The Book Waitress (Book 1, The Book Waitress Series) Read Online Free PDF

eat something substantial soon you’re gonna keel over. Come on. No more talk. Let’s get you home and fed.”
    “Thank you. You ’re very kind. Probably the kindest person I know.” She smiled, and if her belly could smile, she knew it would have, as well.
    In no time at all, he wheeled the cart out of the store , loaded all the bags into his bright orange Chevy SS , and drove them back to her house . He amazed her at every turn. The man even took the bags into her house. His parents had taught him well.
    As she put the groceries away, she had a brilliant idea. “Can I offer you a freshly made lunch for your efforts?”
    “That would be great. I could use something right about now.”
    “Super. I’m ravenous, so the quickest thing to make is peanut butter and jelly. You okay with that?”
    “More than okay. I love PB and J. Throw me the bread and I’ll make it for us.”
    Wondering what she’d done to deserve the star treatment, Camille observed as Derek slathered one piece of bread with a heaping of peanut butter, and spread the jelly on the other slice. Her mouth watered. She learned immediately that care and precision were not his strong suits in the kitchen .
    “Do you cook a lot at home?” she asked , fighting against her instinct to stay aloof .
    “ Not really .” He handed her a thick sandwich oozing with the delectable spreads . “ It’s hard to when I’m out investigating. But while I’m here on the island , it might be easier . Now, PB and J doesn ’t qualify as cooking, but it’s all I got in me. I hope you like it . If not, feel free to reassemble. ” He fixed another one for himself.
    ***
    Derek watched Camille plunk down at the kitchen table, moaning and groaning over the most meager of meals as though it were lobster dripping in butter. He shook his head and sat down across from her. He thought he’d wrecked everything earlier at the store. Pieces of his foot were still being extracted from his mouth. Her humor delighted him. He may not have caught on to her jibing, but he’d be ready for it the next time.
    “So what are you investigating? You said you were doing ‘ important work .’ ” She licked at the gooey mix ture as it oozed out the sides.
    “Ooh, I kinda wish you hadn’t remembered that pompous remark. Sorry about that. Sometimes my words sound right in my head but wind up making me look like a horse’s ass .”
    “Don’t worry about it. I’m socially awkward and have an intense dislike of people . And why I just said that, I have no idea. See, there I go, being socially awkward.” She closed her eyes, dropped her head in her hands , and sighed . He patted her arm.
    “Hey, it’s okay. I assum e , and happily so, that I ’m not one of those who you intensely dislike since we’re breaking bread together. So you’d like to know what I’ve been doing , eh ? ”
    “ Yes! I would love to know what has you focused for so many hours . ”
    “Well, recently, a child’s gone missing from the island . The leads are cold except for one . I’ve discovered that a satanic c ult , The Mission, used to operate on this island a long time ago. S upposedly , they were shut down about forty years ago, but who really knows. Other children who lived here have vanished. From what my research is telling me, there ’s a pattern. E very six years a child goes missing. The fir st case dates back thirty six years . ”
    “ Oh , my God, t hat’s horrible . Have any of the children been found? ”
    “ Nope, and the police are no closer to finding out what ’s happened now than they were all those years ago. I’m convinced the cult is alive and active. I believe the kids have been kidnapped, trafficked, or sacrificed in some satanic ritual. I don’t know , but I’m convinced they’ve been u sed somehow by this cult . That’s why I’m on the island. I’m here to find out for certain . I need to discover where they used to conduct their meetings. I’ll be interviewing families