Beat Around the Broom
Page 16
“You’re too kind,” I said with a stupid smile. “There’s just one more thing that’s been bugging me.”
“What’s that?”
I bit into a piece of the cinnamon bun, and I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. After a quick moment of savoring that, I swallowed and spoke again. “I still don’t know why my mom has been acting so strange.”
Xander blinked, and his face slowly turned into a broad, knowing smile that made me worried.
“Wait, what?”
“I think I can shed some light on that,” Xander said, dabbing his mouth with a napkin. “Just don’t tell your mom I told you this, or she’d kill me.”
That was a bold claim, and one that I believed wholeheartedly, so I made a zipper motion across my lips, leaning forward.
“You probably know that certain permits have to go through the police department before becoming official,” he said. “Well, last week, your mom put in an official request for approval for a medical marijuana dispensary.”
My jaw dropped.
“My mom’s selling weed?!” I blurted out much more loudly than I should have, drawing some glances from the other diners while Xander lost his ability to hold back his laughter. “Xander, this is so not funny!”
“It’s actually really funny,” he said, turning rosy in the cheeks from laughing too much. I was already taking my phone out and scrolling over to my mom’s number. When Xander realized I was calling her, he laughed even harder.
“Hi, honey,” Mom answered hesitantly.
“Mom, you cannot just sell weed!” I said urgently while Xander held his sides, incapacitated.
“I am not just selling weed, young lady!” Mom said, dropping the act and sounding like her usual fiery self again. “I’ll have you know that I’m going through all the proper channels to get my license.”
“Mom!” I half-shouted, half-laughed. I didn’t even know how to deal with this information.
“Retirement is boring, honey,” Mom sighed. “And besides, it’s legal in Washington now, and I’m not about to let that go! This will be great, trust me. It’ll pay for your father and my vacations. If it does well, I’ll even bring you and Diana on a few cruises, how does that sound? I was hoping to wait a little longer and see if you’d be interested in a few ideas I had for a bakery, and-”
“Mom, I am not about to sell pot brownies to my guests!”
Xander was nearly on the floor.
“Okay, you’re the one who suggested selling to your guests, not me, just saying!” she said, and I groaned, letting my head hit the table.
“Moooom.”
“I don’t see what the big deal is, honey,” Mom said. “Do I need to lecture you about the health benefits? The soil around here is so fertile you don’t even have to put any effort into it. Trust me, if you’d just try some of the dank kush that grows around here-”
“Okay, no, no, no, no, I can’t hear my mother use the term ‘dank kush’ today,” I said, making Xander cover his face to hide the fact he couldn’t breathe. “We’ll talk about this later, but you owe Diana a huge apology for grounding her when you caught her taking a hit off Stacy Henderson’s bong in the back yard in tenth grade.”
“You know darn well it was Stacy Henderson I had a problem with, not that,” Mom said, and I rolled my eyes.
“Goodbye, Mom,” I said, and I turned the phone off and looked at Xander. “Are you dead? Have I killed the chief of police this morning?”
“You might have,” Xander said, wiping a tear from his eye as he took a few slow breaths. “Hoo boy. Okay. I’m good.”
I shook my head and attacked the remainder of my quiche, but I couldn’t keep a smile off my face. This little town of ours was weird and only getting weirder.
But at least they were good people.
Better yet, they were my good people.
Also by Samantha Silver
First of all, I wanted to thank you for reading this book. I well and truly hope you enjoyed reading this book as much as I loved writing it.
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Want to read more of Arti’s adventures? The sixth and final book in the Moonlight Cove series is coming in late 2019.
Other Moonlight Cove Mysteries
Witching Aint’s Easy (Moonlight Cove Mystery #1)
Witching for the Best (Moonlight Cove Mystery #2)
Thank your Lucky Spells (Moonlight Cove Mystery #3)
A Perfect Spell (Moonlight Cove Mystery #4)
Western Woods Mysteries
Back to Spell One (Western Woods Mystery #1)
Two Peas in a Potion (Western Woods Mystery #2)
Three’s a Coven (Western Woods Mystery #3)
Four Leaf Clovers (Western Woods Mystery #4)
Five Charm Fire (Western Woods Mystery #5)
Willow Bay Witches Mysteries
The Purr-fect Crime (Willow Bay Witches #1)
Barking up the Wrong Tree (Willow Bay Witches #2)
Just Horsing Around (Willow Bay Witches #3)
Lipstick on a Pig (Willow Bay Witches #4)
A Grizzly Discovery (Willow Bay Witches #5)
Sleeping with the Fishes (Willow Bay Witches #6)
Get your Ducks in a Row (Willow Bay Witches #7)
Busy as a Beaver (Willow Bay Witches #8)
Magical Bookshop Mysteries
Alice in Murderland (Magical Bookshop Mystery #1)
Murder on the Oregon Express (Magical Bookshop Mystery #2)
The Very Killer Caterpillar (Magical Bookshop Mystery #3)
Death Quixote (Magical Bookshop Mystery #4)
Pride and Premeditation (Magical Bookshop Mystery #5)
Wuthering Homicides (Magical Bookshop Mystery #6)
California Witching Mysteries
Witches and Wine (California Witching Mystery #1)
Poison and Pinot (California Witching Mystery #2)
Merlot and Murder (California Witching Mystery #3)
Cassie Coburn Mysteries
Poison in Paddington (Cassie Coburn Mystery #1)
Bombing in Belgravia (Cassie Coburn Mystery #2)
Whacked in Whitechapel (Cassie Coburn Mystery #3)
Strangled in Soho (Cassie Coburn Mystery #4)
Stabbed in Shoreditch (Cassie Coburn Mystery #5)
Killed in King’s Cross (Cassie Coburn Mystery #6)
Ruby Bay Mysteries
Death Down Under (Ruby Bay Mystery #1)
Arson in Australia (Ruby Bay Mystery #2)
The Killer Kangaroo (Ruby Bay Mystery #3)
About the Author
Samantha Silver lives in British Columbia, Canada, along with her husband and a little old doggie named Terra. She loves animals, skiing and of course, writing cozy mysteries.
Evelynne Page is a world traveller who loves to discover new places. While she was born and raised in Washington state, she has most recently lived in France, Scotland, Italy and Slovenia. When she’s not travelling or writing, you’ll find her curled up with a cup of tea and a good romcom.