by Agatha Frost
“I don’t care about the food,” Julia said. “As long as you’re safe, that’s all I care about.”
“I wouldn’t trade this in for nothin’,” Jessie said as she looked around the kitchen. “But the others aren’t so lucky, are they?”
Julia sipped her tea, the cogs in her brain churning at light speed. She had wanted to ask Jessie about her days of being homeless ever since first meeting her, but she hadn’t wanted to appear nosy. Gossiping was the number one pastime in Peridale, and Julia hadn’t wanted Jessie to think she was just another village snoop.
“I’ve got an idea,” Julia said after taking a sip of her hot tea, the liquorice tickling the back of her throat. “Go back to sleep and we’ll visit Fenton Industrial Park together when the sun has risen. We don’t want to arrive when everyone is still asleep, do we?”
Chewing the inside of her cheek, Jessie looked at the bag again. She seemed to want to grab it and run straight for the door, but Julia trusted her to see the sense in what she was offering.
“I guess,” Jessie said, shrugging and letting out a yawn. “You don’t have to come.”
“I want to.”
Jessie took a sip of her tea, but as usual, she didn’t finish it. She slid off the stool and hovered next to Julia, looking like she wanted to say something. Instead, she wrapped her arms around Julia’s chest, squeezing tightly. Closing her eyes, Julia rested her hands on Jessie’s arms, smiling to herself.
“Go on! Back to bed!” Julia ordered, tapping Jessie’s arms. “I’ll wake you in a couple of hours.”
Jessie let go and headed back to her bedroom. Julia waited until she heard the creaking of Jessie’s metal bedframe before she stood up. As she unloaded Jessie’s bag and returned the food to her kitchen cupboards, she tried to remember her mum’s old recipe for doughnuts.
To be continued in Doughnuts and Deception, out March 7th 2017!
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OTHER BOOKS IN THE PERIDALE CAFÉ COZY MYSTERY SERIES
Pancakes and Corpses (Book 1)
OUT NOW!
Lemonade and Lies (Book 2)
OUT NOW!
Doughnuts and Deception (Book 3)
COMING MARCH 7th 2017!
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