Goody Two Shoes (Invertary Book 2) Read Online Free PDF

many of these discussions, and their game of dominoes was forgotten now that there was better entertainment on offer.
    “When I was working in the shipyards,” Archie said, “there was a boiler in the steam room and one of the new boys tightened that thing to within an inch of its life. There was no give. One day a bolt popped and the whole thing blew. That’s you. You spend so much energy controlling everything that one day one of your bolts will pop and then kablooey.”
    “Thank you for the advice, Archie. But I’m perfectly fine. There’s nothing wrong with wanting life to be orderly.”
    “There is when you want everyone around you to be orderly too,” Brian grumbled.
    Caroline tuned them out as they went into yet another discussion of their various ailments, which was even worse now that Findlay’s nephew had taught him how to use the internet. He’d printed off everything he could find on all of their problems and brought it into the community centre in a wheelbarrow. For over a week their afternoon domino game was forgotten while they terrified each other with medical knowledge they barely understood. In the end Caroline had stepped in, confiscated the paperwork and strong-armed the town doctor into spending a few hours answering their questions.
    The door to the community centre banged open and Beth barrelled in.
    “Caroline,” Beth gasped. “I’m sorry. There was a huge line at the bakery.”
    Caroline was not happy with that. At. All. “You’re late because you were at the bakery?”
    There was silence behind her as the four old men tuned into their conversation.
    “Morag’s mince pies were on sale.” Beth held up a bag. “I got some for everyone. My treat.”
    There were cheers from the domino players. Caroline scowled at them.
    “Beth, I expect you to be at work on time. I have other commitments that mean you have to be here for the hours that you are paid to be here. If you’re late, then I’m late. That isn’t professional, or polite. And stopping to buy pies isn’t a reason to shirk your responsibilities.”
    Beth’s face fell and her eyes welled up. “I won’t do it again. I promise.”
    At twenty-two, it didn’t take much to make Beth cry, and Caroline was beginning to suspect that the woman used her ability to get out of trouble.
    “Don’t you have to rush off somewhere?” Archie barrelled past Caroline to get to the pies. The old man grinned widely and smacked his lips at the aroma coming from the bag. “Boys, time for a tea break.”
    “We’ll talk about this later,” Caroline promised Beth. “Right now I have to go. Make sure you organise the children’s section in the library. It looks like a tornado went through it. The Weight Watchers group have booked the green room for two o’clock. You’ll need to air the place before they get here or the smell of pies will sabotage them. We can’t have another disaster like the day they were double-booked with the cake-baking society.”
    “That was a great day.” Archie sounded wistful.
    Brian nodded. “Cake and needy women. I didn’t realise until then how much comforting a woman who broke a diet needed. Plus those cakes were damn good.”
    “Behave yourselves,” Caroline warned as she fought a smile. They were four teenage boys trapped in wrinkled packaging, and she loved them dearly.
    “Yes, miss.” The domino boys saluted like boy scouts.
    Caroline shook her head with resigned amusement.
    “Where are you off to in such a hurry, anyway?” Findlay asked.
    “I have a meeting with the vicar.” She picked up her brown briefcase.
    “Church roof fundraiser?” Archie asked.
    “Something like that.” Caroline felt her cheeks begin to burn.
    Archie’s sharp grey eyes zoomed in on her. “Is it a committee meeting or not?”
    Caroline pretended she didn’t hear him, but her face burned hotter. “Make sure you remember to air the place out. I don’t want to smell any pie fumes. I’ll be back in an hour or