Honeymoons & Honeydew

by Beth Byers

  Table of Contents

  Honeymoons & Honeydew

  Dedication

  Summary

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Also By Beth Byers

  Also By Amanda A. Allen

  Copyright

  Honeymoons & Honeydew

  The 2nd Chance Diner Mysteries

  Book 11

  By Beth Byers

  For Kathy.

  <3 I’ve always loved you, but I love you extra for Sookie & Jack. <3

  Summary

  Over the time Rose has lived in Silver Falls, she’s developed a lot of friendships. Dr. Jane has been one of the best. The problem is she has a secret. One that she’s finally done carrying, so she tells her husband everything.

  Rose and Simon return home from their honeymoon to the fight between their friends. Before Rose is able to catch her breath, she witnesses a terrible crime. Putting everything, including the last of her honeymoon on pause, Rose and Simon join up with Zee and Carver to solve the latest murder. Just who killed Jane's ex and why? They need to find out before their friend is arrested for a murder they know she didn't commit.

  Chapter 1

  “I don’t want to go home,” I said to Simon.

  My head was lying on his shoulder, and we were just descending on our plane to the Portland International Airport. “I want to go back. I was always intended to live in Fiji. Growing up in Gresham, OR was a terrible karmic mistake.”

  “Me too,” Simon said. “Let’s go back on the next flight.”

  He laid his head on top of mine, so we could both see out the small porthole window to the city. A thick cloud layer was between us and the city, so we couldn’t see anything but gray clouds.

  The captain spoke over the intercom, but neither of us were listening. We didn’t need him to tell us it was 50 degrees and raining. It was spring in the Pacific Northwest, so of course, it was raining. Once we were through the cloud cover, the drizzle began. The Columbia River rolled out like a massive snake cutting the divide between Oregon and Washington with Government Island filling my view as the plane approached the runway.

  “You love the smell of rain,” Simon told me to cheer me up when I sighed dramatically. “You love the wind in your hair. It makes you do wild things. You’ll be glad to be home.”

  “That’s true,” I admitted. “I’ve missed the dogs and even that evil cat.”

  “It’ll be a competition to see which of the dogs tackles you first,” Simon said. He squeezed my fingers and I looked down where my wedding ring was digging into the finger next to it. Using my thumb, I flicked the rings around and stared at them. I hadn’t worn the engagement ring since it needed to be sized for my chubby fingers, but the sight of the gorgeous diamond set off by a simple white-gold wedding band made me nearly delirious with happiness.

  It wasn’t so much the ring—though I did think it was lovely—it was the fact that I had fallen in love and married someone who loved me for me. I wasn’t sure there was anything more appealing than someone seeing into the inside of you and finding you…attractive. Not just for your looks, but for your heart.

  Simon knew my weaknesses and the things I did that drove him crazy. He knew I could be needy and sometimes it was hard for me to believe he actually loved me. Despite all that and my propensity for making cheddar and apple pie, lavender cake, or for butting my head into his work—despite all my negatives—he loved me.

  “Wanna go to Pine State Biscuits for lunch before we drive home?”

  Simon’s expression told me I knew better than to ask. We were gonna eat a Reggie—a crazy biscuit sandwich concoction—and gravy smothered fries and somehow find the energy to make the drive from Portland to Silver Falls even though we’d be loaded down by the magical carbs.

  “You know how I feel about the Reggie,” Simon said, moaning a little.

  “It should be terrible,” I said with a shrug. My tastebuds were already salivating.

  In unison, we said, “But it’s so good.”

  “Too good,” Simon declared. “It’s God’s gift to mankind since it should knock you dead and it doesn’t.”

  “It doesn’t even make you feel sick. It should, but it doesn’t.” I grinned at him and noted the way he was already smiling. His kind brown eyes were warm and loving and they shone out of his square-jawed face. I maintained that he was too attractive for me, but he didn’t think so. His face had long since lost its battle against stubble and he was approaching a baby beard, but his full lips smiled widely at me. He peeked past my head to watch us land despite the rain-spattered window.

  “We could go to the one on Alberta Street,” Simon suggested, “and grab some Salt & Straw while we’re in Portland.”

  The snickerdoodle ice cream from Salt & Straw was magical. How did they keep those cookies chewy inside of the ice cream? What strange alchemy was it, and how did I figure it out for my diner or The 2nd Chance Food truck pod that Az and I were setting up? Az was the cook at The 2nd Chance Diner, my good friend, near-brother, and soon-to-be business partner for the food trucks. Hopefully, our food trucks would do ok in a state that offered things like Salt & Straw’s strawberry, balsamic, and black pepper ice cream. That should be nasty. Only it wasn’t nasty at all, it was a lovely, perfect ice cream. Since there wasn’t a way to explain the madness of that kind of ice cream, how could Az and I duplicate that kind of magic?

  My mom had introduced Simon and I to Pine State Biscuits and Salt & Straw the last time we were in town when she’d alluded to maybe selling her house and traveling full-time. The Reggie, a southern biscuit topped with fried chicken, bacon, sausage gravy, and cheddar cheese—surely an abomination—was all that had gotten me through the moment of realizing things really had changed.

  I had known they had. I was, after all, planning my wedding when she’d told me. I’d gone from a call center slave who’d hated her job and dreamed of better things—a diner specifically—to an heiress. And then from there to the owner of both The 2nd Chance Diner and The 2nd Chance Adoption Center which was a shelter for dogs. I’d even nosed my way into murder investigations and helped to find criminals. Who would have ever thought of such a thing for a once-banker?

  Mom was moving on, I had already moved on, and…I was happy with things as they were. Just because I didn’t want to go back to my old life didn’t mean I wasn’t going to miss my childhood home. That big, solid, concrete evidence of my childhood and it would no longer be ours. I wouldn’t need to come back to Portland so often. Really…Simon and I would need to make a special trip for things like funky ice cream and oddly good southern biscuit sandwiches. Mom was going to be traveling full-time and using Silver Falls as a stop over for her travels from then on.

  I shook off those thoughts and had a late lunch with Simon, enjoying his company even though I was shivering in the rain. It wasn’t until after Simon and I had eaten, stopped at Starbucks, and started home that I turned on my phone. The drive was a solid two hours without traffic. With the time change, the food, and the general post-vacation exhaustion, we both ended up with quad shots to see us through the drive home.

  “What are you doing?” Simon asked as I pulled my phone from my bag and plugged it into the dash. “We still have time off. Vacation doesn't end until the moment we walk back into work. Don’t turn your phone on.”

  “True,” I said, “But I want to get into see Mattie and have her update my hair color, and I want to
tell Az we’re on our way.”

  “Let’s do it in the morning,” Simon suggested, “And have one more night of sleep. We’ll stay at one of the B&Bs and pretend we’re not back in town.”

  I scowled at him, and he gave me his charming grin. He was too handsome for me. He was kind and smart and tolerant and patient and, inexplicably, loved me. I, on the other hand, could be best described as sturdy. I was voluptuous in my boobs and hips, but I had more of a belly than I liked. My pasty white skin tended to burn, and he’d had to help me smother myself in sunscreen multiple times a day on our honeymoon. Even with all that work, I’d still added quite a few more freckles. Looks aside, I had interfered in his work and didn’t commit fully to either of the businesses I’d taken on. It was amazing that he loved me really.

  “Rose, darling,” Simon said, “Let’s run away.”

  “You love Silver Falls, our house, being a cop, working with Carver, and I love our family there. Zee, Az, Roxy, Mattie, Jane, we could quit working, but we can’t…”

  Before I could finish my thought, my phone started buzzing like it was possessed.

  “Uh oh,” Simon said as I looked at my phone jumping around the dashboard.

  I made a face and Simon laughed at me. “You could just turn it back off.”

  “What if it’s the dogs?”

  “What if it’s work?” Simon countered, raising a brow. He didn’t really think it was the dogs, right? It wasn’t. They were all ok. Oh man. Were my dogs ok?

  I considered for a long minute and then I said, “I don’t have the thing on when they can tell if my messages were read. If it’s work, I’ll just lie about when I got the messages. If it’s the dogs, we’ll know.”

  “This sweet deviousness is why I love you.” Simon took my hand as he drove through Portland and towards our home in the small town of Silver Falls on the Oregon Coast.

  Zee: Your phone had better be off. If it’s not, turn it off now.

  The next message was from Az who sent a picture of my three favorite dogs, Daisy, Goliath, and Mama Dog. They were in a big pile of fluff and fur with pretty brown eyes staring at the camera, and I felt a stab of homesicknesses as I stared at them. I nudged Simon and made him look at the furry babies. He just smiled and turned his attention back to the road.

  Zee: I mean it. Turn your phone off.

  Az: We got this.

  That text was followed by a slew of pictures of the dogs, the cat, the house, and then another message.

  Az: Hope you’re having a good time.

  I wasn’t sure what Az and Zee were so worried about until Jane’s messages started loading.

  Jane: I did it. I told Hank EVERYTHING.

  I stopped reading right there, holding my breath, and then letting it slowly out. Simon would know something was wrong. I glanced at him, and his gaze was darting between the road and me. He didn’t know Jane’s secret, and I couldn’t tell him. But when he found out, he’d know I had kept it from him this whole time. Would it anger him? Or would he get why I’d kept it from him?

  Jane, Simon’s cousin, my friend, and Simon’s life-long friend’s wife had cheated on said husband. Only, she’d done it years and years ago, had another man’s baby, lied about it all this time even to the extent of paying blackmail for years.

  Well, I thought, Simon won’t be pleased. But surely he has to have secrets he hadn’t told me. It wasn’t my secret. I didn’t pawn off a kid on him or his friend. I…I was churning up excuses in the lame attempt to justify keeping the secret. Whether it was right or wrong, I was done lying about it.

  Jane: What have I done??!

  Jane: I’m going to stay with Az at your place.

  Jane: He’s so mad. OMG, Hank is so, so mad at me. I didn’t know he could get like this.

  Jane: J.J. knows. He won’t talk to me. My poor baby.

  Jane: What have I done?

  Jane: I should have just been honest from the beginning. I am an IDIOT!

  Jane: Hank told me he wants to try to work on things. I don’t even have the words to process how I feel.

  Jane: I think Zee talked to Hank. I knew I loved her, but my goodness, I’d give her a kidney now.

  Jane: Hank cheated on me too. It came out in counseling. I…I…I don’t know what to feel.

  Jane: I didn’t know this could hurt so bad. I didn’t understand what I’d done to him.

  Jane: Do I even love him? I’m not sure I can tell how I feel under all of this anger. Why am I dumping all of this on you?

  Jane: I figured it out. I can talk to you because your phone is off. I can let out how I feel and you can’t tell me how bad I am and all the terrible things I’ve done because your phone is turned off. We’ve both done. This isn’t just me anymore. That cheating…oh goodness. My poor boys. I should have just lied until they were out of the house. I could have made it that much longer.

  Jane: We’re in counseling. Why are we even trying?

  Jane: I told Jordy that J.J. is his son. Jordy is coming to Silver Falls. I think. I don’t know. I never want to see any of them again sometimes. Except my sons, I never want that to stop.

  Jane: Hank knows that you know. You can tell Simon.

  Jane: I moved back into our house. Hank moved out of our room and into the guest room. We’re still in counseling. I’ve taken up krav maga. I might train for a marathon. Or a triathlon.

  Jane: You’ll be back soon. I need wine and chocolate cake. Simon will have to have a guy’s night because I plan on getting thoroughly wasted and sleeping on your couch.

  Az: Let me know when you will be home. I’ve taken the dogs out and got my stuff out of your place, so you can have some peace. The fridge is full and the gas tank is full. Maybe take another day before you face the madness. Everything’s fine. Don’t worry.

  Zee: Call me when you get home.

  Mattie: Call me when you get home.

  Jane: Call me when you get home.

  Az: Really take another day. Everything is fine.

  “What was all that?” Simon asked. We were on Highway 18 and the progress home was quick. I enjoyed the sight of the huge pine trees realizing I’d missed them so much while we had been in Fiji. The beauty of Fiji just didn’t compare to the Pacific Northwest. Not for me. Then we passed the produce market and I let the sight of the big red barn and the field of flowers suck me in while I tried to process all of the feelings I had for Jane and Hank and my own guilt for helping Jane to cover it up for nearly a year.

  Finally, I let it all out on Simon. “Jane cheated on Hank, years ago. I found out when we learned about all that blackmailing.”

  Simon glanced at me and then pulled the car to the side of the road, so he could face me safely. “Wait. What?”

  I explained how Zee and I had discovered Jane’s secret unwillingly and that we’d kept it for her.

  “But Hank…” Simon’s mouth was clenched tight.

  “It’s worse than that,” I said, hating to fill in the rest and knowing it would hurt Simon for both Hank and his cousin’s son. “J.J. isn’t Hank’s. Biologically, he’s the boyfriend’s.”

  Simon’s mouth dropped and his brows raised, and he didn’t say a word. I could see the pain in his gaze. Jane was his family. Hank was one of Simon’s best friends. He cared deeply about both of them.

  I continued, “I think Jane was worried more about telling J.J. than Hank. She stood by the fact that Hank would never let it affect his relationship with J.J.”

  “He wouldn’t,” Simon stated firmly. His face was white with pain for them. “Poor Hank. Poor. I can’t believe Jane!”

  I squeezed his hand and let my seat lean back as I added, “It turns out Hank cheated on Jane too. On those long fishing trips of his. Maybe he had a girl in every port type of thing. Not really sure how that works.”

  Simon closed his eyes at my statement. “You’ll never know.”

  I rubbed my hand along the side of his hand. I didn’t doubt Simon’s love or his faithfulness. Perhaps I was being n
aive because we were literally still in the honeymoon phase, but I was sure I could trust him.

  “I don’t doubt it,” I said, letting let him stew for a few minutes and then said, “So Zee got them talking to each other. They’re in counseling. Jane had left their house, but she’s back in it. Only they have separate rooms now.”

  “Holy crap, Rose. We need to run away.”

  “We can’t.” I knew he didn’t really want to leave though the honeymoon high would have been nice to keep for a while longer. “Our friends need us.”

  “Our family needs us,” he corrected. Yes, that was far more accurate.

  Chapter 2

  Seeing Silver Falls again was tinged with sadness because of Jane and Hank’s troubles. We drove past the main turnoff from Highway 101 and turned onto the country road that led up to our house tucked into the state forests. The towering pine trees blocked out the gray skies, so you could almost believe it was a pretty day once you were under the limbs of the trees but then the drips of water started.

  The trees seemed to save the rain for later and then dribble it down after the storm had passed. I loved the sound of the rain and the drip-drip of the water, so I cracked the window to take in the fresh scent of pine and rain a scent peculiar to the Pacific Northwest.

  The sight of our house made me feel better and I shook off Jane and Hank’s troubles for my joy at being home. Simon parked the Forrester in the drive and as soon as I opened the car door, I heard the dogs calling a frenzied barking greeting. I didn’t take note of our home other than to see that the gate was closed, the wide porch was cleared of the things Simon and I tended to leave there like shoes and rain boots. I pushed open our bright red doors and dropped to my knees overwhelmed with dogs chewing me out with furious yips while still giving me puppy kisses.

  Daisy and Mama Dog couldn’t stop wriggling. Daisy was mostly basset hound. She had long red ears, freckles, and soulful brown eyes. As my first doggy love, she pushed her way past the smaller long-haired dachshunds to get to me. My sweet great Dane, Goliath, barked at me, clearly mad that I’d left him, but then he used his size to push all the rest of the dogs away. He nuzzled my ear, licked my cheek once and then moaned a little in the back of his throat as he laid his head on my shoulder. I could feel his breath huff into my ear, and my sweet boy trembled beneath my hand. I rubbed him hard whispering apologies for leaving him over and over again until the trembling stopped and he’d started to lick me without a grudge.