Cooper mulled that over. “You’ll probably end up leaving too, then.”
“What do you mean?” This could be the opening I was looking for.
He shrugged. “People don’t stay at that store. Sure, some do. Juniper and Buttercup have been there awhile.”
“And Owen?”
“I don’t know him very well. He doesn’t come out much. Actually, I don’t think he’s ever come out after work with us.”
“Yeah, he strikes me as pretty serious. I bet Toly loves him.”
We both snickered, and before I could ask another question, Cooper pointed to the park ahead of us. “We’re going to detour through there.” He leaned in. “The gargoyles that work the fountain are real gargoyles, but the tourists think they’re animatronic.”
“Cool.” And it was. But I wasn’t ready to drop the original subject. “Hey, did you know any of the employees that left?”
We crossed the street at the light. “Not the last one, but the one before him, Nora, I knew her. Nice lady. A little older, but she loved to hang out with us at Howler’s. She made me cookies on my birthday.”
“That was sweet.”
He smiled, his eyes filled with the memory. “Yeah. I can’t believe she left without saying goodbye.”
“I take it that seems unlike her?”
“Very much.”
“Did you have any idea she was thinking about quitting?”
“Not a clue.”
It was a pattern then. If two could be considered a pattern. They might have been leaving Toly notes, but they weren’t telling anyone else they were quitting. Or why.
We made our way around to the front of the fountain. Tourists were gathered in a semi-circle around the gargoyle. He was talking to them and making jokes and spraying water at them unexpectedly. It was a riot. And very clever.
We watched for a while, not saying anything, just taking in the show. I surreptitiously studied Cooper. The years had been kind to him. Sure, we were elves and time was generally kind to all of us, but we did age.
Cooper looked better now than he had in college. More sure of himself. Less lost puppy, more alpha dog. And he wasn’t nearly as cocky as he had been in those days, although to be honest, I’d been attracted to that kind of blatant confidence back then. Still was to some extent.
It took a man with a solid sense of who he was to date the Winter King’s daughter. Cooper just hadn’t had enough of that sense back then to stay.
In light of our ages and the bad decisions most people make during their youth, I should have forgiven him a long time ago. But he’d broken my heart.
More than that, he’d taught me that I was always going to be judged because of the family I came from and my position in that family.
That had hurt worse. Because there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about that.
He looked over. “What?”
I shifted my gaze back to the fountain for a moment. “Nothing.” I met his eyes again. “I could eat, though.”
He grinned. “You’re gonna love the next place. C’mon.”
We crossed the street again, back to Main, then up a few more blocks until we turned down Black Cat Boulevard. The smell of sugar and coffee hit me the second we rounded the corner.
“I like it already.”
He laughed. “You have no idea.”
“Is that the place?” I pointed to the storefront bearing the name The Hallowed Bean. I wasn’t a huge coffee drinker. Dr Pepper was definitely my beverage of choice, but I wouldn’t turn down a cup of java either. Especially if it was a mocha or a caramel latte.
“Nope. But that place is really good too.” He stopped and pulled open a door. “Here we are.”
The wave of chocolatey, sugary goodness that washed over me almost took my breath. I stood for a moment inhaling. It was transcendent.
Cooper nudged me. “Don’t pass out now, there’s more to come.”
I stepped inside with him right behind me. The shop was so thick with delicious smells I swear I already tasted chocolate on my tongue. “Is this heaven?”
He grinned. “No, this is Delaney’s Delectables.”
The shop was bustling and I could see why. A horseshoe of glass display cases showed off trays of truffles and other chocolates, cakes, cookies, cupcakes, candied apples, and confections I didn’t even know the name of.
“I should have gotten a job here.”
“Pretty sure hiring a winter elf would end up costing them money. What do you want to try?”
I looked at him. “Are you kidding? All of it.”
We got in line. Two attractive women hustled behind the counter, filling orders. Both of them—one tall with straight dark hair and a vine tattoo on one arm, the other shorter with wavy brunette hair—were definitely supernaturals. What kind, obviously, I had no idea.
I leaned in toward Cooper. “What are they?” I whispered.
“Taller one is a werewolf, shorter one is a vampire,” he whispered back. “Ivy, the werewolf, is the wife of my chief’s brother. The vampire is Delaney. She owns the shop.”
“How is she here? It’s daylight. I thought vampires couldn’t be out in the sun.”
He shrugged. “They can’t, but she’s an Ellingham. They have some family secret that makes them immune.”
I nodded, more interested to taste the goods than ever.
When it was our turn to order, I let Cooper go first because I wasn’t ready. Ivy greeted him like an old friend.
His selections fit in a small box. Mine…didn’t. Ivy handed me a full-size shopping bag. Hey, I wasn’t eating it all here. Although I did wonder if that particular charge to the credit card was one my father would question.
Well, you know what? He was just going to have to suck it up. There was no way I was leaving any of this behind.
Cooper’s brows rose as he looked at my haul. “You know you can come back, right?”
“I know. I got some for Juniper.” Well, I’d been planning to share, but now I was definitely giving her some.
His amusement didn’t fade. “You want to find a spot to eat some of this stuff?”
“This will probably seem odd coming from me, but we should have some actual food first. Is that okay? When do you have to be back to the firehouse?”
“Not until tonight. And yes, let’s get some lunch. How’s pizza sound?”
“Perfect. I can’t work my shift tonight on sugar alone. I need some healthy veggies to balance things out.”
He gave me an odd look. “So are you going to get a salad?”
“No, I meant the tomato sauce.”
He snorted. “All right. We’re off to Salvatore’s for some health food then.”
I love pizza, who doesn’t? But I was really hoping that sitting down to a meal would give me a chance to get back to my questions about the employees and how I might find out if the police had any reports.
I could stop by the police station on my own, but what were the odds of that working? No, right now, Cooper was my best bet.
Half an hour later, we were squared away at a table for two and a piping-hot Salvatore’s king pie, their version of a supreme, was sitting in front of us in all its gooey, cheesy glory. Really, it was a work of art. My mouth watered in anticipation.
“See?” I said. “Look at all those healthy veggies.”
Cooper peered at the pizza. “Yes, somewhere under the sausage and pepperoni I see peppers, onions and mushrooms.”
“All healthy.” I slid a slice onto my plate to let it cool as he did the same. “You eat here a lot?”
“They deliver. We get pizza from them all the time at the station.”
“I should take a menu with me then.”
“Definitely. Their subs aren’t bad either.” He lifted his slice, folded it in half and took a bite. He made a happy noise that sort of startled me. Let’s just say food wasn’t the only reason he made that sound. And I knew firsthand what that other reason was.
I ate some of my
pizza too and understood immediately why that sound had come out of him. “Oh, this is the stuff.”
Cooper nodded. “Told ya,” he said around a mouthful.
We ate for a bit, taking the edge off. Then I started in. “So I’ve been thinking…”
“About?”
“Those employees. Do you think something bad happened to them?”
He wiped his mouth with a napkin. “Such as?”
“I don’t know. But it’s weird that they’d leave so abruptly. Especially since working at a Santa’s Workshop is such a primo job.”
He nodded slowly, like he was thinking. “I agree with that. But I don’t know. I feel like I would have heard something if that was the case.”
“Why would you have heard? Because you’re in the fire department?”
“Sort of.” He took a second slice. “My chief is Titus Merrow, and his brother is the sheriff in town. He’s the one who’s married to Ivy. Anyway, we tend to know if something’s going on. Not always, but a lot of the time.”
I felt like I’d just hit the jackpot. Time to get flirty. I smiled, hoping there was nothing stuck in my teeth. “Do you think you could ask your chief if he’s heard of anything? Like a John Doe or a missing-persons report that’s been filed?”
Cooper frowned. “You think it’s that sort of situation? That one of them might actually be dead?”
“I really have no idea. But I deserve to know what’s going on at the place I work. I don’t want to be next.”
His expression softened. “I don’t want that either.” He rested his arm on the table. “I’ll ask around. See what I can find out.”
I smiled a little bigger. “Thank you. That means a lot to me.”
He returned my grin. “Enough to be my date at the fund-raiser tomorrow night?”
“The thing you were making up those baskets for?” I dug into my second piece.
“Yep. It’s nothing fancy. It’s at the firehouse. It’s a spaghetti dinner.”
“Sure. I’d love to. I’ve never been in a firehouse before.” And if it was a fund-raiser at the firehouse, that meant the chief would probably be there. And so might his brother, the sheriff. I had to go. “Is there really a pole you slide down?”
He laughed. “Sure is. You want to go down it?”
I stared at him. “Um, yes.”
He smirked. “I can make that happen.”
“I’ll remember not to wear a dress.”
And just like that, I was going on a second date with Cooper. Well, Lilibeth was going on a second date. But let’s be honest. This was a date, no matter how you sliced it. Oh boy. This was not how I’d pictured any of this turning out.
We walked back through town on Broomstick Lane, a street that ran parallel to Main. It was two blocks away from the main drag and a bit quieter, but still had a lot of cute little shops. I made note of a boutique where I might be able to get a pair of sandals.
We came to a small park, nothing like the one with the fountain and the gargoyles, just a pretty block of grass and old shade trees with some benches and paved pathways radiating out from a statue of a woman in an old-timey dress.
The second bench we came to was unoccupied, so we sat. I put my shopping bag down and picked out the box on top. I had no idea what was in it, but that wasn’t going to stop me.
Cooper opened his box of sweets too. “I was going to share these with you.”
I looked at his scant offerings. A couple of truffles, two cookies and a piece of chocolate bark. “I feel bad taking any of that. There’s so little in there.”
He laughed. “Summer elves don’t have the same sweet cravings that winter elves do.”
I opened my box and found it was filled with truffles. Score. I selected one and took a bite. Raspberry. Double score. “I know. Summer elves like fruit.” The chocolate melted over my tongue and addled my brain with its deliciousness. “You like peaches.”
He stared at me. “How do you know that?”
I stopped mid-bite. Snowballs. Lilibeth wasn’t supposed to know that. I shrugged and tried to play it off. “Am I right? I figured since you live in Georgia and that’s what this state is known for…”
“Good guess. I do like peaches. And they are pretty incredible here.” But he was still looking at me like I shouldn’t have known that.
“Plus”—I pointed the remains of my truffle at him—“you mentioned something at Howler’s about the cobbler being the only dessert worth eating. I put two and two together.”
Way to think fast, brain.
“Oh, yeah.” He nodded and I knew then I was safe. “That cobbler is amazing.”
We sat for a while, me eating more truffles than I should and neither of us talking much. It was nice.
I studied the statue. I couldn’t read the plaque from here, but the woman on the stand had to be some kind of historical figure important to the town. I was about to ask Cooper, when I noticed a woman jogging through the other side of the park.
She looked really familiar, but I couldn’t place her. I leaned in toward Cooper. “Any chance you know who that woman is over there? The one jogging in the bright blue sneakers?”
He looked, then shook his head. “No. Why?”
“I feel like I should know her, but I have no idea why. And really, how could I know her? I just moved here.” Unless she had gone to the same college as Cooper and I, but she seemed ten years older than we were.
“She’s probably been in the store. Maybe you waited on her.”
“Yeah, that’s probably it.” Except it didn’t feel like that’s where I knew her from. I kept my eyes on her long enough to make out that she wasn’t wearing an elf bracelet but as she disappeared from view, nothing else came to me.
I packed up my sweets. “I should get back. I have to work in a couple hours.”
“Okay, we’re not far.”
We headed back down Broomstick Lane on the way to my building with Cooper pointing out more sites on the way. Thanks to his tour, I was actually starting to get the layout of the town.
At the door, I turned to say goodbye. “I’d ask you up, but there’s this rule about guests having to be approved and—”
“I’m already on the list. I hang out with Juniper and Buttercup all the time. But no worries. I didn’t expect an invite. Just promise me you won’t eat the rest of those sweets at once.”
“I won’t. Probably.” He laughed. “I had a really great day. Thanks for taking the time to show me around.”
“My pleasure. Thanks for agreeing to come to the fund-raiser with me.”
“Don’t forget I get to slide down the pole.”
He snorted. “I won’t.”
“Good. I’ll see you Friday night. Should I just come to the firehouse?”
Cooper nodded. “It starts at six, but you can get there before then. Especially if you want to go down the pole without too much of an audience. I’ll text you directions. I’m working that day or I’d come pick you up.”
“I don’t mind.” We traded phone numbers. “Hey, can I bring Juniper or Buttercup if they’re not working?”
“Sure, the more the merrier.”
Plus, it would be less like a date that way. “Okay, great. See you.” For some reason, I leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. Maybe I felt bad for basically lying to him and knowing that he’d never have bothered giving me a tour or any of this if he’d known who I really was. Or maybe I wanted him to know I really did appreciate him spending his time on me.
Either way, he turned as I leaned in and our mouths met.
I jerked back. “Sorry, I didn’t mean—well, I did mean to, but not on the lips.”
His smile was slow and weighty. “Don’t be sorry. I’m not.” Then the smile flattened. “But I’m really not looking for a relationship. Especially not with a winter elf.” He shoved a hand through his gorgeous hair. “I’m not judging you—”
“Sounds that way, but don’t worry about it. I’m not looking for a relationship
either.”
His gaze steeled, and I thought he was going to snap back at me. “You’re right. I shouldn’t judge you by what happened in my past.”
He sighed and looked down the street, then shook his head. “You’d think after all these years I’d be over her.”
My heart clenched in a mix of pain and regret. I really didn’t want to hear this. Not from the man who’d been the source of my pain for so long. “Just friends is cool, right?”
He glanced back at me, but his gaze was distant, lost in memory. “Just friends.”
I backed toward the door, mumbled, “See you Friday,” and went in.
I was shaking a little as I unlocked my door and went inside. That was not at all how I’d imagined the day going. I could still feel his mouth on mine, even though the contact had only lasted half a second.
It had been enough to remind me of our time together. I put my shopping bag down and leaned against the kitchen counter, chilled by the thought that it could have done the same thing for him. Would it be enough to make him realize who I really was?
No. That was silly. A half-second accidental kiss wasn’t enough to do anything.
Except here I was, trembling like an idiot.
I took a breath. Well, the kiss had served one purpose. I was finally looking forward to going to work.
I ended up twenty minutes early, but better to look eager, right? I fiddled with my apron to buy time behind the counter with Juniper. “How’s the day been?”
“Busy. Same as always.” Then she nudged me and made moony eyes at me. “So? How was it?”
“What?” I knew what she meant, but it was more fun to make her work for it.
“Your date with Cooper.”
“It wasn’t a date.” It was totally a date.
She exhaled a hard breath. “Fine. Your outing.”
“It was nice.” I decided to stop tormenting her and pulled on the apron strings while I gave her the rundown. “We walked around town, went to see the fountain, bought a ton of delicious things at this shop called Delaney’s Delectables, had maybe the best pizza I’ve ever had at Salvatore’s, did a little more walking around, sat in the park for a bit and came home.” The kiss was staying in the vault.
Miss Frost Solves A Cold Case Page 9