Page 2 of Merry Murder Season
I decided to change the subject. “Are you coming to Thanksgiving at the house? I haven’t heard fromeither of you.”
“Mom’s out of town, so I thought I’d just hang at the house.” Deek moved back behind the coffee bar. “I’ll grab the boxes of books that needto be shelved.”
“Deek Kerr, you stay right there.” I didn’t use my boss voice often but this was going to be one of those times. When he froze and turned to me, I continued. “There is no way you’re not coming for dinner now that I know your mom’s not going to be home. So what areyou bringing?”
“Jill, it’s your first family dinner since you’ve been married. You don’t need strays hanging around.” He blushed as he glanced over at Tilly, who now had her hands on her hips.
“Oh, so you don’t think I should go, either?” she challenged him. “I don’t appreciate being called a stray.”
“I didn’t say that.” Deek stumbled over his words. Finally, he let his shoulders drop. “Look, I don’t want you to invite me because I’m some loser who doesn’t have family for Thanksgiving. Mom’s just not into those traditions, so she’s going on a cruise. I’mused to this.”
“Which is why you’re coming. My family isn’t just those people who are related to Greg or me. You should know that by now. I won’t have you sitting around the apartment eating ramen while we’re having a turkey dinner. Besides, I think Harrold is bringing Lille, so I’ll need some of my people towatch my back.”
Lille Stanley, the owner of Diamond Lille’s, was one of my Uncle Harrold’s favorite people. Lille liked Greg and my Aunt Jackie too. She just hated me. Thanksgiving dinner should be fun. Not.
I’d say Lille would have Jim to chat with since he used to hate me too, but since he started dating Beth, he’d been more open to my presence. Besides, since Greg and I were married now, Greg’s first wife Sherry was outof the picture.
“She hates you? How can anyone hate you?” Tilly’s eyes widened. She was such a nice young woman, she didn’t understand the concept. “Well, I’ll be there to watch your back. I don’t have the money to visit my folks now that they’ve moved to Tennessee. I don’t want to be in the house all by myself. I love the holidays. Mom left me all the old Christmas decorations, so I’ve been working on getting the house looking like Santa’s workshop for weeks.”
“My mom never decorated,” Deek admitted. “I hated the holidays growing up because we were always the one family who didn’t have a tree or lightson the house.”
“Well, Greg is going to get everyone to help string lights outside the house and we’ll be decorating the tree after dinner. It’s one of the King family traditions.” I was looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving this year. “Aunt Jackie and Harrold are leaving for a cruise on Friday. So you won’t see her for two weeks if you don’t come.”
Deek stared at me. “I thought you wanted me to come.”
“Stop it.” I started laughing. “You love Aunt Jackie.I know you do.”
“Did I tell you she updated my author questionnaire last week for people who want to schedule book events here? She thinks we should charge an event fee if they don’t hit a certain amount of sales.” Deek threw a clean towel over his shoulder as he talked.
I groaned. Aunt Jackie had been harping on that for a while. And she hated the Cove Connection book club. She thought that members should be required to buy the book from the store to participate. I didn’t care where they bought or borrowed the book from, I just wanted people to be reading more. Besides, we worked closely with our local library on author events. “I’ll talk to her. Just file away the changed copy and don’t make any drastic movements. We’re doing fine financially on author events overall. Some are just more popular than others. Everyone needs a shot in the arm every once in a while.”
“Thanks. I’d rather not tell my newly published authors I don’t think they’re big enough to bother with.” Deek nodded to the back door. “Am I excused? Those books aren’t going to shelve themselves.”
“Are you coming to Thanksgiving?” I stared him down.
He blinked first. “I’ll bring focaccia bread. I’ve been workingon my recipe.”
Tilly watched him head to the back room. “He reads, he’s cute, and he bakes? How on earth is hestill single?”
From the look in Tilly’s eyes, Deek might not be that way for long.
* * *
Greg came into the shop just before my shift ended at eleven. “Do you have time for lunch at Diamond Lille’s?”
“I’d love to.” I nodded to Deek. “You have the helm, good sir.”
Deek laughed and pointed at Tilly. “This one thinks she’s in charge. If I didn’t know better, I would think I was still working with your aunt. Tilly loves the checklists.”
Tilly playfully slapped his arm. “There’s nothing wrong with a little organization now and then. With the sieve of my brain, writing things down is the only way I know I’ll remember to do something. Oh, I forgot to tell you, I’m going to bring pumpkin cheesecake if that’s okay.”
I was a little thrown by the change of subject, but Tilly’s mind just worked like that. And anything she thought came out of her mouth. Mostly. “Sounds great. I’ll see you both on Thursday. Call if youneed anything.”
As Greg and I started down the street toward Diamond Lille’s, he glanced back at the bookstore. “Are both of them coming toThanksgiving?”
“Yes. Judith is going out of town. Toby, of course, will be there and Evie’s already gone to see Sasha.” I ticked off my staff members on my fingers as I listed them. “Anyone from City Hall?”
“Your friends Amy and Justin are heading to see his folks. Esmeralda is going to New Orleans to be with her family. And the rest of them are otherwise committed. I’d hoped that Tim and Dona might come and bring the baby, but they’re going to her parents’ place in Sacramento.” He nodded to the antique store. “Josh and Mandy are going to her family’s farm. He’s not lookingforward to it.”
