A Lime To Kill: A Key West Culinary Cozy - Book 1 Read Online Free PDF Page A

the more frivolous ideas she’d had, but the
thought made her smile.
     
    “He really is
a sweet man,” Marilyn said when Fergus left.
     
    “I’m a big fan
of the quirk in this town. It’s like no other place in the world.” Tiara said
with a wistful look that made Marilyn wonder.
     
    “So you really
liked her?” Tiara said, snapping out of her reverie and returning to the
previous conversation about Susan, her mother’s newest employee.
     
    “Yup, I
did…and I hired her on the spot. I said you would be the money person since I take
care of the creative side of things. She completely understood, and when she
asked about her pay schedule, I referred her to you.”
     
    “I’m on it.”
Tiara said. “Isn’t this fun?”
     
    “It really
is,” Marilyn leaned over and gave her daughter a little squeeze. “I think
you’re brilliant and beautiful and if you stay here long enough every Bernard
on the island will be lining up outside the door just to order from you.”
     
    Shaking her
head at her mother’s fantasies, the young woman smiled indulgently, and closed
the cash register with a flourish.
     

Chapter 6
     
    It was a busy
Saturday morning, and one of the main ovens had just gone out. Susan had jumped
right in to her first weekend shift, and Marilyn was about to run an order of
seven pies out to a garden party on the other side of the island.
     
    “I’m taking
these to Sandra Harrison’s house, Joe and Larry should be here in five to ten
minutes, tops.” Frazzled, Marilyn headed for the door, holding up her cell in a
gesture for Tiara to call if anything else should go wrong.
     
    Her daughter
frowned. There was a line of customers that reached out the door and beyond,
some of whom were more patient than others, and Susan was too new to run the
cash register efficiently.
     
    “Do you want
me to take these over?” Susan asked tentatively, looking at the mountain of
unprepared strawberries.
     
    “No, actually
if you could just work on the getting the pie shells that we already have into
the freezer and then prep a few dozen more, we’ll be ready to go when the ovens
are working again,” Tiara replied, feeling a bit overwhelmed.
     
    Susan nodded
and dove into her task. “Sounds good.”
     
    Tiara wasn’t
so sure. Joe and Larry were a father-son mechanical team who gave Marilyn good
rates in exchange for a significant discount on pies. They were usually prompt
but they frequently took a long time to diagnose and fix.
     
    “Ok, yes…what
can I get for you?” she smiled, despite her stress, at the woman in front of
her.
     
    “Two slices
for here, please.”
     
    Tiara plated
the slices, garnished them with two filled strawberries, rang them up and moved
to the next person. After seven minutes of dedicated hustle, the line had
diminished and she was ready to pull her hair out.
     
    “How does my
mother do this every day?” she exclaimed, venting to Susan now that the last
customer had gone.
     
    “She’s a
talented and determined woman,” the placid baker replied, washing her hands and
wondering if the question had been rhetorical.
     
    “Hey, Tiara,”
a male voice said behind her.
     
    She turned around
to see Drew’s perfectly tanned face and walked over to where he lounged
casually in a chair near the door, biting her lip as she smiled innocently,
having no earthly idea of her fresh young appeal.
     
    “Hey Drew, what
can I get for you?” she asked, delighted to see him outside of class.
     
    “Oh, uh
nothing, actually…I don’t eat sugar…” he said it proudly and Tiara could see
why—six packs don’t lie. “I just dropped in to see if you might be up for a
dive, maybe tomorrow?”
     
    Tiara recognized
a perfect opportunity when she saw one. She could make a date with Drew that
her mother wouldn’t even know about.
     
    “Tomorrow
would be great—” she began.
     
    “Hey ho,” Larry
the handyman called out, as the bell over the door jangled announcing