Burned to a Crisp (Cookies & Chance Mysteries Book 3)

by Catherine Bruns

  I laughed. "What happened to Vernon?"

  She put another piece of cake on my plate. "He asked me to go steady with him. We were very much in love. Your great-grandfather—my father—did not like him. He was twenty-three years old to my seventeen. My father threatened to keep me under lock and key if I saw him again. I did anything I could to be with him. I told lies I am not proud of. Looking back, I would not have changed a thing. Sometimes the heart knows when it is meant to be with another. That is the way it is with you and your young man. I remember when you were only sixteen and told me that you had fallen in love. Do you recall that day?"

  "Yes," I whispered.

  "Even though you were so young at the time, I did not laugh at you. You are like me, Sally. You knew right away that you were meant to be with him, as I was with Vernon."

  "So what happened to him?" I asked again, almost fearful.

  Grandma Rosa's smile was sad. "He went away to the Vietnam War and did not come back. His body was never found."

  I reached out my good hand and placed it over hers. I hated to see her in so much pain. It was obvious that even after all these years, she still grieved for her one true love. "I don't know what to say, Grandma. I'm so very sorry."

  She kissed me on the forehead. "Sometimes life deals us cruel blows, cara mia. But it shapes the person that we are. Always remember that. I am grateful for the time I shared with Vernon and will treasure it in my heart for as long as I shall live. He also wrote me the most beautiful love letters when he went away. Someday I will show them to you."

  "He's the one who gave you the brooch."

  She nodded. "Yes, but I want you to have that. I have the letters and my beautiful memories. Always remember the saying."

  I tried to make light of the serious situation. "See before I jump?"

  Grandma Rosa smiled. "It is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all."

  My darling grandmother really was amazing. Most of the time she got simple everyday puns and phrases wrong but then could recite beautiful lines of poetry word for word. How blessed I was to have her in my life. A tear rolled down my cheek before I could stop it.

  She handed me a tissue and rose. "Come. You look very tired. Rest awhile before you go home. It is quiet here. Your parents are staying at a hotel near the contest tonight. The judges will make their decision tomorrow morning. Thank goodness all this silliness will be over soon, and then things will get back to normal."

  I raised my eyebrows as I settled back on the couch. "You know that things will never be normal around here, Grandma."

  "You are right about that." Grandma Rosa started toward the kitchen. "I will make you some hot chocolate. Things will be fine, my sweet girl. Trust your grandmother."

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  The warmth from the sunlight on my face awakened me. I opened one eye, confused for a moment as to where I was. Then I realized I was lying on the couch in my parents' living room. Grandma Rosa had covered me with the patchwork quilt she had made for me when I was a child.

  There was a clattering of dishes and a murmur of voices coming from the kitchen. The clock on the wall said eight o'clock. I remembered talking to Grandma Rosa, her going to make me hot chocolate, and then I must have dozed off. Damn. I'd better text Mike as he was sure to be worried about me. Yawning, I glanced at the screen of my phone. I had several messages. There was one from Josie telling me she'd be a little late this morning and another from Brian last night letting me know that Julie had left town with her aunt. There were a couple from Mike, the first of which had arrived at 2:10 this morning.

  Just got in. Fed Spike and walked him. Guess you must have stayed at your parents? Call me if you're still up. I want you here with me. Love you.

  He'd sent another one about ten minutes later. Only three more weeks till I get to watch my beautiful bride walk toward me.

  A rollercoaster of emotions swept through me. What kind of job would keep him working until two in the morning? This was getting insane. What would I say when I saw him? My heart told me one thing while my gut veered off in a different direction. Maybe Josie had been right. Was he doing something shady for money?

  Before I could even attempt to make any more sense of this, I needed my morning coffee. I padded out to the kitchen in my bare feet. Grandma Rosa was stirring something on the stove while Josie was making a thick dough to be used for shortbread cookies. Gianna was also there, leaning against the counter, talking to Grandma Rosa. She had stayed at my parents the night before but arrived after I had fallen asleep. She was dressed in a black suit and holding a travel mug of coffee, so I assumed she was headed for the courthouse. All three turned and stared at me.

  "Well, look who decided to come to work today," Josie teased.

  I walked over to the coffee pot and poured myself a mug then addressed my grandmother. "You should have woken me. I wanted to talk to Mike last night. This can't wait any longer."

  "I talked to Mike a little while ago," Grandma Rosa said. "He called here to see if you were awake. He is coming by at noon to take you to lunch."

  Now I was really confused. He stays out working until two in the morning, but he has time to take me to lunch? "I can't. Josie and I are going to look at a building at one o'clock. There isn't enough time."

  "You will go to lunch first," Grandma Rosa declared. "It is settled."

  I placed my hands on my hips. God, I was not in the mood for this today. "I don't have time for lunch. He can come here and say what he has to."

  Grandma Rosa spoke sharply. "No. Stop acting like Silly Sally again. You will see him at noon and have your talk then. That is all."

  "Grandma—"

  "Enough. Do not be so insolent. Hurry upstairs to take a shower. Careful of your bandage. Then come back down, and do what you can to help Josie."

  I shook my head. "What if—"

  Grandma Rosa glared at me. "What is it you young people say…? Stuff said."

  Josie laughed out loud. "It's 'nuff said, Rosa."

  My grandmother nodded in approval. "I like that too."

  I glanced at Gianna, who was checking her face in a compact. "Going to work or maybe meeting someone for breakfast?"

  Her cheeks reddened, and she meekly placed the compact back into her purse. "So I see the cat's out of the bag."

  I leaned against the counter. "Why didn't you tell me about your date with Johnny? You always tell me everything."

  She lowered her eyes to the floor. "I don't know why, Sal. I'm sorry. Right after I accepted, I started to have doubts. I said to myself, do I really want to get involved with someone else again so soon? Then I decided what the heck—it was only a lunch date. Why not just go? I didn't want to say anything until I knew if it would be a disaster or not."

  "And?" Josie and I both said in unison.

  She grinned. "It went well. We met again last night after I got out of work and went to the movies. We're taking it slow, though."

  I raised an eyebrow at her. "Hmm. Two dates in one day doesn't sound slow to me."

  Gianna blushed but said nothing.

  "It is good," Grandma Rosa said. "I always suspected he was sweet on you. Johnny was a rotten little boy, yes, but he has become a fine young man. Nicoletta is very proud of him."

  "We're all forgetting one very important detail here," Josie interrupted. "Gianna might have Mrs. Gavelli as a grandmother-in-law someday."

  "Gianna Gavelli," I teased. "It does have a certain ring to it."

  Gianna's face turned as white as flour. "Okay, let's not get ahead of ourselves here. One marriage in this family is enough for a while, don't you think?"

  We all laughed, and then Gianna spoke in a serious tone. "I didn't get home until after one and didn't see your text until then. I can't believe what you and Josie had to go through with that woman. It totally blows me away."

  "How do you think we feel?" Josie asked. "We had a killer working for us. Next time we hire someone, Sal, we're doing a thorough bac
kground check. We can't afford to take any more chances."

  "You're right about that," I agreed.

  Gianna touched my arm. "Thank you for everything you did. You don't know what a relief it is for me to be done with that mess. I'm sorry Bernardo had to die, but I'm happy not to be a suspect anymore. I was afraid it might ruin my career." She reached for her briefcase. "I have to meet with a new client this morning."

  Josie popped the cookies into the oven. "Give us all the dirt."

  Gianna stared at her in disbelief. "You know I can't do that. Strictly confidential."

  "Brian texted me this morning. He said that they recovered the money from Sarah's house. What will happen to it now?" I asked.

  Gianna shrugged. "Since the Godfather—I mean Luigi—can't legitimately show that the money is his, I'm assuming that the police will confiscate it. I'm sure that will go over well with the Napolis."

  That was the understatement of the year. "Wow, I'd hate to be anywhere near Luigi today."

  Grandma Rosa shook her head. "Such a disgrace to Italians everywhere."

  We all suddenly had our attention diverted by a loud giggle coming from outside. My mother and father were running around the backyard. She was wearing a gigantic, gold, sparkly crown on her head and a red sash that said Mrs. Fox over a short, tight white dress with spaghetti straps and four-inch silver sandals. My father stood on the bench of the picnic table and started to beat his chest and yell loudly.

  A customer started toward the kitchen entrance, spotted my parents antics, and then turned and ran back to his car parked across the street.

  "Your parents are great for business." Josie remarked. "He's not having another stroke, is he?"

  Gianna and I spoke simultaneously. "No. It's their Tarzan routine."

  Grandma Rosa turned away in disgust from the picture of her daughter and son-in-law. "Speaking of embarrassments. Your mother has always acted like a teenager, and now she has your father doing it too. Where did I go wrong?"

  Gianna closed her eyes. "I can't look anymore. I'm afraid Dad's going to fall off. Why can't we have normal parents for one day of my life?"

  "Dang," Josie grinned. "Those two are always full of surprises."

  My mother rushed into the kitchen, her face glowing with excitement. She waved an envelope at us and then threw her arms around me. "I won, sweetheart! I won! Do you know what this means?"

  "That's great, Mom." I said.

  Gianna's face flushed in annoyance. "You know, Mom, while you were parading around in your skivvies yesterday, your daughter was almost killed. Josie too."

  A shadow crossed over my mother's animated face, and she placed an arm around my shoulders. "I know. I talked to Grandma earlier this morning. Are you sure you're okay? How's the hand?"

  I stretched it out to her. "I'm fine, Mom."

  My father joined us in the kitchen, a pleased look upon his face as he slung an arm across my mother's shoulders. "Go ahead and show her, baby."

  My mother held out a manila envelope to me. Puzzled, I turned it over and opened the clasp. Inside were two round-trip tickets to Hawaii and a hotel reservation. The date of the reservation was the same day as my wedding.

  I stared at her, confused. "You won a trip to Hawaii? That's great!"

  She beamed. "It's for you and Mike. For your honeymoon. Consider it a wedding gift from me and your father."

  He patted her behind. "This is all you, baby. I can't take credit for it."

  The entire room was silent as I continued to stare at her, stunned. "You're giving me the grand prize? Mom, I can't take this."

  She reached over and smoothed my hair back. "I know money is tight right now, plus you never had a real honeymoon with Colin. And I know this marriage will last. So begin it right with the man you love, in a romantic setting, and start making me some grandchildren."

  My lower lip trembled as I reached over to hug her. "Thank you so much. I can't believe you did this for me."

  Her cheeks flushed. "Well, I wanted to win the trip for you and Mike, but I confess I did have ulterior motives. I scored a modeling contract with Sizzilicious Magazine. You should be seeing your mother in there before the end of the year!"

  Gianna and I exchanged horrified glances.

  "Mother," Gianna squeaked. "That magazine does nude centerfolds. Please tell me that you're not going to be featured in one, or I may have to kill myself."

  "Oh, honey, I would never do that," Mom assured her. "I'll be modeling underwear. All tasteful stuff too. Hardly any thongs."

  My grandmother raised her eyes to the ceiling. "Lord help us all."

  * * *

  After Gianna left for work, I'd gone upstairs to take a shower and borrow some of her clothes. She was moving back in with my parents today. She said it was because the case was over and her life was no longer in danger, but I suspected it was to be near Johnny as well.

  My mother and father had gone off to attend a press conference for the contest. Grandma Rosa was next door visiting with Mrs. Gavelli. Our makeshift bakery was slow this morning. After the earlier episode with my parents, I found myself wondering how many people they were managing to scare away. Maybe a few more episodes and no one would want to come here at all. As it was, the coffin was attracting more attention than my cookies were.

  I busied myself with making doughs and tried not to think about my upcoming lunch date. I had texted Mike and said Josie and I had an appointment to go see a building at one, but he hadn't responded. Maybe he wouldn't even show up. Perhaps my grandmother had gotten it all wrong.

  Josie was quiet as she made up a batch of strawberry frosting for her famous vanilla cookies, an order for an upcoming baby shower. Since we'd been best friends for over twenty years, she knew my mind better than I did most of the time.

  "Sal, stop torturing yourself."

  I glanced at the clock. It was 12:10. "See? He isn't coming. I should have known. We need to leave if we're going to make our appointment." I drew my phone out of my jeans pocket and was just getting ready to dash off a somewhat snarky text to him when Mike's face appeared at the screen door.

  "Hey," Josie greeted him as he walked in. "We were just talking about you."

  I narrowed my eyes at my best friend then turned to face my fiancé. He was dressed in a striped blue and white oxford dress shirt that brought out his eyes, navy blue dress slacks, and black loafers. It was strange to see him out of his work uniform of jeans and T-shirts, but I had to admit he did clean up nicely. It had been a few days since Mike and I had been together in any intimate way, and as I stared into his handsome face, my heart began to beat rapidly. I was still upset, though.

  "Didn't you get my text?" I asked. "Josie and I have to go see a building at one."

  He reached for my hand. "Yeah, I got it. But there's something that can't wait." He glanced at Josie. "Can I steal the boss away for a while?"

  Josie grinned and waved us toward the door. "I can manage the place for a while. You lovebirds go enjoy yourself."

  I folded my arms across my chest. "We need to talk, Mike."

  He practically dragged me to the door. "We will. But there's something you have to see first." His eyes that never failed to hypnotize me with their beauty held mine. "Please, baby?"

  "Fine." I followed him to his truck, and he opened the passenger side door for me. After he settled in next to me, he reached over for my hand, and I stiffened. He watched me quizzically. "What's wrong?"

  The time had come. I blew out a long breath and stared out the window while we made our way down the street. "I know you haven't been working for the Websters."

  "Oh." Mike looked straight ahead, his expression serious. "How did you find out?"

  "Mrs. Webster called to place an order yesterday."

  He said nothing, his eyes still focused on the road. Finally, I couldn't stand it anymore. "Please tell me why you lied to me."

  He grabbed for something over his visor and handed it to me. "I will. But you need to put t
his on first."

  "A blindfold? No way. You know I hate the dark."

  A wistful smile spread across his face. "Please, Sal. Do this one thing for me, and then I'll explain everything."

  "Fine." I said again and placed the blindfold on, brooding in both silence and darkness. Mike reached for my hand, and I felt his lips brush against it. I thought of Grandma Rosa's words and tried to tell myself that everything was going to be all right.

  The truck stopped suddenly, and I heard Mike get out. My door opened, and Mike lifted me down to the ground. "Can I look yet?"

  "Not yet." He took me by the hand, and from the heat underneath my sandals, I knew we were on a paved sidewalk.

  "Be careful, baby. There are three steps in front of us."

  "Where the heck are we?"

  I heard a jingle of bells as we entered some type of building, and then the door shut behind us. "Okay, I'm not in the mood for any games right now."

  He laughed. "Ready for the reveal?"

  "Yes."

  He removed the blindfold while I blinked and glanced around me in confusion. For a moment I thought I had been transported back to my old bakery, but that couldn't be right. There was a gleaming, empty display case with a brand-new oak counter that ran behind it. Three little white tables were nestled against the large glass window in the front of the room. The place still smelled of fresh paint, a cream color similar to the one in my old shop. I turned to Mike with questioning eyes. He sported a huge grin that reminded me of a little boy's as he watched me with obvious excitement.

  "What do you think, princess?"

  Was this some type of déjà vu? "Where are we? Did you turn back the clock somehow?"

  Mike laughed. "We're at thirteen Carson Way. Remember how you saw the listing earlier this week and were told it had been rented? Well, that's because I rented it. I spent all week painting, installing new flooring and the counter, fixing the ceiling, and getting a display case delivered. The place was a mess when I first saw it, so I was able to finagle a better price because of it."