not let up until just before noon.
“Whew!” Ben exclaimed, flopping into a chair after the rush. “I didn’t know if we were going to make it through that one,” he joked.
“I know it!” Missy agreed, setting down a glass of iced tea for each of them. “It’s like the floodgates opened up. I swear we saw everyone in town and then some, today.”
“Well…you are kind of…famous now, you know,” her weary assistant said, as though it were common knowledge.
“Famous? Me? Hardly.” she scoffed, sipping her tea.
“No, I’m serious. When you and that detective were in Las Vegas and helped solve the crime against that celebrity cooking lady, it was all over the news here. You’re like some sort of superhero in these parts now,” he teased.
Missy laughed and shrugged modestly. “And here I thought all the fuss was about my Purple People Pleasers.”
“Well, apparently they were a huge hit too, we only have two left,” Ben said, looking toward the display. She followed his gaze and noticed that the featured cupcake wasn’t the only thing that they were running low on. The morning surge had wiped out a good portion of her supply for the day.
“Wow,” she commented, “we’re going to have to bake double batches of some things for tomorrow.”
“Looks that way,” he agreed, polishing off his tea. “Want me to go pull the ingredients for tomorrow?”
“That would be perfect, Ben, thank you.”
Missy leaned back in her chair feeling the best kind of tired. Today had been a productive and profitable day, she’d had the chance to interact with friends and neighbors who had come in for sweet treats, and more importantly, in a couple of hours, she’d get to go home and take her beloved Golden Retriever, Toffee, to the park.
The bell over the door jangled, and Missy looked over to see Detective Chas Beckett of the LaChance Police Department walking in.
“Sitting down on the job young lady?” he teased, taking a chair across from her.
“Thankfully, yes,” she smiled shyly at the handsome detective. “You should have seen the craziness in here this morning! There were a few times that the line stretched out the door.”
“Wow, sounds like business is booming! Good for you,” he grinned, unable to take his eyes away from the charming blonde in front of him.
“Apparently, we’re sort of famous around town now, from what I’ve been told,” she leaned in conspiratorially.
“Yeah, I’ve experiences some double-takes today, now I guess I know why.”
“Oh Chas, please, that’s not why!” Missy said without thinking, then blushed furiously.
Beckett blushed as well, laughing to cover his discomfort. “So, what’s a man have to do to get a cup of coffee around here,” he asked, changing the subject.
“Solve a murder, usually,” Ben replied, coming out of the kitchen with a mug in his hand. “Here you go, Detective, I thought you might like some.”
“I appreciate it Ben,” Chas accepted the mug and sipped the steaming liquid gingerly.
“Ben, did you remember to pull doubles of chocolate chips and bananas? I think we’re going to need them,” Missy remarked.
“Yep. I also cut up a double amount of strawberries too – thought it might be fun to try a strawberry/banana cupcake,” he suggested.
“Great idea!” his boss concurred, impressed with his creativity. “Well, if everything in the kitchen is wrapped up, you can head out. I’ll be fine here alone for the next couple of hours.”
“Sounds good – I have some serious studying to do tonight, and now I’ll be able to get a jump start on it. See you tomorrow, Miss G. Nice seeing you again, Detective Beckett.”
“You too, Ben,” Chas raised his hand in farewell. Once Missy’s assistant had left, he leaned forward slightly. “Are you…busy tomorrow night?” he asked quietly.
“What is tomorrow? Thursday? Let me take a look…” she pulled her phone out of the back pocket of her jeans to check her
C. J. Cherryh
Learning to Kill: Stories
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