Page 5 of The Pumpkin Spice Cafe
‘Are you the new café owner?’ The black-haired woman asked her. ‘I’m Kaori.’
‘Jeanie. And, yes, I’m the new owner.’
‘Get that place up and running again!’ the lady with the baby scolded with a laugh. ‘I’m tired of meeting at Kaori’s house. It’s too cluttered in there. Cutesy vases and weird knick-knacks everywhere. It gives me hives.’
Kaori playfully smacked the woman’s shoulder. ‘Ignore Isabel. And welcome to Dream Harbor.’
The book club ladies then returned to talking amongst themselves.
‘Passion in the Fields, huh?’ Jeanie asked, unable to resist.
Logan cleared his throat and shifted in his seat, the chair creaking loudly in protest. ‘I didn’t read it.’
‘Too bad. Sounds like a good one.’ She stifled a laugh at the thought of Logan reading a book about a farmer and a milkmaid, and forced herself to stop casting herself in the role of said ‘milkmaid’.
‘I guess I need to get things opened up again. I don’t want to anger the book club.’ She’d meant it as a joke but even she could hear the uncertainty in her voice, the stress of not being ready to open creeping in.
‘Don’t worry about them. They’re just looking for a place to peddle their pornography.’
Jeanie looked up just in time to catch the small smile on his face. Another joke.
‘Well, we wouldn’t want that. And we certainly wouldn’t want to objectify farmers.’
Logan’s smile hitched higher. Oh, damn, she might need to go check this book out later. Satisfy her new appreciation for farmers in a safe way.
‘Did I miss anything?’ A woman with curly brown hair dropped into the seat on the other side of Logan.
‘Nope.’
‘Actually, you missed a pretty interesting literary conversation,’ Jeanie chimed in, reminding Logan of her presence.
‘It was not interesting. Jeanie, this is Hazel. Hazel, Jeanie.’
Hazel extended her hand across Logan’s lap and Jeanie took it. Hazel’s fingers stuck out of her fingerless mittens, and they were cold in Jeanie’s hand.
‘Nice to meet you.’
Hazel’s gaze flicked from Jeanie to Logan and back again. ‘Nice to meet you, too. I run the bookstore next to your café.’
Jeanie’s smile grew. ‘Oh, it’s so cute!’
Hazel’s cheeks colored. ‘Thanks.’
Jeanie was busy wondering if Hazel kept any farmer romances stocked and nearly missed the woman’s next question.
‘And how do you two know each other?’ she asked.
‘Oh, the usual way,’ Jeanie said. ‘I nearly knocked his head off with a baseball bat because I thought he was an intruder on his way to murder me, but he was actually just dropping off adorable little pumpkins . . . er . . . gourds. And then I mentioned the café might be haunted so he suggested I come here for some . . . uh . . . help.’
Hazel’s eyes widened behind her glasses. ‘Uh . . . wow.’
Jeanie tried for a smile that made her seem slightly less unhinged, but she didn’t think it landed. Hazel sat back in her seat with a small smile of her own. She whispered something to Logan, which made Logan give a fierce shake of his head. Jeanie didn’t have time to overthink that before another woman landed in a chair in the row ahead of them.
‘Do you see him over there? He’s clearly plotting something,’ she said, launching straight into a conversation Jeanie didn’t know they were having.
‘He looks like he’s just talking,’ mumbled Logan, and the new woman narrowed her eyes at him.
‘Yeah, talking to the mayor. He’s probably got more crazy plans to ruin this town.’
