Tragic Toppings Read Online Free PDF Page B

rack, then dust with powdered sugar or ice as preferred.
    Makes approximately 6 donuts and holes

 
    CHAPTER 3
    Grace understood when I told her that I had to go. “I nearly forgot about your mother’s big date. Need any help getting the old gal ready to go?”
    I grinned at her. “No, but I’d love to be in the room and hear her response when you ask her that way yourself.”
    She laughed, and I knew again why Grace was so dear to my heart. “Not on your life, and if you repeat it, I’ll deny that I ever said it.”
    I smiled as I shook my head. “You would, wouldn’t you?”
    “You can bet on it,” she replied. “Ordinarily I’d say that our investigation trumps everything else, but this is important; helping George find Tim can wait until tomorrow. Drop me at my car so you can get home.”
    “We’re still having dinner together later, right?” I asked.
    “You can count on it. Suzanne, I just love being your backup when your boyfriend is out of town,” Grace said.
    “Which is most of the time,” I admitted. “Do you honestly mind?”
    “Are you crazy? I love the company, especially since my love life is so stagnant these days. When is Jake coming back to town?”
    “As soon as he finishes up in Dillsboro, I guess, and honestly, who knows when that will be?”
    “No worries, then. In the meantime, you’ve got me as a happy and willing substitute,” Grace said.
    I dropped Grace off at the donut shop where she’d left her car, and as I drove my Jeep back to the cottage, I couldn’t help wondering what was going through my mother’s head at that moment. Was she nervous? Certainly, she had to be. After all, it had been a long time since she’d gone out on a date, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it had been all the way back when my father had been courting her. Was she a little scared? Without a doubt. The real question, though, was whether she was the least bit excited about dating again. I had to hope that there was a spark left within her that was open to the possibility of love coming back into her life.
    “I’m home,” I said loudly as I came into the cottage we shared. The park was beautiful where we lived, filled with love and memories, but the house meant even more to me. Moving back in with my mother had been tough on both of us as we worked through a rocky adjustment period, but at the moment, I couldn’t see myself being anywhere else.
    “I’m back here,” she called out.
    I followed the sound of her voice and found her in the master bedroom, if you could call the cramped space that with a straight face. To be honest, there wasn’t much masterly about it, though it did have a small half-bath off the bedroom that helped make it a suite.
    I was surprised to find my mother sitting on her bed in her white slip, with six dresses laid out carefully on the comforter around her.
    “Is everything okay?” I asked as I came in and leaned against the door frame.
    “It’s fine,” she said, her voice barely showing any emotion at all. “It’s too bad, but I’m afraid that I won’t be able to go out tonight.”
    “Why not?”
    “I have nothing suitable to wear,” she said as she looked around the room.
    I wanted to laugh, but I realized that would be exactly the wrong thing to do.
    “What about your red dress?” I asked as I pointed to it.
    “I tried it on, but it’s too festive for the occasion,” she said.
    I wasn’t exactly sure what that was supposed to mean, but I wasn’t going to pursue it any further. “Okay, then how about the black one?”
    “Too somber,” she replied. “It’s no use.”
    We could have gone on like that all night if I didn’t do something. “I’ve got an idea. Do you want to borrow something of mine?”
    She looked at me as though I’d lost my mind. “Suzanne, you are six inches taller and thirty pounds heavier than I am. Anything you own would drape on me like a curtain, and I would swim in that much material.”
    “Wow, you could have