold I’d
special- ordered but had never been picked up by the customer.

She said, “I’m new here. You do things
differently in the South, don’t you?”

“
You have no idea,” I
agreed. “Just wait till you’ve been here a while. We start to grow
on you, I promise.”

“
That’s what I’m afraid of,”
she said as she took the receipt I offered.

I gave her my best smile as I handed her the
bag. “Trust me, in six months you’ll never want to leave Micah’s
Ridge.”

“
We’ll see,” she said as she
left.

I looked out in time to see Pearly walking
past the store, but he never came in. After his third lap, I called
out to Eve, “I’m going to step outside for a second. It’s a
beautiful day.”

“
Just don’t wander off,” Eve
said. “We might get busy.”  I looked around the empty store,
glanced at the deserted to parking lot, then said, “No, ma’am, I
promise I’ll be here for the rush.”

I called Pearly’s name, and he looked
startled as he turned around to face me. “Hello, Harrison.”

“
Are you going to pace out
here all day? You’re driving off my customers.”

“
Eh? Sorry, didn’t mean to
interfere,” he said as he started to walk off.

“
Hey, I’m only kidding.
You’re going to have to face her again sooner or later, you know
that, don’t you?”

“
What are you talking
about?”

“
Come on, I’m not blind. I
saw how she reacted to you. And remember, you already told me you
were having trouble with your love life. It doesn’t take a genius
to figure out that Eve was one of your girlfriends.” It felt odd
calling my sixty-something employee a girl anything, but I was at a
loss for what else to call her.

“
That’s just it. Eve’s
offended she wasn’t on the list at all. Now I’ve really gone and
done it.”

I leaned against the brick of the building
and said, “Let me get this straight. She’s mad because you weren’t
two-timing her?”

“
Three-timing, actually,”
Pearly admitted reluctantly.

“
So what’s the
problem?”

Pearly said, “She asked me out two weeks
ago, and I turned her down. I said I was too busy, and it was
certainly the truth then. Harrison, let me ask you this? How in the
world was I supposed to know she was in the same book club as the
three women I was dating? Obviously if I’d had any idea they knew
each other, I wouldn’t have been so social.”

I couldn’t help it. As much as I sympathized
with Pearly for his dilemma, I had to laugh. What a meeting they
must have had when they’d discovered their connection.

“
Any idea what book they
were reading?” I asked.

Pearly said glumly, “I’m not going to tell
you.”

“
Come on. I’m sorry I
laughed. I know it’s not that funny.”

It took some prodding, but he finally said,
“You won’t stop hounding me until I tell you, will you?”

“
If you don’t tell me, I’ll
be forced to ask Eve,” I said.

“
Good gracious, don’t do
that. If you must know, they were reading Death of a Ladies’
Man!”

I was still laughing when he finally gave up
on me and walked away in disgust.

Chapter 15

I was just starting to think about lunch
when Millie came in.

I said, “George is going to get jealous if
you keep popping up here like this,” I said.

“
Oh posh, he’s too busy to
notice. I hope you haven’t made any lunch plans.”

“
Is that an invitation? Now
I’m starting to get ideas.”

Millie blushed. “Can’t a person do something
nice for another? Of course, you’re perfectly free to decline.”

“
No, ma’am, that wouldn’t be
very gentlemanly of me, now would it? May I ask what the occasion
is? It’s a good seven months till my birthday.”

“
It’s my way of saying thank
you for speaking with Heather. She told me you two had a long talk
last night.”

I glanced at Eve, who was taking every word
in. I said to her, “I’ll take the first lunch, if you don’t
mind.”

“
No bother,” she
said.

I led Millie outside. “Now she’ll be on me
the rest of the day.”

“
I thought Eve liked
Heather,” Millie said as we walked toward The Crocked
Pot.

“
Of course she does, but I
can hear her now.  ‘Harrison Black, it’s just not proper,
having a young single woman in your apartment all hours of the
night.’ Man, oh man.”

Millie started giggling. “I can hear her
saying just that, though your delivery is a little off.”

“
That’s the only thing that
stood between me and a career in show business.”

“
What’s that?” Millie
asked.

“
A severe lack of
talent.”

“
Oh, Harrison.”

Inside her cafe, one table by the window was
roped off, and instead of the disposable plates and cups, this spot
was set with fine bone china. I recognized the pattern. My
grandmother had owned a complete set with the same baby
roses.                                                                        

“
Wow, this is too much,” I
said. “Is this for me?”

Millie nodded happily. “I found this set at
a yard sale, if you can believe it. Lovely, isn’t it?”

“
It’s great,” I said. “But
there’s only one place setting. I figured you’d be joining
me.”

“
No time for that, I’m
pretty busy.” She lowered her voice and admitted, “Besides, I have
just the one setting. That’s why it was so cheap.”

I sat down and Millie went
in back for a minute. Though my first customer of the day had left
my shop a couple of hours before, she must have lingered around
River’s Edge.
 
She walked into
The Crocked Pot, looked around and saw me sitting at the table,
elegantly outfitted for a formal meal.

“
Don’t tell me,” she said,
“You do this every lunchtime.”

I smiled. “Just every fifth Friday.” It was
the middle of the month, and decidedly not a Friday.

She shook her head and said, “I suppose you
have to get here early to understand things. Kindergarten is
probably a good time.”

“
Don’t bet on it. I’ve lived
around here all my life, and there are still some things I don’t
understand. That’s what makes it so much fun.”

Millie came out from the back, set a
stainless steel covered tray in front of me and turned to the
woman. “May I help you?”

“
I don’t have time for
formal tea, or whatever is you’re doing. Can I grab a cup of coffee
to go?”

Millie looked puzzled by the exchange. “Of
course you can.” She wagged a finger at me. “Harrison, have you
been telling stories again?”

“
No, ma’am. But then how can
you believe me? I might be lying right now,” I added with a
grin.

She shook her head and fixed the woman a
coffee. After she paid, I heard her mumbling as she walked out. I
didn’t catch all of it, but it was something like, ‘they’re all mad
as hatters’ as she left. I held it in till she was gone, then
laughed aloud.

As Millie approached my table with a covered
plate, she said, “I don’t even want to know.”

I grabbed the lid and said, “May I?”

“
It won’t do you much good
if you don’t,” she said.

I lifted the lid and found a slab of pot
roast surrounded by golden braised carrots, red new potatoes, and
silver onions. The smell alone was nearly enough to fill me up, it
was so rich. “How did you know pot roast was my favorite?”

Millie smiled. “Believe it or not, your
Great-Aunt told me.”

“
Belle talked about me?” I
asked, suddenly forgetting all about the food, as wonderful as it
smelled. I’d been more off than on with my Great-Aunt in the years
before she died, and I just assumed it had been “out of sight, out
of mind” between us.

“
Belle and I spoke of a
great many things, Harrison. It’s only natural that her only kin
would come up in the conversation now and then. She said you
couldn’t get enough pot roast growing up, that you’d turn down
cherry pie for an extra slab of beef.”

“
What can I say, I know what
I like.” I surveyed the plate again, then said, “Honestly, you
didn’t have to do this.”

“
That’s what made it so much
fun. Now are you going to taste it or not?”

I took a forkful, watching as the meat fell
apart at my touch. Adding a bite of carrot, a sliver of onion, and
a chunk of potato, I had a full fork and a perfect bite.

“
Well?” she
asked.

“
I can’t describe it, it’s
so good,” I said.

Millie smiled. “I’m glad you like it.”

As a man in a business suit came in, Millie
said, “Enjoy.”

“
May I help you?” she asked
him.

“
I was just coming in for a
bagel, but I’ve changed my mind. I’ll have what he’s having. You
can serve mine on a regular plate, I don’t need anything
fancy.”