by Zoe Arden
"Good afternoon," I said, setting down the glasses. "Welcome to Stuffed." They were sitting side by side instead of across from each other the way people usually did.
The women grinned at me and shot each other a look. The younger one actually elbowed her sister.
"Hello, Ava," said the older woman.
"Um," I said, feeling like I was the punchline of some unknown joke. "Do I know you?"
"We've met before," she said. "Though it's been a while—"
"Quite a while," her younger sister interrupted.
"—since we've seen you."
I put my pen down and bit my bottom lip.
"We met you on the island," the older woman said. She sounded cautious. Like she was feeling me out.
"Manhattan?" I asked.
"Heavenly Haven."
"Oh," I said, laughing. Understanding clicked in my brain. "You're mixing me up with someone else. I've never been out of New York."
The sisters frowned and shot each other a worried look.
"Do you need another minute to look over the menu?" I asked. They were starting to creep me out. It was the way they kept looking at me. Like I was famous or something.
"I'll take pumpkin pancakes without the pumpkin, please," the younger woman said.
"The same for me, please," said her sister.
I stared at them. "So you want... pancakes?"
The women whispered to each other like they were conferring on some big secret.
"Yes, pancakes," the older one replied, nodding her head. "Plain. No pumpkin. No villeroot. And some hot tea, if you have it."
"No what?" I asked.
"Villeroot. My stomach just can't handle it this late in the day."
"Er, okay. No problem." I scratched it down on my notepad and turned toward the kitchen.
"There's the birthday girl!" Billy, one of the line cooks, shouted. "Hey, Eli. Tell your daughter she should be out partying, not working at this dump." There was a general murmur of agreement from the other two cooks, but my dad's lips tightened.
"Listen to this order," I told the guys. I thought even my dad might find this funny. "Pumpkin pancakes, hold the pumpkin." There was a round of laughter. "And no villeroot," I said, smiling. "The woman's stomach can't handle it this late in the day." There was another round of laughter.
"What the heck is villeroot?" Billy asked, wiping his forehead with a towel.
I shrugged.
"No idea. I'm pretty sure it only exists in that lady's imagination."
I looked toward my dad to see if he was laughing, but he wasn't there.
"Where'd Eli go?" Billy asked.
He'd just been standing here. How did he sneak away? I hadn't even seen him leave the kitchen. I shrugged and grabbed two mugs for tea for the pumpkin ladies.
I pushed the kitchen door open and stopped in my tracks. My dad was at the pumpkin ladies' table. His face was scarlet, and his eyes had narrowed to black slits.
He stood in a heated discussion with the women. The pumpkin ladies turned their eyes to me, looking grim, then slowly rose from their booth. They left the restaurant without a word.
"What was that about?" I asked my dad, setting the mugs aside.
"What?" he asked.
"Those women. What were you talking about? Who were they?"
"No one," he snapped. "Crazy customers. Nothing new." He pushed past me and made his way back to the kitchen.
I wanted to follow him. I was dying to know who those women were. My father spoke to people as little as possible. To strangers? Almost never. The fact he'd actually left the kitchen... that he actually seemed to know them... floored me.
I cleaned off the table the women had been sitting at, running through everything that had happened in my head. I was sure I'd never seen them before, yet... there had been something vaguely familiar about them.
Under one of their water glasses lay a tip. I scooped the bill up, preparing to pocket the single in my apron. My mouth dropped open. It wasn't a single. I stared at the bill, unbelieving. A hundred dollars? All I'd done was bring them water.
I flipped the bill over, looking for signs that it was fake. Written on the back of the bill in black marker were the words, "Happy birthday, Ava."
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ReedFoster Press House
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ALSO BY ZOE ARDEN
A Cozy Mystery Book
Standalone Novella : Cake Spell Disaster
LINK: Standalone Novella : Cake Spell Disaster
<< Sweetland Witch Series >>
Book 1 : Witch Cake Murders
LINK: Book 1 - Witch Cake Murders
Book 2 : The Witching Flavor
LINK: Book 2 - The Witching Flavor
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Copyright © 2017 by
Zoe Arden
and
ReedFoster press House
All Rights reserved.
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