Murder By Devil's Food

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER TWO

When Connie arrived, she and Angie hugged like friends who hadn't seen each other for two months rather than two weeks. Connie was a few years older than Angie, divorced but "looking." She had short, fluffy blond hair, and was perpetually trying to lose the ten extra pounds she carried.

The two sat at the kitchen counter, coffee in front of them, and had barely begun to talk about Angie's honeymoon when the oven timer dinged that the scones were ready.

As they ate, Angie filled Connie in on her last two weeks since the wedding.

"It all sounds like such fun," Connie said wistfully. "A great husband, a beautiful house—you've got it made, Angie. I really should be green with jealousy. No wonder you've been too busy to see me since you've been back."

Guilt hit Angie. And worry. Things were going well for her at the moment, more than well. But, as her superstitious Italian mother always warned, that was the time you had to be at your most vigilant and ready for anything. Comeuppance was a b***h.

"So tell me," Angie said, hoping to change the subject, "what have you been up to?"

"Nothing." Connie sounded completely dejected. "My life is the pits. I haven't had a date in months, and I can barely remember the last time a date got interesting, if you know what I mean. Even my business is worse than ever. Sometimes, I wonder why I bother. If I didn't open the store at all today, it would scarcely matter to my bottom line."

Connie owned a gift shop, Everyone's Fancy. Angie knew it didn't bring in a lot of money—most of its sales were from greeting cards, in fact. But she had never seen Connie so down about it. As far as her lack of dates, that was a perpetual Connie problem—mainly because she was both too choosy and too afraid of being hurt again. And Angie always believed the latter was the cause of the former.

"I didn't realize …" Angie began. "But what about Max? At my wedding, you two looked pretty chummy."

"At weddings, everyone gets to feeling a little romantically inclined. He's a nice guy, but …" Connie shrugged. "Anyway, how can I think about men when my business is going down the drain?"

"What do you think would help? A change in the type of merchandise you carry, perhaps?"

"I don't know," Connie said. "I keep trying, but it's really hard to compete with online shopping. And now, e-cards are so popular, even my business staple is drying up." She had finished her scone, but cut a corner off a second one and ate it. "I'll figure out something. Just starting the day with good coffee and a delicious scone helps. These are so much better than those in bakeries. Much moister."

"It's a favorite recipe," Angie said, cutting herself a piece of the same scone. "It's funny, but you mentioned me being busy, and to tell the truth, I'm not. Now I've taken care of the important things that kept me busy, such as convincing Paavo we wanted to get married, figuring out where we would live, the wedding, the honeymoon, and remodeling this kitchen, I'm not sure what to do with myself. All I've got left is dealing with a room full of wedding gifts I have no use for. I suppose I can donate them, but that seems wrong, somehow."

"You have that much stuff?"

"I'm afraid so. I can re-gift to every new bride in the city for the next year, I'm sure. Want to see? Maybe there's something you can use."

"Sure. Let's take a look."

Angie led her up the stairs to the spare bedroom.

"Oh, my," Connie murmured as she gawked at all the boxes. "Shouldn't you take things out of the boxes so you can see what it all is?"

"I've got it sorted. Kitchen, bedroom, bath."

Connie went to the kitchen items and began opening boxes. After the third box of CorningWare, she said, "I see what you mean."

"Yep."

Connie picked up one of the smaller boxes and pulled out a pair of dainty English bone china cups and saucers. "These are beautiful."

"They are, aren't they?" Angie said. "I was given a number of gorgeous tea cups, saucers, cake plates, and so on. But I'm not sure what to do with them. I just don't see Paavo drinking tea from them, his pinky finger high in the air."

"He's definitely a mug man," Connie said with a nod.

"That's right," Angie agreed, as she opened another box with an elaborate china tea pot. "It's a shame I don't use things like this. So pretty."

"I can see them in a lovely tea room," Connie said, admiringly. "I love tea. All kinds."

"Me, too. Especially with scones," Angie said.

"Your delicious scones, you mean," Connie said with a grin.

With that, an idea struck. Angie glanced at Connie. One look and she knew the same idea had hit Connie as well.

o0o

Paavo walked into an empty house. It looked exactly the way it had when he left that morning except for some scones, including one half eaten, and two used coffee cups and plates in the sink. He wondered where Angie had gone.

He had left work early in hopes of helping her with dinner. The more he thought about it, the more convinced he'd become that she would be spending time cooking up some fancy meal for them that night, the kind of dinner he'd learned to love after spending so much time around her and her family. She'd already put ten pounds on him—he had been a bit too thin when they'd first met—and it was all he could do to make sure he didn't put on any more weight. Although, at times, he couldn't help but think that Angie's food was worth it.

He was about to phone her cell when he heard the garage door being raised and then the roar of her Mercedes engine as she pulled in.

He opened the door that led from the garage to the kitchen.

"I can't believe you're already home," Angie said as she pulled a bag of groceries from the back seat. "I was sure you'd be calling at about nine tonight with apologies for being late."

"If you want me to leave …" he said.

"Funny." She gave him a quick kiss as he took the groceries from her and carried them into the kitchen.

"What did you buy? Rocks?" he asked. "This is heavy."

She followed. "I'm so sorry I wasn't here when you arrived! But I stopped and bought some steak and fresh vegetables, along with a few other things I needed. I'll put dinner on right now."

"Stop." He grabbed her. "Relax. Dinner can wait."

"But I feel bad. I should have been—"

He kissed her properly this time. "You're here now. Let's sit a minute. I want your company more than I want dinner."

She smiled with relief. "Good. I'll admit, my day became surprisingly busy."

Paavo got himself a beer and poured some chardonnay into a glass for Angie as she unpacked the groceries. He was surprised to see a couple of sacks of flour as well as cream, butter, cranberries, chocolate chips, cinnamon chips, raisins, and raw sugar.

"What's all that?" he asked. "Are you opening a bakery?"

"You guessed!" she cried.

"What?"

"Well, almost. Wait until you hear what Connie and I came up with."

He was glad her back was to him as she put the steak and vegetables into the refrigerator. That way, she didn't see him grimace.

"So, you saw Connie today? How is she? Worried that she's lost her partner in crime now that you're a serious married woman?" he asked as he carried their drinks into the living room.

"No way. She knows that'll never happen. Anyway, as we talked, we came up with the most wonderful idea. I mean, simultaneously. It was like a sign." She took a sip of wine.

He drank some beer. "A sign. I can't imagine," he said, trying to sound enthusiastic. Angie's ideas were bad enough. Mixed with Connie's, they could be disastrous.

Angie smiled, waited, and then made her big announcement. "We're opening a tea room."

"A tea room?" Thoughts of all the ways that could go wrong flew at him so fast, he was momentarily speechless.

"Isn't it exciting?" Angie asked, adding, "Connie's business isn't working all that well. The shop is filled with kitsch that nobody wants. Luckily, if we push it all to one side, she has room for a few tables and chairs. She can sell tea, and with them scones, crumpets, and such that I'll bake. And we'll split the sale of the baked goods fifty-fifty. It'll be lovely. Plus, our wedding gifts are filled with pretty cups and saucers and tea pots for her to use."

"Sounds like you two worked it all out."

"We have. It'll be so much fun." She gave him a hug. "And best of all, it'll give me something to do when you go off to work."

"Really? I thought you had plenty to do," he said.

Her face fell. "I used to."

He didn't like the way that sounded. "It could be interesting," he said, which certainly was true.

"I'm going to love it. And the best part is, it'll help Connie out so she won't lose her business. I've got so many ideas about the best way she can run her shop …"

Paavo decided the best thing to do at this point was to drink his beer, nod in agreement, and hope for a good dinner.