Cozy Christmas Crimes - A Cozy Christmas Box Set

by Tonya Kappes

  “Have you talked to your dad lately?” Marilyn asked, casually, settling into her chair.

  “No, not recently…I mean he called a few days ago but I forgot to call him back…” her voice trailed off while she pretended to concentrate on dishing the rich, aromatic food onto her mother’s plate.

  The circumstances under which Marilyn’s ex-husband left had been excruciatingly painful for her and their young daughter, many years ago. She had processed her grief and moved, consumed with keeping a roof over their heads and food on the table, but Tiara still struggled with forgiveness. Marilyn had poured vast amounts of time and energy into building her business from the ground up. Providing for Tiara and running SUBLIME SWEETS was what had gotten her out of bed every morning, and helped carry her through her day. Marilyn gave her heart and soul to making the best key lime pies in Key West. The sales of those pies had certainly changed her life and she never looked back. Her life, and Tiara’s, were built on a tangy, creamy foundation of luscious pie, and she was grateful.

  “Do you think we should have dessert before, during, or after dinner?” Marilyn grinned hopefully.

  “Mother!” Tiara scolded, her expression making her mother laugh.

  “Fine, fine,” she sighed with mock grief. “I’ll try to hold out until after dinner. Thank you for bringing home this amazing food, honey. It was really thoughtful of you,” Marilyn dug in with gusto.

  “Yep, I’m just awesome like that,” Tiara joked, sitting down at the table.

  The two chatted about everything under the sun, and Tiara promised to go into the shop the next day to begin deciphering her mother’s financial accounts. Business was good, better than good, actually, so growing pains were a natural result. Key West was small, but there were so many tourists that Marilyn was pleased to see new faces every day, and all of the locals knew and loved her incredible pies. She played music from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s in the casual eating area of the shop to set a carefree, festive mood, and loved wallowing in the nostalgia of it. There were several occasions where the music would prompt her to dance a bit behind the counter, and customers often joined in, snapping their fingers and tapping their feet while they ate.

  Creating new and inventive recipes was Marilyn’s passion. She’d tested out key lime pie squares, pie on a stick, pie in a jar, mini pies, key lime pie stuffed strawberries, and key lime pie sandwich cookies. She’d tried making a key lime fudge but that hadn’t turned out as well as she had hoped.

  “So,” Tiara pushed back her plate and looked pointedly across the table at her mother. “Have you noticed any particularly handsome gentlemen lately?” she asked in a singsong voice.

  “Funny, I was about to ask you the same thing,” her mother shot back, arching an eyebrow.

  Tiara had been prodding Marilyn to date for quite some time, but the busy woman always managed to come up with a good excuse as to why it was out of the question.

  “So, that’s a no,” she observed dryly.

  “You know how it goes,” Marilyn shrugged, turning the conversation back toward Tiara. “If you’re so interested in the topic, do you have something you’re dying to share…?” she inquired, hopefully. If Tiara had found a beau in the Keys, perhaps she’d consider searching for a job a bit closer to home. A mother could hope.

  “Nope, nada,” she shrugged, wiping her mouth with a napkin. “I’m just your sweet little baby girl with no one to love me but my mama.”

  Marilyn looked at her daughter, concerned.

  “You know your father loves you very much, right?” she asked softly.

  “Oh my gosh, yes, mom. I was just joking, geez,” Tiara rolled her eyes.

  “…and nana?” Marilyn pointed out.

  “Yes, yes, yes…everybody loves me. Your food is getting cold,” Tiara eyed her mother’s plate, deliberately changing the subject.

  Marilyn searched her daughter’s face for a moment, looking as though she wanted to say something, but thought better of it, and took a bite of her dinner instead, chewing thoughtfully. She hoped that her disastrous relationship with her ex-husband hadn’t made Tiara gun-shy when it came to trusting men. Time would tell.

  Chapter 2

  Marilyn woke up early, to a glorious spring morning in paradise. Birds were singing, the sun was shining, and the scent of the ocean wafted gently through the gossamer sheers covering the windows. She didn’t have to keep normal bakers’ hours since there was a large segment of the population who didn’t think of key lime pie as a breakfast food, so on mornings like this, she allowed herself the luxury of coffee on the patio, with a good book, or the morning paper. She worked long hours when she did make it into her cozy little shop, so she didn’t feel the least bit guilty about indulging in personal time to start her day. While twelve hour days were not necessarily her favorite thing, she was more than glad to be doing what she loved and creating a continual supply of luscious, dreamy pie.

  Tiara tended to sleep in and then hit the ground running, which meant that she wouldn’t be up for a bit, so this exceptional morning time belonged to Marilyn alone. Pouring herself a steaming mug of coffee and adding rich vanilla cream, she grabbed the paper from the front porch, headed for the patio. Curling up on a lounger, with her feet tucked under her, Marilyn enjoyed the scents and sounds of the morning. Today was going to be a great day, she could practically feel it in the balmy breezes.

  Marilyn’s shop was her pride and joy. Six years ago when her marriage with Daniel blew up, she’d packed her bags and moved her daughter here, to Key West paradise, where the sun shone brightly and the past could be forgotten. They’d lived in a cramped one bedroom apartment and Marilyn began doing the only thing she really knew how to do - making sumptuous key lime pies in her tiny kitchen. It was a skill that she’d set out to acquire, because of her love of the delicious treat, and she’d perfected her original recipe over time, creating a glorious pie. Her plan, after moving to the Keys, had been to bring a pie to every school meeting, church service and community event that she could find, setting her pies out with business cards next to them. In almost no time at all, she was struggling to meet the growing demand for her exceptional product, and was able to open her shop.

  Taking the biggest gamble of her adult life, Marilyn pulled every last dime out of her savings and rented a tiny space near the beach. In just one year, she generated enough of a profit to move to a bigger, better space where she paid a mortgage instead of rent. Her very own little “piece of the pie” was on the corner of Duval Street, a quaint strip of shops across the boardwalk from the beach. Her retail neighbors, on the colorful block, included The Wave Crasher Surf Shack, The Sun and Surf Inn, Hogs Breath Saloon, and Sloppy Joe’s Bar and Grill.

  When SubLime Sweets opened at 10am Marilyn would pull open the large sliding window panels which enclosed the seating area, so that the intoxicating scents of her morning baking drifted out to passersby, luring them in to sample her delights. She’d often thought that if she could just bottle that scent, she could launch a successful line of fragrances. Eau De Delicious!

  Strolling the few blocks from her house to the shop, like she did every morning, Marilyn took great pleasure in seeing the bright yellow clapboard siding of her building come into view. Although she was more than a bit biased, she truly believed that her shop had the cutest storefront that she’d ever seen. Tiara and Marilyn’s mother had helped with the interior, which was whimsically mermaid-themed.

  She’d had sculptures of mermaids with iridescent, mosaic tiled tails, affixed to the walls, so that they looked as though they were frolicking above the visitors’ heads. Their bejeweled bikini tops were a bright lime green, much like the pies that the mermaids held, each in a different position, with looks of pie-induced rapture on their faces. The ceiling featured a huge mural of lime trees, palm trees, ocean, seaweed, mermaids, and key lime pies. Tiara had had a young friend at the time, whose older brother was studying to be an artist. Marilyn made a deal with him, paying for a custom-p
ainted ceiling by providing the enterprising young man with commercial experience and a lifetime supply of pie.

  It wasn’t unusual for Marilyn to sit down with her customers, particularly the locals who were weekly regulars, to have a thick slice of one of her delightful creations. She’d also been known to drop off pies to customers who were ill or infirm and couldn’t leave the house. Giving back to the community was just a huge part of who she was, and always would be.

  Marilyn was ready to start her day, and had just unlocked and opened the front door when she heard a clunking noise that made her pause for a moment before entering. It sounded like something, or someone, had moved, somewhere inside the shop.

  “Hello?” she called, lingering in the relative safety of the open front door.

  She tried bravely to keep any sound of panic from her voice, telling herself that that it was probably just the icemaker, or the air conditioner, or something perfectly normal and safe, that had made the noise.

  Another sound, this time more of a shuffling. Marilyn wracked her brain for an explanation or reason for the noise.

  “Police might be investigating a break in. A break could be going on right now. Someone with a crazy sweet tooth couldn’t wait until 10...” she mentally ran through a list of options that ranged from plausible to bizarre, in rapid succession.

  “Mom?” Tiara’s voice called out, as she emerged from the back office.

  “Heavens to Betsy!” Marilyn sagged with relief, a hand over her heart.

  “Did you seriously just say that?” her daughter giggled.

  “I thought you were at home asleep. I nearly came in swinging,” Marilyn exhaled noisily.

  Mother and daughter both cracked up at the image of that scenario.

  “What are you doing here so early?” Marilyn recovered, stepping into the cozy shop and locking the door behind her.

  “I couldn’t sleep last night so I stayed up doing some of your paperwork, then I still couldn’t sleep so I did more paperwork and eventually I needed to see the records you keep here, so I came over,” Tiara explained, stifling a yawn.

  “You haven’t been to sleep yet?” a concerned frown creased Marilyn’s brow.

  “Oh stop looking all worried,” Tiara waved a hand. “It’s fine, I’m taking these new diet pills and they’re like fifty percent caffeine so they just kept me up.” she shrugged, nonchalant.

  Marilyn couldn’t ever remember Tiara worrying about her weight or size, she’d never mentioned it before, and she was a perfectly healthy young woman.

  “Why in the world would you be taking diet pills?” she demanded. “You’re gorgeous, healthy and athletic. I don’t understand.”

  “I don’t know, I guess I just want to trim down a bit, that’s all,” she replied, not quite meeting her mother’s eyes.

  “Clearly. I just don’t understand why,” her mother raised an eyebrow.

  “Anyway, what I found out…” Tiara clumsily tried to change the subject, but her mother wasn’t having it. Not for an instant.

  “Honey, I’d like to talk about this. I don’t like the idea of you taking potentially harmful substances…and when did this all start?” Marilyn refused to let it go.

  “Mom this is not a big deal. I know what I’m doing. I’m an adult now and I can make my own decisions, end of story,” her headstrong daughter insisted. “Right now I want to talk about you and your finances.”

  Marilyn took a deep breath. She needed to detach temporarily so she could properly process the situation and her fears, and address it later. Forcing a smile, she allowed the change of subject…for now.

  “Ok, let me have it,” she bit her lip, hoping that Tiara didn’t have bad news.

  “It’s amazing, mom. You’re doing really, really well…your profits are solid,” she grinned her approval. “And just so you know, you are never allowed to crunch numbers again. You’ve just hired me to do it for you.”

  “Well that’s a relief, but what do you mean ‘I’ve hired you’?” Marilyn was puzzled.

  Tiara shook her head and laughed at her mother’s confusion.

  “What I mean is that you really need to hire some extra help, based on all of this,” Tiara held up a packet of papers and the red ledger. “Your business is ready to expand.”

  “That’s a little scary to think about, but pretty exciting too,” her mother nodded, clearly pleased.

  “And,” Tiara looked down at the floor, then back up at her mother. “I’ve been thinking…maybe it’s a good thing that I haven’t been picked up by one of my dream companies yet. It would be fun to spend a few months here, doing your books and helping you transition into expanding the business, before I accept some great opportunity that will take me away from you,” she said quietly.

  Marilyn’s eyes welled with tears, but she blinked them back to avoid an overly emotional display. Tiara was terribly uncomfortable when her uber-sensitive mother choked up about normal life events that made it obvious that her little girl was growing up.

  “You want to come to work for me?” she asked in disbelief.

  “Well, when you say it like that…” her daughter made a face.

  Marilyn laughed, completely understanding. She had done everything she could to get as far out of reach from her parents as possible when she was Tiara’s age.

  “You don’t have to, you know. I understand that new graduates aren’t always dying to work for their mom…but if you wanted to…” she left it open-ended, trying to conceal her excitement, and failing miserably.

  “What I want is for you to stop pretending that you’re trying to talk me out of it,” her daughter chuckled. “Oh, and just so you know, I’ve already posted an ad for an additional baker to help you out.”

  Marilyn followed her daughter to the tiny administrative office in the back of the shop.

  “I don’t know if I want another baker around. What if they want to change things? Or what if they’re terrible? I don’t want to be responsible for firing someone,” she worried.

  “Wow, Mom. I can’t possibly keep up with all of your roadblocks on so little sleep. I’ll go home and go to bed and we can talk about it later. I’m heading out. Love you,” Tiara breezed by, jangling her keys as she went.

  “Love you too,” Marilyn said to her daughter’s retreating back, trying to absorb what she’d just learned.

  She didn’t quite know what to think about her daughter, the expansion, and the thought of sharing her kitchen, but it was evident that life was about to become very interesting.

  Chapter 3

  The next few days were fun and productive. Tiara worked with Marilyn on finances, paperwork, and plans for expansion, getting the office completely re-organized, and making a list of necessary upgrades for her mother to look over, along with a strategic business plan for the next couple of years. The shop was closed on Tuesdays so that Marilyn always had at least one day off, and she was excited to be spending the day with Tiara after working so hard with her on getting the new expansion set up.

  “Honey, you’re really good at this. Where did you learn all of this stuff? It isn’t exactly a part of the engineering curriculum,” she asked, as the two women walked side by side on their way to their Yoga on the Beach class.

  “I took business classes along with engineering ones,” she shrugged. “Besides, I grew up watching you start and grow your own business,” she gave her mother a proud grin.

  “You seem really happy,” Marilyn remarked, noting a new glow about her daughter.

  “I guess it’s because I’ve made the decision to stay here for a while, I feel good about it. Actually, that’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about.”

  “What?” Marilyn froze, trying not to show her alarm.

  “Don’t look at me like that,” Tiara giggled. “I haven’t changed my mind or anything, I was just wondering if I might be able to get an advance. No big deal.”

  “What kind of an advance are we talking about?” Marilyn asked, relie
ved, but hoping that her daughter wasn’t expecting a huge sum. It wasn’t at all that she didn’t trust Tiara, she just made it a point to be very prudent with her spending.

  “I need fifteen hundred dollars. You can deduct it from my paycheck in two hundred dollar increments until it’s paid off,” she replied casually.

  Marilyn stopped walking again.

  “Fifteen hundred dollars? Honey, that’s a lot of money…” she frowned.

  “I know,” Tiara acknowledged. “But it would just be a loan, and I’ve already verified that you’re able to do it without impacting your expansion plans at all,” she kept walking while she explained, forcing her mother to catch up.

  “That’s not a problem, but what’s happening in your life that causes a need for fifteen hundred dollars?” Marilyn asked, consumed with thoughts of dark scenarios.