A Room with a Pew
Page 18
The smell of frying food drifted down the street from the Cranberry Cove Diner. Monica’s stomach rumbled in response. She’d just get a few more things set up, she promised herself, and then she’d treat herself to a nice hot bowl of the diner’s famous chili.
The tablecloth having been nailed down, so to speak, Monica began stringing small white lights around the perimeter of the table. Mayor Crowley wanted the town to sparkle as much as possible. Monica looked at some of the other establishments. She hoped the lights wouldn’t prove to be too blinding to the customers.
“Need some help with that?”
Monica looked up to see Greg Harper, owner of Book ’Em, standing in front of her cranberry-bedecked table. He had a knitted hat pulled down almost to his eyebrows and thick gloves on his hands.
“I’m just about done.”
Monica and Greg had fallen into an easy friendship soon after meeting in September. They shared a love of books in general and mysteries in particular, especially the grand dames of the Golden Age like Christie, Marsh and Sayers. The relationship was slowly taking a romantic turn. They’d both lost someone—Greg his wife and Monica her fiancé—and it took time and a certain amount of courage to move on.
“I’ve got Book ’Em done up in so many lights, people are going to need sunscreen just to go near the place.”
Monica laughed. “It does seem like overkill, doesn’t it? But if the mayor is right, and the Winter Walk does bring tourists to town, I guess we should all be grateful.”
“That’s true.” Greg looked up at the sky. “Now all we need is a dusting of snow to complete the picture.” He squinted and pointed toward the clouds. “Those look like snow clouds to me.”
Monica followed his gaze. “I think you’re right. Now if they would just release their contents at the right moment, we’ll be in business.”
Greg squeezed Monica’s shoulder. “I’ll see you later. Maybe after all this madness is over we can grab a bite to eat or something.”
“I’d like that.”
Monica was giving a final tweak to Sassamanash’s stall when her cell phone rang. She tried to dig it out of her pocket, but her bulky gloves made it nearly impossible. She pulled one off with her teeth, retrieved her cell and said, somewhat breathlessly, “Hello?”
“Monica, darling, is that you?”
“Mom. Is everything okay?”
“Yes, of course, why wouldn’t it be?”
Monica tried to keep her sigh from being audible. “It’s just that you rarely call except for Sunday nights.”
“That’s because I have some news. I’m coming to Cranberry Cove.”
“What?”
Monica took her phone away from her ear and stared at it as if it wasn’t working correctly. Because surely her mother hadn’t just said she was coming to Cranberry Cove?
“I’ll be there in about an hour. I assume you can find me someplace to stay?” Nancy Albertson continued, “I doubt you’re overrun with tourists at this time of year.”
Monica could hear the sound of tires swooshing and horns beeping in the background of the call.
“But why . . . what . . . ?”
The thought of her mother in the same county, let alone the same town, as Monica’s stepmother, Gina, made Monica feel slightly sick.
“I’ve been dating this wonderful man,” Nancy continued. “He comes to Chicago on business somewhat regularly. We met when he helped me hail a taxi outside of Neiman Marcus in the pouring rain. Poor man got completely soaked on my behalf.”
Monica realized she had a death grip on her cell phone and tried to loosen her stiff fingers.
“And small world and all that, it turns out he’s from Cranberry Cove.”
“Really?” Monica managed to say despite the fact that all the moisture in her mouth and throat seemed to have dried up.
“The traffic’s picking up, dear, so I’d better get off the phone. See you soon. Try to book me a room somewhere. Somewhere decent.”
There was a click and the line went dead. Monica stared at her phone in disbelief. Her mother was coming to Cranberry Cove. Now.
What was she going to do?
Books by Peg Cochran
See all of Peg Cochran’s books
available at Kobo
The Lucille Mysteries
Confession Is Murder
Unholy Matrimony
Hit and Nun
A Room with a Pew
The Gourmet De-Lite Mysteries
Allergic to Death
Steamed to Death
Iced to Death
The Cranberry Cove Mysteries
Berried Secrets
Berry the Hatchet (coming May 2016)
Young Adult Books
Oh, Brother!
Truth or Dare
Writing as Meg London
Murder Unmentionable
Laced with Poison
A Fatal Slip
About the Author
Peg grew up in a New Jersey suburb about twenty-five miles outside of New York City. After college, she moved to the City, where she managed an art gallery owned by the son of the artist Henri Matisse.
After her husband died, Peg remarried and her new husband took a job in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where they now live (on exile from New Jersey, as she likes to joke). Somehow Peg managed to segue from the art world to marketing and is now the manager of marketing communications for a company that provides services to seniors.
She has three cozy mystery series out from Berkley Prime Crime—the Sweet Nothings Vintage Lingerie series, writing as Meg London, set in Paris, Tennessee, and under her own name, the Gourmet De-Lite series, set in Connecticut, and the Cranberry Cove series, set on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan.
Peg has two daughters, a stepdaughter and stepson, a beautiful granddaughter, and a Westhighland white terrier named Reggie. You can read more at www.pegcochran.com and www.meglondon.com.