Invitation to Murder (Book 1 in the Candlemaking Mysteries) by Tim Myers Page B

hurt-puppy look in his eyes. But I wasn’t about to let him off
the hook that easy, either. “What are you sorry about?” I asked,
not taking the flowers from him.
    “ Let’s see, let’s start
with my attitude earlier, and the way I jumped to the wrong
conclusions. How’s that?”
    “ Surely you can think of
more to add to that list, can’t you?”
    Lillian spoke up behind me. “Don’t be so
hard on him, Jennifer. He’s offering to make peace.”
    Without turning, I said, “Don’t you have
something you need to be doing right now?”
    “ Oh nonsense,” she said,
but I could hear her move away.
    “ Go on,” I said to Greg.
“I’m still listening.”
    “ What else do you want me
to apologize for? I said I was sorry.”
    I frowned at him. “How about for spying on
me?”
    He lowered the flowers. “That’s one thing
I’m not sorry about at all. I agree with Bradford. As long as a
killer is on the loose in Rebel Forge and you could be the next
target, I’m going to do everything in my power to keep you safe,
and if that includes lurking outside your apartment at night, then
so be it.”
    “ When is everyone going to
get it? I don’t need any help.”
    “ You don’t know what you
need,” he said as he thrust the flowers into my chest. “Here, take
them.”
    Before I could say another word, he was
gone. I knew I’d been a little too hard on him, but I hadn’t been
able to help myself. Greg had a tough time apologizing about
anything, and I’d ground him down pretty good, but it was the only
way I could be sure he got the message. Once upon a time I would
have meekly accepted his offering without hesitation, but I‘d lived
and learned since then. If he was truly sorry, he was going to have
to do better than he had so far. I considered throwing the flowers
away, but they were too pretty to just toss into the trash can, and
besides, I loved roses. It wasn’t fair to them. I grabbed a vase,
arranged the flowers, then put them by the cash register. Lillian
came out of the back just as I finished. “So you came to your
senses and accepted them,” she said, smiling.
    “ I took the flowers, but
not the apology.” Lillian started to say something, but from the
look on her face, it was pretty obvious she changed her mind at the
last second. Once I was sure she was intent to leave it alone, I
said, “You can go home now. There’s no reason to hang around,
because I don’t know how long the lesson’s going to
last.”
    “ And leave you here alone
with a stranger?” she said. “Your brother would have my hide. I
think I’ll stay in back until you’re ready to go home.” I felt my
blood pressure spiking. “Now don’t you start with me. I won’t have
it!”
    “ Jennifer, I have an idea.
What if I stay, but for a completely different reason? I need to
learn to make cards as quickly as possible if I’m going to be of
any help to you at all. May I audit your lesson
tonight?”
    I frowned and considered it. “If it weren’t
such a good idea, I’d refuse on general principles. Tell me
something, Lillian. I know I drafted you into doing this, but do
you really want to help me here at the shop? It’s not that I don’t
love your company, but I feel guilty forcing you to work with me
here, especially since I can’t even afford to pay you.”
    “ Dear, sweet Jennifer,
there is nowhere I’d rather be. If we’re being honest with each
other, I’m not certain I have your passion for handcrafted cards,
but I do feel it’s possible I’ll develop it. What we’ve done so far
has been fun, but I need more experience before I can decide if
this is how I want to spend my time. Is that a fair answer to your
question?”
    I hugged her, then said, “It’s the best one
you could give. In that case, I’d be delighted to have you join us
here tonight.”
    There was a knock on the front door, and I
saw that my student had finally arrived. I said, “I’ll let Melinda
in, and you gather up more supplies