by Woods, Lori
“Accident or not, you’re coming with me,” Jeffrey said, marching the man out of the building.
Molly followed behind, smiling excitedly. It seemed that the case was finally closed.
Chapter 12
The line for Whip and Dazzle’s chocolate and caramel apple pops was more than Molly had expected. The sibling duo had finally figured out how to perfect their bite-sized creations. Unable to make the caramel stick to the exposed interior of the apples, Dazzle had recalled the story of the creation of the Hershey’s company. The company had originally wanted to make caramel bars, but the caramel would melt and they were not able to make the name Hershey appear on the bars, so they had switched to chocolate. Dazzle’s bet had been that chocolate would stick to the apples better, so the siblings had decided to take their apple bites and dip them in chocolate first. Once cooled, they dipped the chocolate covered apples into the caramel, and the caramel stuck much better to the surface of the chocolate. To top it off, Whip had added candy sprinkles to the caramel to give it a more colorful appearance.
The moment Bonnie had uploaded the pictures of the chocolate and caramel apple pops to their social media pages, people had started showing up to try out the new treats. People were loving them, and they bought multiples to take home with them.
“Way to go, guys,” Molly told Whip and Dazzle, before sending them into the kitchen to make more of their specialty dessert.
“Thanks, Molly!” Dazzle shrieked excitedly, dragging her older brother into the kitchen with her so they could continue making the apple pops.
Bonnie and Braxton laughed slightly as the other sibling pair dipped out of the main floor. “We’re running out of these pretty quick,” Bonnie said. “If we get another rush of customers in like we did just now, I don’t know if they will be able to make them fast enough.”
“Braxton, why don’t you take the company card and head to the store to get more apples?” Molly suggested, handing Braxton her card. “Get maybe five dozen?”
“Will do!” he said, darting out the door and nearly bumping into Jack as he entered.
Molly rolled her eyes slightly as the two of them passed one another in the doorway. “Jack, what are you doing here?” she asked, groaning.
“Just came by to congratulate you two on solving Rita’s case,” he said. “Though I doubt you would have been able to do it without my help with that puzzle box.”
“All that puzzle box did was prove that Troy wasn’t a viable suspect,” Molly said. “Jeffrey and I found out it was Glen.”
“You’re right,” Jack said, and then grinned at Jeffrey. “Maybe I owe you an apology. You and I got off on the wrong foot… I shouldn’t have swung on you at the back to school bash. That was pretty uncalled for.”
“I don’t think we got off on the wrong foot at all,” Jeffrey said. “I think I would have decided I wasn’t going to like you whether you had socked me or not.”
Jack was taken back by this comment. “Dude, are you for real right now?”
“Yeah, pretty much,” Jeffrey said. “You’re kind of a tool, Jack. I think you should just head on back to Atlanta, where you belong.”
Jack huffed. “Well, believe me, I don’t plan on sticking around for too much longer.”
Molly frowned. “What do you mean? You’re not leaving yet?”
“Of course not,” he said, popping his collar a bit. “I’ve got some business to attend to in Savannah. You’ll be seeing more of me.”
“Please, don’t,” Molly moaned.
“Oh, come on, you know you’ve missed me,” Jack said with a wink. “I kind of want to try one of those apple pops everyone has been raving about, though.” He stepped up to the counter, paid, and took a bite of the chocolate and caramel apple pop that Whip and Dazzle had made. He nodded approvingly, then winked at Molly on the way out the door. “Catch you later, Moll.”
Molly rolled her eyes. “I don’t really care for his nickname for you,” Jeffrey said. “Moll?”
“Yeah,” Molly said, huffing. “He thought it was cute.”
“You want to get out of here?” Jeffrey asked.
Molly smiled. “What were you thinking?”
“A date,” he said. “With your ex-boyfriend in town and all of the craziness of the past week, you and I have not really spent quality time together.”
“We’ve spent time together,” Molly argued.
“Working on a case doesn’t count,” he said, laughing a bit and shaking his head. “Early dinner at the Pirate House? I know how much you love their pimento cheeseburger.”
Molly nodded. “Bonnie, you going to be good working the front counter by yourself until Braxton gets back?” she asked.
“Of course!” Bonnie exclaimed. “You two have fun.” Bonnie waved to them excitedly; she always liked being given responsibility of the shop. She was a young girl who thrived in roles of leadership, which made for a very excellent employee.
Molly and Jeffrey exited the shop, hand in hand. Truthfully, the thought of Jack sticking around town was making her a bit nauseated. She had thought she had left that life behind her, but it seemed as though the man was up to something. Surely, he didn’t think he could win her back? She certainly hoped not — not after the way he had treated her and the way he had treated Jeffrey. The last thing she wanted was to have to deal with seeing him all the time. Eventually, she figured, he was going to have to go back to work in Atlanta. It wasn’t like he was going to give up his good position up there just to chase after her. No, he would be gone before she knew it, that much she was certain of.
In the meantime, she decided not to think about him too much. Instead, she focused on Jeffrey and trying to decide just what she was going to order for dinner on their date night.
Afterword
Thank you so much for reading Caramel Apples & Murder. If you have a moment, I’d love a review on Amazon, which will help others too.
Please join my mailing list to be updated on all my latest releases:
http://eepurl.com/c0Bv5b
Why not read the others books in the Sweet Treats mysteries too? You can find the links overleaf.
Thank you,
Lori xo
Also by Lori Woods
Sweet Treat Cozy Mysteries:
Strawberry Crunch & Murder (Book 1)
Peanut Butter Fudge & Murder (Book 2)
Lemon Bars & Murder (Book 3)
Mint Choc Chip & Murder (Book 4)
Key Lime Pie & Murder (Book 5)
Red Velvet Cake & Murder (Book 6)
Carrot Cake & Murder (Book 7)
My witch paranormal series:
Nightshade Cozy Mysteries
