Read Flipped! (Spinning Hills Romance 1) for Free Online

she asked, “Then why are you hoping to help him with the house?”
    “Because I’m a sucker for certain things and I don’t want to change that about me. It’s a flaw I like.”
     
    Holly had a hard time concentrating on anything after Emily left. One of her employees came in to relieve her just as the clock hit twelve and the orange plastic bird cuckooed. Holly headed out the door and up the street, toward the oldest part of town.
    Grandma Ruby and her two best friends, Sherry and Rosa, owned the Gypsy Fortune Café and Bakery on the corner of Main and Hillside, and Holly suspected she was in the mood for their lively energy as much as she was in the mood for coffee and dessert.
    She whisked past the professional offices that made up most of Lower Hillside. Earthy autumn scents filled her nostrils, grounding her, and she slowed her pace. The downtown area was made up of eight streets, and six of them crossed Lower Hillside, east to west. Upper Hillside was too hilly for more than two streets. When Spinning Hills boomed in the twenties and thirties, its wealthier citizens built their houses on either side of Upper Hillside, looking out onto the park and downtown area, and on Manor Row, looking out onto the Great Miami River.
    A breeze lifted a whirl of colorful leaves off the sidewalk, and they rolled up the street and sidewalk with her. People sitting on restaurant patios covered their plates. Out of habit, Holly rubbed the horse’s head on the old hitching post in front of the café and bakery. Her grandmother insisted it brought people good luck.
    The bakery was one of the three original downtown buildings, and it had once been a horse feed store. At the turn of the century, people had come into town to buy horseflesh the first Saturday of each month. The stables and market were held in the area now known as Star Springs Park, and the horse feed store had been built next to it.
    A hardware store and the first school were the other two original buildings. The school now housed the city’s offices, and the hardware store was still the hardware store. The police station had been built next to it, and Chief Davis waved to her just before she entered the bakery and she waved back, suddenly thankful Dan hadn’t called the police on Friday night.
    Rosa was wiping a table down when Holly walked in. The elderly woman kissed Holly’s cheek, hugged her tight, and led her to a table. “Leo told us everything. Here, sit down. What can I get you? Your favorite, crabapple pie, yes?”
    Sherry was working one of the coffee machines, her back to the door. “I saw you walking up and you looked like you could use a latte with a shot of Kahlúa in it,” she called.
    “The latte sounds good, but I’m still trying to decide on a dessert.” Holly squeezed Rosa’s hand and sat down. Classic pop rock played over the speakers, and Holly sat back and relaxed. It was hard to worry about today when you were visiting yesteryears.
    The women had decked the café out in “eclectic retro,” a term that meant they hadn’t been able to agree on a decade to style it after. The result was a charming mix of eras past. Comfy, old-style chairs, sofas, and swiveling stools upholstered in soda-shop pink and green, gilded mirrors, an over-the-top wedding cake chandelier, and exposed brick walls and rustic ceiling joists made for a unique and welcoming atmosphere.
    “Have you settled on a dessert?” Sherry slid the latte across the table and sat down in front of her. Her blond pixie cut made her look almost cherubic, which was laughable. Holly took a grateful sip before replying, “I don’t know. I feel like eating a big piece of something really rich and sugary.” She took another sip of her latte. “It’ll help if it has a shot of liquor in it, too.”
    “How does Irish cream pie sound?” Grandma Ruby called from the kitchen.
    “And they say you aren’t a real fortune-teller,” Holly called back.
    Her grandmother appeared at the