It shouldn’t have surprised me at this point, when he hopped out of the back and landed beside me on the road, blatantly disregarding my command. He looked up at me and tilted his fur-covered head, practically daring me to say something.
“Bet you were real popular with your constituents,” I muttered, turning away and walking up to the shop.
As I pushed open the door and heard the three tones that rang anytime someone came into the store, the three tones I'd set up, I nearly jumped for joy.
I was home. Even if I wasn’t me anymore, I was home. Maybe all this would work out after all.
“Sorry,” Peggy’s familiar voice echoed from the backroom. “We’re closed. I should have locked that door, but…”
“But you never remember,” I muttered to myself, running my fingers along the tabletops.
Peggy came into view behind the glass counter. Her apron was covered in flour. So was her face though her hair was shorter than I remembered it being. Had she gotten a haircut to cope with my loss?
“We usually close at- Oh, I don’t know you,” she said, stopping in her tracks.
I’m not going to lie. Though I was expecting them, hearing Peggy say those words stung a little.
“I-I guess you don’t,” I stammered. “Is that a problem?”
“No,” she shook her head, and I knew her well enough to know the way she was pulling at her fingers meant she was embarrassed about her outburst. “It’s just, I almost never get a customer whose life story I couldn’t tell you frontwards and backwards.” She smiled. “Small town life and all.”
“I get it,” I answered, more nervous than I had ever been while talking to my best friend. “I’m from a small town myself.”
“Really?” Peggy grinned, taking off her apron and laying it across the glass case. “Anywhere I’ve heard of?”
“Probably,” I conceded. “It’s a lot like here, actually.”
“Then you must feel right at home.” She nodded.
“You have no idea,” I answered, a rush of familiarity washing over me and doing a lot to calm my nerves.
“What am I doing?” Peggy shook her head. “Come in. Let me get you a slice of something.”
“Are you sure?” I asked. “Since you’re closed and all.”
She didn’t have to tell Mayor McConnell twice. He charged into the shop, settling right under the glass case and staring up at a particularly creamy looking piece of butterscotch pie.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she waved me forward, eyeing Mayor McConnell. “Either of you, I suppose. Welcome to Second Springs. My name’s Peggy, by the way.”
“Rita,” I answered without thinking.
Peggy looked back at me, blinking hard. “That-that’s a nice name.” She cleared her throat. “My best friend was named Rita.”
Now we’re getting to the good stuff.
“Was?” I asked, moving forward and sitting on one of the counter stools. “Are you guys not friends anymore?”
“She died,” Peggy said flatly, cutting a huge piece of chocolate pecan supreme and placing it in front of me along with a fork and napkin.
“Oh,” I answered, feigning shock, and a bit curious at the nature in which Peggy spoke about it. It didn’t seem raw. Sure, she was hurt, but it didn’t look like she was in mourning. At least, not the way I imagined she would have been. “I’m so sorry.”
“I am, too.” Peggy gave me a polite smile. “She started this place with me, you know? It was her dream. It was both of our dreams, but hers more so.”
“She sounds like she was pretty special,” I said, aching as I watched the pain flash through Peggy’s eyes.
“The best person I’ve ever known,” Peggy nodded, blinking back tears. “They say the good die young. Well, so do the great.”
Dagger, meet heart.
“How did she die, if you don’t mind me asking,” I said, cutting a corner of chocolate pecan supreme and shoveling it into my mouth.
Needs nutmeg.
“Someone pushed her down a flight of steps.” Peggy looked past me, focusing on the door. “She was making a delivery to one of the seniors in town, and she came upon a crime scene. She was actually on the phone with the cops when it happened. They never found the person who did it. I keep hoping they might, but I doubt it, given that it’s been over two years now.”
My jaw locked up and I starting choking on pieces of pecan.
Two years!
TWO YEARS?!
I opened my mouth to speak, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t breathe, either. Turned out I was actually choking.
“Rita?” Peggy asked, her eyes widening. “Rita, are you okay?”
I shook my head, feeling the pressure that builds up inside of you when air can’t get in. I was going to choke to death. I was going to die eating my own pie and, in doing so, mark the world’s shortest reincarnation.
“Rita!” she yelled.
I tried to cough, but hands wrapped around my waist. I felt a sharp push against my gut and then relief as the pecan flew out, clearing my airway.
“Thank goodness you’re here,’ Peggy beamed in front of me.
I turned around, looking for the person responsible for saving my life, well, my second life, and found myself unable to breathe again.
Aiden stood in front of me. He wore a brown scarf and a matching jacket. His face was covered in stubble, different from the clean-shaven look I had always preferred on him. But he still had the same eyes, the same smile.
“Tha-thank you,” I said breathlessly.
“Anytime, ma’am,” he grinned at me. “Are you okay?”
I am now.
“I think so,” I said. “It’s just a good thing you happened to be walking by, I guess.”
He smiled at me again, then moved around me, crossing behind the glass.
“Oh, I didn’t just happen by. I’m here every night at this time,” he said. Leaning forward, he gave Peggy a kiss square on the lips. He turned back to me, looping his arm around Peggy’s waist. “I like to walk my fiancée home.”
4
I sat there, forcing down the pieces of chocolate pecan supreme I had almost died on, unable to process what I was seeing.
Watching Peggy and Aiden like this, with her short hair and his arm around her, just seemed strange. It was like when they try to add color to an old episode of I Love Lucy. It has all the same characters and settings that you’re used to seeing, but something just isn’t right.
“Are you sure that you’re okay?” Peggy asked, putting her hand on Aiden’s shoulder. “Let me get you a glass of water or something.”
“No.” I shook my head. “You don’t have to do that.”
Just keep touching my fiancé, why don’t you?
“Just a little bit shaky, I guess.”
“That’s to be expected. You should let my fiancé have a look at you. He’s the town doctor,” Peggy said.
“Full-fledged? “ I asked. “You graduated from residency?”
Aiden looked at me strangely, the way you might if someone you swore you didn’t know started asking you questions about things they had no business being aware of.
“Just because you look so young. I figured you must have still been in training,” I stammered, trying to cover my tracks.
“Not that young, I’m afraid.” He smiled that smile at me. “I’m sorry, I don’t think I caught your name.”
“What am I thinking?” Peggy shook her head. “Aiden, this is Rita.”
“Oh,” he said, his eyes shading the way Peggy’s did when she heard my name. “Peggy and I used to have a friend named Rita.”
Is that what I had been, a friend?
“He’s not giving her enough credit,” Peggy said. “She was my best friend and…” She shuffled uncomfortably. “Before Aiden and I got together, he was actually engaged to Rita.” She pursed her lips. “I know that might make us sound like bad people. Goodness knows I grappled with that for a long time after we started dating. But aft
er Rita died, we were both in such dark places. Neither of us thought we could ever be happy again. When we came together the way we did, it just seemed right. It felt like Rita was pushing us together somehow, like she wanted this.”
I wouldn’t be so sure about that.
“Well,” Aiden started, looking sheepishly at the floor. “Now that we’ve told a complete stranger our life stories, maybe we should be on our way.”
“Don’t be rude,” Peggy playfully swatted at him, which somehow hurt more than all the loving touches put together. “Besides, I’m thoroughly enjoying our conversation.”
I’m not.
Seeing them together, seeing them act like a couple so in love and so happy was like watching yourself get cut out of a treasured old photograph. I wasn’t there anymore, and everything was okay.
“More than likely because the entire thing has been about you,” he answered, grinning. “Why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself, Rita? What brings you to town?”
Other than a supernatural mission to close out “unfinished business” you mean?
“A new start,” I answered plainly.
“We know about that.” Aiden nodded. “But the good thing about change is, even if it feels like it’s going to kill you, it won’t.”
Well, actually…
“I do hope you find what you’re looking for here in Second Springs, Rita,” Aiden said sincerely, inadvertently dipping into my heart and breaking it all over again. What I wanted was here. It was standing right in front of me -- my old life, my old friend, my old fiancé, my old future. That’s what I wanted. It was also the one thing I couldn’t have back.
“You and your dog.” Aiden grinned down at Mayor McConnell, who repaid him by turning away in a huff. “He is yours, isn’t he?”
“The dog that sat around indifferently as I nearly choked to death? Yeah, he’s mine,” I said.
“What is he, an Irish setter? I have a terrier at home.”
“You have a dog?” I asked, crinkling my brow. Aiden never said anything about wanting a dog. In fact, I always just kind of figured he didn’t like them.
“Yeah. I picked him up last June,” Aiden beamed. “I always wanted one, and I just sort of realized that nothing was stopping me.”
“I didn’t know that,” I muttered softly.
“Well, how could you?” Aiden grinned. He leaned down and petted Mayor McConnell on the head. The red dog growled at him and backed away.
“Don’t mind him,” I sighed. “He’s not exactly a social butterfly.”
“What’s his name?” Aiden asked, standing back up.
“Mayor Colin McConnell,” I answered.
“Well, that certainly is formal,” Peggy responded politely.
“I know, but it’s the only thing he answers to.” I shrugged.
“And you, Rita? Do you have a last name?”
Panic blossomed in my chest.
“D-Do I have a last name?” I stammered.
Well, I did have a last name.
“Of course. I’m Rita…re…do…” I fumbled the words out.
“Rita Redo?” Peggy repeated, narrowing her eyes.
“Yeah,” I stammered. “It’s pronounced Reh-Doh. You know, cause it’s French.”
Good save, Rita. Good save.
“I meant what I said,” Aiden answered. “I hope you find your happiness here, whatever that means for you.”
A dagger might as well have flown right into my chest. I had happiness. He was my happiness. Peggy was my happiness. This place was my happiness. Now I didn’t have any of it. It was all just gone, and all that remained for me was a flower dress, unruly red hair, and a dog I was pretty sure liked Peggy better than me.
“Unless, of course, it means suing me for that unfortunate choking incident,” Peggy chuckled.
“I would never.” I waved her off. “Of course, it might go down easier if you threw a little nutmeg into the recipe.”
Peggy’s eyes widened.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” I said, putting my hands up to apologize. “I shouldn’t have said that. It really is delicious.”
This was so strange, talking to Peggy as if I didn’t know her, having to edit my words for the politeness you always drop around those you're closest to.
“No, it’s not that,” she murmured. “Rita … the other Rita; the pie you’re eating was sort of her specialty. It was our best seller. After she passed, I never could get it to taste the same again. I just realized you’re right. It’s missing the nutmeg.” She spun around and pulled a marker out of a satchel hanging on the wall. Making a note to add nutmeg on the white board we always wrote the specials on, she turned back to me. “Thank you so much.”
“Anytime,” I answered.
“You’ve got baking experience?” She strode toward me.
“I do. I used to work in a place a lot like this one.”
Again, not technically a lie.
“This is going to sound strange and, if it’s too forward, please let me know. But, would you like a job?” Peggy bit her bottom lip.
“Sweetheart,” Aiden started. “She just got here. Let the woman have a day before you start to swarm her like a vulture.”
“Not at all,” I answered. “I think I’d be very interested.”
“Really?” Peggy seemed shocked. “Because, between you and me, I haven’t had great luck with employees lately. Even the guy I have doing deliveries for me now is sort of a flake. I sent him out two hours ago with just three pies. I don’t have to tell you how many circles you can make around a town this small in two hours. You, however, there’s something special about you. I don’t know what it is, but I feel comfortable around you for some reason, like I’ve known you forever even though we just met.”
“I know exactly what you mean.” I grinned reluctantly.
“Now the pay isn’t much, but there’s a fully furnished studio in the back building that comes with the job, if that’s something you’d be interested in.”
“Given that neither the Mayor nor I have a place to stay, I’d say that’s something I’d be very interested in,” I said, standing.
Peggy walked toward me, holding her hand out for me to shake.
I took it. Even though she didn’t recognize me, even though I had just agreed to work at a place I had helped build, and even though she was currently engaged to my fiancé, this felt good.
Peggy was my best friend. She had been since we were in utero. You don’t just forget something like that. She could feel it, too. It was why she offered me this job, and it was why, Charlie’s warning aside, I knew that one day I’d be able to trust her with my secret.
Of course, I was way too tired tonight to think about that conversation.
“How about we take a walk to the back building, and I can show you your new place?” I recognized the pride in Peggy’s voice. She had always been particular about the shop and everything in it. It’s what made her such a good business partner. It was good to see that hadn’t fallen away in the two years I was gone.
“Take the lead, Boss,” I smiled and followed her out the back door.
The back parking lot where we always kept our cars looked relatively the same. The stripes might have been freshly painted, but it was dark, and I really couldn’t tell.
Either way, it was nice to know that some things hadn’t been completely overhauled in my absence.
“No!”
A man’s voice echoed from the other side of the parking lot. I heard a struggle, then a sound like a pipe hitting wood.
Turning, I saw a dark figure running off in the distance. I squinted, but the white glow of the street-light made making out any details an impossibility.
“What was that?” Peggy asked, looking up at Aiden.
“Stay here,” Aiden said, jogging toward the source of the noise.
Peggy didn’t listen, running behind him. Of course, neither did I.
By the time we caught up with Aiden, who had ducked behind a
blue Honda, I noticed a pair of feet sticking out from the other side of the car.
Aiden stood from the other side of the car, a splash of blood smeared across his face.
“Aiden, what’s going on?” Peggy cried.
“It’s Patrick,” he answered solemnly.
For once, I didn’t recognize the name.
“Who’s Patrick?” I asked breathlessly.
“He’s Peggy’s delivery guy,” Aiden answered. “And I’m afraid he’s dead. But someone left this behind.”
Aiden lifted his right hand and, just like that awful night at Mrs. Hoover’s, I saw a blood-covered wrench.
5
“I can’t believe this is all happening again,” Peggy said, nursing a cup of coffee between her hands. Her eyes were red and puffy, and her legs were shaking. She glanced up at me. “You must just want to go running for the hills,” Peggy said, shaking her head. “I wouldn’t blame you if you did, but Second Springs isn’t like this. People don’t just get killed in parking lots.” Her hands went to her hair again, and tears filled her eyes anew. “Especially sweet guys like Patrick.”
“Tell me about him,” I said, reaching across the counter and placing my hand on top of hers. I wanted to comfort my friend more than anything right now, but there were also other reasons for my inquiry.
That wrench lying beside the body; it was a throwback to the worst night of my life, to the last night of my life, actually. There was also one in Mrs. Hoover’s house that horrible night, which meant there was a connection ... a connection I needed to figure out.
But, since I didn’t know this Patrick person from Adam, I needed Peggy to fill in the blanks. And, if talking about a lost friend made her feel a little better during what had to be a terrible time that would be great, too.
“He loved it here,” Peggy said softly. “He was from Philadelphia, but he never much liked it there. He always said it was too busy, that he was more at home in a small town.” She laughed lightly. “And I told him they don’t come much smaller than Second Springs.”
She set her coffee down and glared at the counter.
“I know I said he was a flake earlier. I really wish I wouldn’t have. I think he just loved this town so much, he wanted to explore it every chance he got, and maybe that got in the way of things, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t a good person.”
Twice Baked Murder: A Cozy Mystery (The Rita Reincarnated Cozies Book 1) Page 3