“There we are,” I said, stroking Sunlight’s head, my butt firmly planted on the floor in the kitten foster center at the inn. All the other kitties had been safely returned here and to their owners. Those that had already been sold had been tracked down for the most part, and Barb’s reign of catnapping terror was at an end.
I shifted the bowl of wet kitten food toward Sunlight and he gulped it down, eating messily. I was so glad that he hadn’t been traumatized by that stay in Barb’s trailer. He’d bounced back into his usual excitable self the minute we’d arrived back at the inn.
And Barb? She was behind bars, being charged with the Vaughan Shone’s murder. Detective Crowley had thanked us for our help this time. They’d been onto her, but they hadn’t had enough to arrest her on suspicion of murder.
We’d given them that last piece of evidence.
“You’re a hungry little monster,” I said, laughing at Sunlight’s cat food smudged face. “We’ll have to clean you up, won’t we?”
“You all right?” Jordan stood in the doorway to the incubator room, holding one of the feeding droppers we used on the tiniest of kittens.
“Yeah, I’m great.” I got up, dusting off my neat blue jeans. “Look, Jordan, we didn’t get off to the best start. Sorry for, uh, being a little weird about you.”
“Didn’t make no difference to me, ma’am. I’m just grateful I got a place to work and stay now. Never thought I’d have a job like this.”
“You like it here?” I asked. “With the kittens?”
“Best place I’ve ever worked.” He rewarded me with a yellow-toothed grin. “Miss Georgina’s a mighty fine woman.”
“You’re right about that.”
“Flattery will get you everywhere, dears.” Speak of the devil, Gamma had just swept through the door connecting the inn to the foster center. She shut it carefully and sauntered over, classy in kitten heels and a polka dot dress cinched at the waist. “Charlotte, Lauren wants you in the kitchen. Something about retrieving fresh basil and tomatoes from outside?”
“She’s making ravioli with a basil-tomato sauce,” I said. “I’ll get to it.”
“Wait.” Gamma placed a delicate hand on my arm. “Let’s talk for a moment.”
“What’s up?” We walked away from the incubator room, and Jordan returned to his duties.
“You’ve grown rather attached to Sunlight,” Gamma said. “And there’s going to be a couple of people coming around to look at the cat’s up for adoption. They’ll have to fill out application forms and we’ll do home .”
“OK.” I swallowed. “What’s your point?”
“That someone might adopt Sunlight,” Gamma said. “And I’d like you to be prepared for that.”
“I’m fine. I mean, if he gets a good home that’s all that matters, right?”
“Are you tearing up?”
“No,” I said, coughing and blinking. “I think I’ve just developed some cat allergies.”
“Hmm.”
“I’m fine.” But I wasn’t fine. I didn’t want to lose Sunlight, not so soon after I’d gotten him back. Apart from Cocoa, Sunlight was the kitty who cheered me up the most. We had a connection. He was boisterous, just like me, and made decisions that were questionable at best.
Like breaking into a felon’s trailer.
But I couldn’t keep Sunlight as my own. When this whole Kyle thing was over, I’d be leaving and he would have no one to look after him. Gamma probably didn’t want another cat at the inn as a full-time pet because that would take training and—
“You can keep him,” Gamma said.
“How? I have to leave soon.”
“Do you?” Gamma raised an eyebrow.
“Of course.”
“Well, your allergies seem to act up whenever you talk about leaving the inn,” Gamma replied, slowly. “Seems to me like it’s a health risk to go.”
“Georgina…”
“We’ll keep him,” Gamma said. “Cocoa needs company in the inn, and Sunlight’s great with the other kittens. He can be their little guardian. And then there big guardian. And if you leave, well, he’ll have a place to stay and plenty of love from Lauren, Jordan and me.”
My throat closed. “A-are you serious?”
“Deadly.” Gamma’s eyes sparkled. “Now, you run along and go tend to our chef’s every whim.” She patted me on the arm.
I offered her a watery smile before heading for the door. Out in the garden, I meandered, thinking about how much life had changed since I’d come to Gossip. And how much I’d always wanted things to stay the same.
For what? I was happier here than I’d ever been, and that felt like a betrayal. My grandmother had been the best spy in the NSIB. I was mediocre and tearing up about kittens, for heaven’s sake. Did that make me pathetic? A bad person? A bad spy?
Probably the last one. I’d made so many mistakes recently.
I opened the greenhouse door and bumped into Smulder. He caught me by the arms.
“Charlie,” he said.
“Brian.” I nodded. “Listen, I, uh, wanted to thank you for not calling… you know.”
“Yeah, I know,” he said. “You were right. Sometimes the right thing to do isn’t the right thing to do.”
I bit my lip and looked down at my feet. “Brian, I—”
“Things are moving too fast between us,” he said. “And as much as I want them to go at a healthy speed, I know you need more time to adjust to everything that’s going on.” He meant Kyle and the inn and… everything. “And I’m sorry about what I said. You’re not bad at what you do.”
“No, you were right. I am bad,” I said. “If I’d been that good, then he would never have found out that I was the one who outed him. I wouldn’t even be in this situation.”
Silence drifted between us, broken by the cheery chirping of birds outside. The Texas sun sprinkled the gardens and trees with warm light. A perfect day, even with the nip in the air signaling that fall was on its way.
Boy, what would Halloween in Gossip be like?
“I’d better get to picking produce,” I said. “Lauren’s waiting to make lunch.”
Smulder nodded but didn’t step aside. He stuck his hands in his pocket, directing his gaze at me from under his brows. “You know, you don’t have to be like Georgina. You can be you, Charlie. You are enough.”
“Thanks for the pep talk,” I laughed. “I’ve got tomatoes to harvest.”
“Need some help?”
“Sure. Why not? Tomatoes and basil.”
“Right this way.” Smulder offered me an arm, and I took it. It was in a comfortable silence that we picked tomatoes for the sauce and harvested some basil. Our fingers rummaged between bushes and in the warm, moist soil, and we shared a genuine smile.
The Gossip Inn had done it again. Brought people together with excellent food, conversation, smiles and kittens.
And as much as I hadn’t wanted to admit it, I could get used to living every day like this.
Gamma and Charlie’s story continues in the fifth book of the Mission Inn-possible Cozy Mystery series, Mint Murder, coming soon!
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Thank you so much for reading Charlie and Gamma’s story. If you enjoyed the book, I would be honored if you left a review. They’re the raspberry frosting of an author’s career. (I know, I should probably stop with the puns—ha!)
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Also by Rosie A. Point
The Burger Bar Mystery Series:
The Fiesta Burger Murder
The Double Cheese Burger Murder
The Chicken Burger Murder
The Breakfast Burger Murder
; The Salmon Burger Murder
The Cheesy Steak Burger Murder
The Burger Bar Mysteries Box Set
The Bite-sized Bakery Cozy Mystery Series:
Murder By Chocolate
Marzipan and Murder
Creepy Cake Murder
Murder and Meringue Cake
Murder Under the Mistletoe
The Bite-sized Bakery Cozy Mystery Box Set: Books 1-5
Murder Glazed Donuts
Choc Chip Murder
The Mission Inn-possible Cozy Mystery Series:
Vanilla Vendetta
Strawberry Sin
The Sleepy Creek Cozy Mystery Series:
The Bacon Burger Murder
Mission Inn-possible 04 - Raspberry Revenge Page 13