Read A Pour Way to Dye (Book 2 in the Soapmaking Mysteries) for Free Online Page A

then
where is he?”
    She looked me up and down, then said, “You’re
a persistent fellow, aren’t you?”
    “ When it comes to family I
am. Now are you going to go get him, or do I have to come back with
a cop?” Hey, I didn’t say it would be a police officer in Sassafras
Ridge, though I’d probably have better luck with one here in town
than anybody in Molly’s office at the moment.
    “ He’s at the diner down the
block,” she admitted reluctantly. “It’s called the Lazy
Spoon.”
    I didn’t believe her, though. “Then why is
his car in your driveway?”
    “ How should I know? Maybe he
felt like a walk. Who knows what that man gets into his head. Now
excuse me, but I’m not nearly ready yet, and I’m late for work as
it is.”
    I hastily pulled my foot out of the door
before she could slam it. What in the world was my grandfather
doing with this woman? It seemed like every time I found an answer
to one of my questions, it just confused me more than ever. I’d
seen a diner on the drive in, but I wasn’t about to walk there.
Paulus might have all the time in the world, but I was working
under a deadline.
    Sure enough, I found him having a cup of
coffee when I walked into the Lazy Spoon. It wasn’t the most
glamorous of names, but then I wasn’t planning on eating anything
there, so what did I care?
    I slid onto the bench seat beside him and
said, “You’re a hard man to track down.”
    He nearly choked on his coffee when he saw
me. I was about to call the paramedics when he waved a hand in the
air. “I’m all right. You just caught me off guard. Don’t you know
any better than to sneak up on an old man like that?”
    I shook my head. “If you’d let one of us know
where you were, I wouldn’t have to.”
    He shook his head in clear disgust. “I
figured it was too much of a coincidence having you walk in here
like that. I can’t believe Kate ratted me out. I never would have
believed it.”
    “ Don’t blame her. I
practically had to force it out of her, and she still wouldn’t have
told me anything if there hadn’t been an emergency.”
    That certainly got his attention. “What
happened? Is something wrong with your mother?”
    “ There’s something wrong
with all of us,” I said. “But before we get into that, I want to
know what you think you’re doing.”
    He started to get up. “I won’t sit here and
listen to your scolding. I changed your diapers, or have you
forgotten that?”
    Leave it to Paulus to bring that up. I
sincerely doubted he’d ever gotten within half a mile of a dirty
diaper in his life, but there was no one willing to dispute his
claim that he’d changed me and each of my siblings once and only
once. Knowing him, it was probably true. Paulus was the kind of man
to do something like that just so he could bring it up twenty or
thirty years later.
    It was time to smack him right back. In a
piercing voice, I said, “You’re still a part of our family and our
business, or have you forgotten that?”
    That got him. For just a second, Paulus
looked every bit of his seventy-plus years. After a few moments, he
settled back into his seat and said sadly, “If that’s true, then
why don’t I feel like I am?”
    I couldn’t believe he’d have the nerve to say
that. “Remember, I argued with you not to leave when Dad died until
I ran out of breath. I needed you, Paulus, and you just dumped
Dad’s job right on me. It was just about more than I could
take.”
    Was that a tear forming in his left eye?
Whatever it was, he brushed it away before it had the chance to hit
his cheek. “When James died, a part of me died with him. I couldn’t
stand being around the shop anymore.” He looked steadily at me as
he added, “Besides, it was your place to step in, not mine. You’re
the future of Where There’s Soap, Ben. I’m the past.”
    That explained a lot. I’d always thought my
grandfather had downsized his role to advertising as a way to
retire without officially