1
Tess
Home in Dead End after two glorious weeks of honeymoon in Atlantis
Jack ended his call, looking thoughtful. Not "Oh, no, not another dead body, or mutant, magical zucchini, or gaggle of clowns with ukuleles," thoughtful, but definitely serious.
"What? And if it's something bad, don't tell me."
"I'm not sure if it's bad or not," he said slowly. "A friend needs help finding a missing family member and wants me to take the case."
"If you need anything from me, just let me know." Family was everything to me, and even more so now that Jack and I were married.
His vivid green eyes softened. "I know you will. You are possibly the kindest person I've ever met."
I rolled my eyes. "I already said I'd help. And I already married you. No need to keep buttering me up. Changing thesubject, though, I don't want to go to work," I moaned, pulling the pillow over my head and burrowing under the covers on our new, ultra-king-sized bed.
My new husband was six feet, four inches tall, and he liked to stretch out.
"What are you giggling about under there?" Jack pulled the pillow away and kissed me.
"I don't giggle," I said loftily.
"You giggled several times during the past two weeks," he said, smug male satisfaction on his unfairly gorgeous face.
"Those don't count. Those were honeymoon giggles. Anyway, you laughed quite a lot yourself." I pushed his wavy bronze hair away from his face and kissed him back.
Jack stretched out next to me and petted my cat, Lou, who was curled up on the bed between us purring. She'd forgiven us for leaving her with my Uncle Mike and Aunt Ruby for two weeks, but it had taken quite a bit of groveling and fresh salmon. Especially since my sister Shelley's pug puppy had tried to play with my poor cat.
"Aren't you opening the shop? Or are you starting your Mondays off today?"
I'd decided to close the shop on Mondays, too, instead of just Sundays, now that I had someone in my life—now that Ihada life and not just a job. But today was my first day back, and Eleanor, my favorite and only employee, was meeting me to talk about what had happened while I was gone. She was a newlywed herself, but she'd been kind enough to run the shop while I was away.
"I can't. I'm meeting Eleanor at 8:00. I have to get out of here and pick up some thank-you donuts on the way."
"I like donuts."
I leaned over and kissed him, just because I could. Then, I pushed a lock of his silky hair off his forehead and smiled when he closed his eyes and made a purring sound of his own.
"You could be late," he said hopefully, reaching for me.
I laughed. "I can't. But I'll get some extra donuts for you."
Well.
Eleanor wouldn't mind if I were just alittlelate. I could blame Jack.
And honeymoon bliss.
When I walked into my shop at 8:20, a bag of donuts clutched in my hand, the apology I had planned to make died in my throat.
The shock killed it.
My incredibly neat, perfectly organized shop had disappeared, buried beneath a truckload of … stuff.
Eleanor rushed to meet me, a distressed look on her face. Eleanor was the girl next door once she grew up and became a grandma. She was smart, kind, and possibly the best negotiator on the planet. If she ever left Dead End, she could run the United Nations.
"Tess, I was hoping to catch you and tell you about this before you walked into the shop. But then I got a phone call, and I had to answer it, because Bill's horrible grandson keeps doing awful things, and Bill keeps letting him get away with it, and he's probably going to end up in the hospital or in jail—the grandson, not Bill—at least, I hope not. And anyway, here you are."
