A Caffeine Conundrum

by Angela Ruth Strong

  “That was kind of harsh,” Connor said as he rolled to a stop and shifted into park, and she knew he wasn’t talking about the Snoopy balcony decoration. He was talking about her treatment of Marissa.

  Tandy sighed. “I know.” She was tired and achy, and while she’d come to town with a plan for her life, she now had nothing. Except her dog. At least the only game Cocoa ever played was fetch. Well, she was trying to get him to fetch anyway. “Marissa’s harsh to you all the time. Doesn’t it ever bother you?”

  “It wasn’t always like this,” Connor defended, as if that made Marissa’s behavior better. “She has a tendency to throw the baby out with the bathwater.”

  The way she’d thrown away her perfectly good gloves earlier? And the way she’d taken her fiancé to the dump when their relationship could have been salvaged?

  “Like if she spills a drop of coffee, she just pours the whole thing out.”

  Tandy sat up straighter. “She drinks coffee?”

  Connor laughed and leaned back in his seat. “Sorry. I drink coffee. She drinks tea. I meant to say, she dumps her tea out.”

  Tandy sank back into her seat. Why did opposites have to attract? Wouldn’t life be easier if coffee drinkers dated coffee drinkers?

  “I think it’s because her parents had really high expectations of her,” Connor continued. “She could never meet them.”

  Tandy grunted acknowledgment. She didn’t relate. Her parents had never had any expectations of her. They were too busy fighting their own battles. Who would have thought parents with high expectations could also mess up their kid?

  “I think her problems stem from the fact that she drinks tea,” Tandy countered. “I mean, if she tried coffee, she’d learn to treasure every drop.”

  Connor smiled a sweet smile. He was the Caramel Macchiato of men. “Perhaps.”

  “She’s not a cat person too, is she?”

  “She’s more of a fish person.”

  Tandy smiled back. While she really liked this Connor guy, what she liked most about him was how devoted he was to one woman. “She’ll come around.”

  “To dogs?”

  “To you.”

  The frost on his smile melted away. He leaned forward conspiratorially. “I’m not the kind of guy to try to make a girl jealous, but I liked the way she didn’t want me pretending to be on a date with you tonight. It gives me hope.”

  A laugh rumbled up, and Tandy gripped at the pain in her ribs to help push it back down. “If not for the way you left me to roll around in the snow with her, it would have been the best fake date ever.”

  He grimaced. “You really think that was an accident? And you think the rocks in the road were a juvenile prank? Or do you think someone is after you?”

  Tandy stared out into the dark night. Thinking that someone wanted to kill her made going into an empty apartment a scary thought. She already had enough scary thoughts to deal with. Like how she had no income.

  “I don’t know. If Virginia was killed, and I do believe she was, then it’s likely related to the robbery from the Historical Society. The change in her will is too much of a coincidence for the crimes not to be connected.”

  “Yeah. And the police are already handling the robbery.” Connor eyed her. “You two will stay out of it now, right? For your own safety.”

  Tandy wouldn’t make any promises for Marissa, but it wasn’t like they had more leads or suspects. “I don’t see why anybody would be after us. I mean, I’m new to town. Nobody knows me. And while Marissa knows everyone, she’s her own worst enemy.”

  Connor gave his thinking-of-Marissa half smirk. “Poor Marissa.”

  He had it bad if he even adored her greatest weakness of clumsiness. “Can you believe she fell out of the bucket tonight?” she asked.

  “Yes.” He laughed, and she joined in until the stabbing pain in her ribs reminded her that laughter was a bad idea.

  Why was she not in bed yet? She grabbed the door handle and yanked it open, letting a light snow drift in. “Thanks for the ride.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  She slid to the ground and stepped out of the way to swing the squeaky door shut.

  “Hey, Tandy.”

  She stopped. Leaned back in toward his warmth. Imagined he’d decided to take her on a real date.

  “I hope you’ll come around too. Marissa needs a friend.”

  She gave him her get-real face. “I can see why she doesn’t have any with the way she treats you.”

  Connor tilted his head in acknowledgment. “I’m just thinking, she messed up tonight. Maybe if you accepted her anyway, she’d realize that she doesn’t have to be perfect to have healthy relationships. And then maybe she’ll get to the point where she’ll stop expecting everyone else to be perfect too.”

  It was an interesting idea. How exhausting that Marissa seemed to think love had to be earned. Of course, that’s why Connor wanted Tandy to play nice. He wanted her to help his ex see the value in the love she already had. “I’ll think about it, Connor.”

  “Thanks.”

  She actually couldn’t stop thinking about it. His words followed her up the stairs. They stayed with her when Cocoa met her at her neighbor’s door. They wove themselves around her as she trudged into bed. They escorted her memory back through the events of the day spent primarily with Marissa.

  It had been a long time since she’d spent so much time with one person. Perhaps Tandy also needed to learn how to have friends, too, though it wouldn’t be because she tried too hard. More like the opposite.

  Hmm. She’d rather consider the facts of their mystery than try to solve her relationship issues.

  Her thoughts snagged on the memory of Joseph Cross. She’d written him off her suspect list, but that was with the proviso he’d truly sold his riverboats. She’d planned to look that up tomorrow then forgotten about him with all the drama that had happened afterward. But of anybody who could have set up the roadblock for her to crash, he was the only one she knew who had both means and motive.

  She really didn’t think he was a bad guy. Though Marissa had.

  Tandy stared at the texture on the ceiling. She’d follow up on checking out Joseph Cross’s claim in the morning. Not because she wanted a friendship with Marissa. Well, not entirely. Mostly because she didn’t want to get blamed again for something she hadn’t done.

  Marissa jolted in bed, away from the sensation of falling that had been tugging at her all night long. Whew. She was safe in her room.

  Oh wait. She really had fallen. That hadn’t been a nightmare.

  She’d fallen out of a fireman’s bucket in front of the whole town. And Lavella Moon.

  Marissa cupped her hands over her face, feeling the threads of scratches against her cheeks. Yep. Her nightmare was real. Which meant she needed to put on some serious makeup. It also meant she was going to get a call from her mom.

  She checked her phone. Twelve voicemails. Did she have to call back, or could she wait to get criticized on Christmas Eve? She had enough enemies at the moment without having to worry about her parents too. However, if she proved Lavella guilty, she might get to step into the Miss USA pageant as first runner up, which meant she’d be returning home with the crown.

  Marissa clicked to her texting app. She’d send a quick message to let her parents know she was getting ready for the Christmas Cruise that night. They’d be proud she was still attending, right? Maybe if she acted like her fall from the fireman’s bucket the night before had never happened, they would forget about it in the light of this event.

  She hit send and climbed out of bed, pondering the ways Lavella was out to destroy her. How far would she go? Should Marissa ask Connor if she could borrow Ranger as a watchdog?

  She grimaced at herself in the mirror. He’d probably already lent Ranger to Tandy. And Tandy didn’t want anything to do with her anymore. Was there anyone on Marissa’s side?

  Billie. She was on everyone’s side. Even Joseph Cross’s side whe
n they’d thought the man had possibly murdered Virginia.

  Oh no. Marissa blindly sat herself down on the lid of the toilet. If she was right about Virginia being killed for the diary, then wouldn’t Billie be at risk too? Because Billie was the one who’d owned it. She had read it. If Lavella thought she still had it, and she didn’t hand it over, could she be hurt? Or worse?

  Marissa leapt into action, pulling on fuzzy leggings and a tunic sweater. She’d soaked in her jet tub for almost an hour the night before, so she could skip the shower, though she couldn’t skip her tea. She used her instant hot water dispenser to brew what Connor used to call her “Morning Thunder” blend in a travel mug. A girl couldn’t save the world without being properly caffeinated. Then she shifted her Jeep into four-wheel-drive and powered over the fresh layer of snow from the night before.

  “Billie!” She burst through the door of Grandma’s Attic to find the city council members roaming the place with clipboards in their hands.

  Oops. The Christmas decoration contest. Joseph Cross tossed her an irritated yet sophisticated glance.

  She pivoted to avoid eye contact and ran directly into Connor’s mom, Abigail. Had the woman recently been elected to the board? That’s right. She had.

  Marissa’s gaze darted around in search of an escape. “Ooh, a vintage nativity set.” She stepped past.

  Footsteps followed to where she stood facing the crèche on a credenza. “It reminds me of when you and Connor played Mary and Joseph in the live nativity last Christmas Eve,” Abigail said from behind her.

  That was a memory Marissa preferred to forget. Which Abigail had to know. “Yes. It was…cold.” Kind of like how she felt now. What was she doing here again? Oh yeah. Billie.

  She spotted the older woman serving apple cider from the beautiful silver tea set she’d been admiring the day before. Unless the cider was made from a poison apple, the shop owner was safe. And that was the important thing.

  Now Marissa would change the subject to avoid discussing how she’d once been engaged to Connor the way Mary had been engaged to Joseph. “Uh… What’s the prize for the decorating contest?” Yes. That would veer them away from talking about Connor.

  “Connor donated renovation work to the winner.”

  Oh? Marissa turned sideways and peeked up to find Abigail watching her for a response. Connor’s mom had never wanted to understand why she’d broken off their engagement. “That’s nice.” She swallowed, wishing she’d picked Chamomile tea for breakfast to battle her sudden acid reflux. “Does, uh, Grandma’s Attic have a shot at winning?”

  Abigail flipped through the pages on her clipboard. “I can’t say anything specific, though Billie is always tough to beat. I’d heard Virginia Pierce had some grand plan up her sleeve, but now we’ll never know.”

  Marissa’s spine stiffened, and she shot Mr. Cross a wary look. “I’d heard that too.” Did he feel as much shame as she did over his past deception? Had he really turned Virginia down when she’d asked him to rig the contest?

  But why would Virginia want to win Connor’s services anyway? She was selling the shop. “I wonder…”

  Her voice faded away when the bell over the front door rang and Connor stepped inside, wearing the khaki Carhartt jacket she’d given him for his birthday. “What do you wonder?” he challenged, likely assuming it had to do with the investigation he had no right to tell her to give up.

  Abigail sipped from a China cup. “Now I’m curious what you are wondering too.”

  Marissa blinked and realized that practically everyone was watching her stare at Connor. She had to say something. Though what could she say in front of Mr. Cross? She shrugged. “I’m wondering what you’re doing here, Connor.”

  His eyes told her he didn’t buy it. Probably because she usually feigned indifference around him, and her deep contemplation had been the exact opposite. “Mom couldn’t get out of our driveway in her Porsche this morning. I’m her chauffeur for the day.”

  A legitimate excuse. Abigail’s husband had surprised her with the convertible Porsche when she turned fifty. Not practical in the winter, but she usually stayed home to work on their farm anyway.

  “You’ve been giving lots of rides lately,” Marissa quipped before she could stop herself. Tandy was none of her business.

  One corner of his lips curved up. “A few,” he said, possibly inferring that there were more than the two she knew about.

  She pressed her lips together to keep from giving him anything more than a tight smile.

  “Well, it’s good to see you, hon.” Abigail patted her arm.

  Marissa turned her face toward Abigail though it took a little longer for her gaze to follow. She had trouble interacting with the woman who would have been her mother-in-law, but she had even more trouble with Connor watching. She couldn’t avoid eye contact now.

  Marissa gave a toothpaste commercial smile. “You too.”

  Abigail blinked at the unexpected volume then squeezed where she’d been patting. “I still pray for you every night.”

  Marissa couldn’t say “you too” to that one. Plus, it kind of irked her that Connor’s family thought she needed prayer. “Thank you.”

  “Come on, Mom,” Connor prompted, holding the door open to the sound of jingling overhead.

  Marissa relaxed when Abigail and the rest of the councilmembers preceded Connor out, though she’d watch from the corner of her eyes to make sure Joseph Cross was completely out of sight before she focused on Billie. Through the window she saw Connor motion for Abigail to step ahead of him, and he started to follow, but as Tandy breezed past him toward the entrance, he pivoted and trailed the younger woman instead.

  Grr… Marissa didn’t want to see either of them, and she especially didn’t want to see them together.

  The bell rang to mark Tandy’s arrival. “Oh, good, I was hoping you’d be here, Marissa.”

  Marissa’s eyebrows leaped like ballerinas in The Nutcracker. Tandy came to Grandma’s Attic looking for her? “Hi.”

  “Why was Joseph Cross here?”

  “He’s a decorating contest judge.”

  “Among other things…”

  Whatever that meant.

  The bell rang again as Connor reentered. If they kept this up, the two of them could take over for her church’s hand bell choir.

  He planted himself like a soldier. What? Was he Tandy’s bodyguard now?

  Tandy held Cocoa in one arm and dug through her little backpack with the other. She wore the same black boots and coat from the day before, though she’d exchanged the high ponytail for a messy bun on top of her head and added a gray scarf around her neck. Not much for color or variety, but she did have a grungy kind of beauty. If that was a thing.

  “Look.” She pulled out a sheaf of papers. “I checked public records, and Cross did indeed sell his riverboat company, but he sold it to the same company that owns the retirement center. He basically sold it to himself.”

  That’s what Tandy had meant. She thought the guy responsible for Virginia’s death was out judging decorating contests. If he wasn’t guilty, then why would he have lied to them about selling his steamboats?

  Could he have had something to do with Lavella’s crown? Tandy had originally thought Lavella was out to prove he’d rigged Marissa’s grandmother’s win, but maybe they were in this together somehow. There was already the connection of the Christmas Cruise.

  “So that’s why Mr. Cross still runs the Christmas Cruise. Luckily, Lavella gave me tickets for tonight.” She gave a sly grin before remembering she was being watched by a guy who’d forbidden her to “sleuth.”

  Connor took her grin as an invitation to stride forward. “What do you mean? If you’re suspicious of Cross, you shouldn’t go on his cruise alone.”

  “I’m not. I’m going with Tandy.” Tandy would let her sleuth.

  Tandy blinked. “This cruise isn’t a dress up thing, is it? I don’t dress up.”

  Marissa waved her hand to shus
h any arguments. Once she worked her makeover magic on Tandy, she’d be singing a different carol.

  Tandy lifted her chin. “I’m serious, Marissa.”

  Connor motioned toward Tandy. “It sounds like you better take me.”

  Marissa held up her finger then pinned it against his chest when he didn’t relent. She pushed, but he didn’t move. “You could have been my Ned Nickerson, but it’s too late now, buddy.”

  “Ned who?”

  Tandy squinted. “Is that a Nancy Drew reference? Because I picture Connor as more of a Hardy Boy. Probably Frank. He had a thing for Nancy.”

  Connor brushed her finger from his chest. “Marissa, you are not Nancy Drew.”

  “Really?” She raised her other hand to poke him. “Because it looks like I was right all along about Mr. Cross.”

  Billie joined the group, petting Cocoa. “Are you talking about Joseph Cross again? He told me Virginia hadn’t been blackmailing him after all.”

  Connor answered for her. “I don’t know about Joseph Cross, but I know these girls were in a car accident on their way home from the retirement community.”

  Billie gasped. “A car accident? On top of the Christmas tree lighting incident? That’s scary, Marissa.”

  Marissa placed both her hands on Connor’s chest to shove him toward the door. At least this time he stepped backwards a few steps with her pressure. Not far enough. She leaned at an angle to push harder, but he remained planted.

  “Yes, this is her second recent brush with death,” Tandy confirmed.

  “Are you okay?” Billie asked from behind.

  Marissa nodded then grimaced. Nancy Drew probably never ruined a tree lighting by mistake, but that was not the point here. The point was that Marissa knew who the bad guy was. She just had to figure out how to prove it without destroying her family’s reputation. Nancy wouldn’t have had that problem either.

  Nor would Nancy have had Marissa’s biggest problem—getting rid of an interfering ex.

  Chapter Thirteen