Sweet Tea and Spirits
Page 24
I opened the door, and instead of Molly, I found my handsome boyfriend, Ellis. He wore a white button-down shirt with jeans, along with a smile that showed off the dimple in his chin.
“How did I get so lucky?” I wondered aloud, much to his delight.
Molly hovered right behind him, her dark hair done in a pretty updo, her black dress hugging her corseted curves.
“I’m not ready yet,” Frankie protested, like Romeo’s caustic country cousin.
I slipped outside and closed the door. “You look gorgeous,” whispered my broad-shouldered date as he leaned down to kiss me on the cheek.
Behind him, Molly gave a heartfelt sigh.
I took Ellis’s hands in mine. “Molly’s right behind you.”
“Well, hello,” he said, turning, as if he could see her. He’d never have that power, at least I didn’t think he would. But it didn’t stop him from acknowledging her.
She batted her lashes. “Always a pleasure,” she said, with a lilting twang. Molly hadn’t gotten out much before she’d met Frankie, and even the simplest social gestures seemed to delight her.
“We’re going to Ellis’s new restaurant,” I explained. “I’m so proud of him,” I added, squeezing his hand. “Southern Spirits is amazing.”
He grinned, and I could still see the slight scar under his eye from when he’d saved me from a killer. If anything, it made him even sexier. “Molly and Frankie are invited too, of course,” he said.
A crash sounded from my kitchen.
“Truly?” Molly clapped her hands together. “That’s where Frankie’s gang hides out. I’ve been wanting to go.”
“It’s a little dark where they are,” I hedged. Not to mention frightening. Dozens of the South Town Boys had been gunned down in an illegal speakeasy built into the caves underneath the property. They’d tried to shoot me the last time I’d ventured into the ruins of the club hidden below Southern Spirits. It had been six kinds of scary because when I was tuned in to the ghostly side, their bullets could actually kill me.
It was definitely no place for a lady.
Much better for her to stay behind and enjoy the surprise her gangster boyfriend was cooking up for her. I cracked the door. “Frankie…”
“I want to go see Southern Spirits,” Molly finished for me.
The ghost appeared at my door, his tie askew and a box of matches in his hand. “No,” he said to his girlfriend. Then he turned to me. “Go get Suds,” he hissed. “The doves escaped, there’s chocolate sauce all over the floor, and I’m out of matches!”
“Er, Verity,” Ellis hedged, checking his watch. “Are you ready? At this rate, I’m going to be late to my own party.”
“One second,” I told him.
We couldn’t leave Molly standing out on the porch while her out-of-his-mind boyfriend chased down chocolate-covered birds and tried to set fire to however many candles he had scattered all over my house.
He was lucky I liked his girlfriend. And that the mess was his to clean up on the ghostly plane. Otherwise I would have been a lot more upset about what he was doing to my ancestral home.
I pasted on a smile. “Let her inside the house,” I said through gritted teeth. “Ellis and I have to go.”
“Why don’t you want me to meet your friends?” she countered. “Suds likes me.”
Frankie dug a finger under his collar. “Suds ain’t like the rest of my friends.”
That was true. Suds hadn’t even known he was dead until Frankie and I unearthed him in the tunnel underneath the First Bank of Sugarland. Once Suds had gotten over the shock, he’d been as good an ally as I’d get on the other side.
Molly’s face fell. “Are you ashamed of me?” she asked Frankie.
“Don’t be crazy,” he said, flinging a hand out, chilling my arm when it whooshed past. “I’m ashamed of them.”
“We really have to go,” I said, taking Ellis’s arm.
“We do,” Molly agreed, holding her ground.
I heard a chorus of squawks from inside my house and a bone-rattling crash.
Frankie shot a wide-eyed look at me. “Do doves and swans get along?”
“I’m getting your urn,” I said, ducking past him. “You’re coming with us.”
“I’ve got it under control,” he insisted, watching me pluck his final resting place from my kitchen island.
“We’ll leave your troubles behind,” I promised. He’d see. I deposited the small brass urn into my shoulder bag.
“That’s not how it works.” He followed me out onto the porch as I locked the door behind us. “It never works out that way.”
Murder on the Sugarland Express
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Also by Angie Fox
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The following Angie Fox titles are also available in print format.
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THE SOUTHERN GHOST HUNTER SERIES
Southern Spirits
A Ghostly Gift (short story)
The Skeleton in the Closet
Ghost of a Chance (short story)
The Haunted Heist
Deader Homes & Gardens
Dog Gone Ghost (short story)
Sweet Tea and Spirits
Murder on the Sugarland Express
New book to release in Fall 2018*
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THE ACCIDENTAL DEMON SLAYER SERIES
The Accidental Demon Slayer
The Dangerous Book for Demon Slayers
A Tale of Two Demon Slayers
The Last of the Demon Slayers
My Big Fat Demon Slayer Wedding
Beverly Hills Demon Slayer
Night of the Living Demon Slayer
What To Expect When Your Demon Slayer is Expecting coming April 2018!*
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SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS:
A Little Night Magic: A collection of Southern Ghost Hunter and Accidental Demon Slayer short stories
About the Author
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Angie Fox writes sweet, fun, action-packed mysteries. Her characters are clever and fearless, but in real life, Angie is afraid of basements, bees, and going up stairs when it is dark behind her. Let’s face it. Angie wouldn’t last five minutes in one of her books.
Angie earned a journalism degree from the University of Missouri. During that time, she also skipped class for an entire week so she could read Anne Rice's vampire series straight through. Angie has always loved books and is shocked, honored and tickled pink that she now gets to write books for a living. Although, she did skip writing for a week this past fall so she could read Victoria Laurie's Abby Cooper psychic eye mysteries straight through.
Angie makes her home in St. Louis, Missouri with a football-addicted husband, two kids, and Moxie the dog.
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Copyright © 2017 by Angie Fox
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Sweet Tea and Spirits
First Edition
ISBN: 978-1-939661-38-8
Archive.