One Dead Cookie Read Online Free PDF Page B

they’re called.”
    “Adverbs.”
    Maddie laughed. “Anyway, I tried the dress on, and wow. The embroidered flowers are
     Aunt Sadie’s best work ever. They’re done mostly in shades of purple, but she added
     some reddish embroidery floss that’s close to the color of my hair. The bodice is
     a bit loose. I guess I’ve been running around so much, I lost some weight. Aunt Sadie
     offered to take it in, but I told her to leave it. A few cookies, and I’ll be back
     to normal.” Maddie’s generous curves were legendary, as was her wild red hair. “And
     speaking of cookies…”
    “No, you can’t take over the cookie baking for your own engagement party,” Olivia
     said. “And stop worrying. Everything is under control.”
    “Livie, I can always tell when you’re lying. Besides, I’m calling from the Gingerbread
     House kitchen, and I see nosigns of furious baking, no creative design ideas, no unique ingredients…. Need I
     say more?”
    “Snoop. I am not ready to admit defeat.”
Although it’s starting to feel tempting.
    “Livie, don’t think of it as giving up. Think of it as saving your best friend’s engagement
     party from cookie-less disaster.”
    “I think I’ve just been insulted.”
    “Look,” Maddie said, “how about a compromise? I know you’ll come up with a plan—you
     are, of course, the queen of planning—but you have too much going on at once. And
     you need a design idea, like, yesterday. I know how you get when you’re feeling too
     pressured. So let me help with the baking. You’ll be able to think better, it’ll be
     fun, and together we can get the baking done in half the time it would take you alone.”
    “Probably less than half the time,” Olivia said.
    “So that’s a yes?”
    “Well, I guess I—”
    “Yippee! Oops, sorry about the decibel level.”
    Olivia felt a surge of relief. “I get to come up with the ideas, though.”
    “I promise you are free to ignore all my brilliant suggestions,” Maddie said. “I can’t
     wait to get started. Only don’t feel pressured by that.”
    “Quit while you’re ahead,” Olivia said, laughing. “I’ll go commune with nature and
     see if it triggers a brilliant cookie idea. Since you’re already at the store and
     bursting with nervous energy, you can open. So there.”
    “Done,” Maddie said. “Go commune.”
    Olivia switched her ringtone to vibrate and looked around for a promising direction
     to try next. Numerous gardens fanned out before her, forming a large semicircledivided by curving paths. To her left, Olivia saw flowering shrubs and trees shading
     wooden benches. The scene looked inviting, a good place to sit and ponder the enormity
     of her creative baking task and the woefully inadequate amount of time left to accomplish
     it. Instead, Olivia turned to her right, a sunny area with small, low patches of greenery
     dotted with bits of color. Bland, yet pleasant. Olivia’s watch told her she had well
     over an hour before Maddie might need her at The Gingerbread House. She decided to
     explore the few remaining gardens before settling on a tree-shaded bench to wait for
     a tasty idea to pop into her head.
    The fully risen sun warmed Olivia as she followed a winding path between two patches
     of bushy green plants. She picked a stiff leaf from one of the plants and bent it
     in half. It released a rich lemony fragrance. She couldn’t find a marker to identify
     the plants, so she used her cell phone camera for a close-up of the leaves and sent
     the photo to her computer. She put the leaf in the pocket of her linen pants, hoping
     it wouldn’t stain.
    Olivia strolled past several plots filled with culinary herbs, many of which she recognized,
     such as Greek oregano with its fuzzy leaves. Oregano made her think of pizza, which
     caused a tummy rumble. She’d raced out of the house without eating. She thought the
     small plants with tiny leaves might be thyme, and the large grayish leaves on the