Read Pistols & Pies (Sweet Bites Book 2) (Sweet Bites Mysteries) for Free Online

in you and I hope you learn to do things right next time.’ Man, I hate that. Even though I didn’t care what he thought, I still hated it. She seemed to think he was all that and a bag of chips, but I don’t know why. My dad is way cooler than Eric was.”
    He stood from the bench, stepping on the end of his skateboard so it popped up where he could reach the other end. “Look, I don’t know nothing about any of it. I’m glad the jerk’s gone, even though my mom is crying about it, but I wouldn’t have killed him. I’m outta here in less than a year. It wasn’t worth making a fuss about. Find someone who had something real to lose.”
    I watched him dig into the bag of cookies and pull three out, eating each of them in two bites as he joined the other guys on the cement. I wondered for a minute if he had a point. Maybe there was a more obvious suspect we were overlooking.
     
     

My phone rang the next morning, and I was happy to see Lenny’s number on the display. “Hey, have you made a decision?”
    “Yeah, I’ve got some savings. I don’t need much. I’ll quit today and be on my way tonight if you can keep me in menthols.”
    I hated his smoking habit, and he had cut down significantly when I was his boss, but apparently he hadn’t kicked it entirely. “No food, no gas for your car, no rent, just smokes, huh? Well that I can probably manage, especially as they aren’t as expensive here.” I had spent over an hour with my books last night trying to figure out what I could pay him and still break even for the month. With trepidation, I’d texted him the figure.
    It would mean no new shoes (the love of my life) for a long time, but my Ferragamos didn’t exactly get to spend a lot of time outside my closet when I lived, ate and breathed my shop anyway. “I might be able to do better than what I told you if we get a nice order or two, but that’s all I’m sure I can pay you per month. Basically you’ll be working for peanuts.”
    “Fine. I’ll call Karen and quit now. I’ll see you tomorrow night, or maybe the morning after that. Could I crash with you for a night or two until I find a place of my own?”
    “Of course.” I couldn’t help but notice he kept speaking of himself in the singular. “Um, just you? What about Kat? Is she coming later?”
    “Nah, she’s staying here. Says she has things to do. I’ll see you soon.” He hung up—clearly trying to avoid the subject of his relationship with Kat. I wondered what was going on. When I spoke to Lenny the day before he’d talked like he thought she would come with him.
    I pushed the worry out of my mind for now as the front door opened revealing Jack and his five-year-old daughter, Sadie. I grinned and moved from behind the counter as she approached me. “I wondered when you were going to stop by,” I said.
    “Hi, Tess! Daddy said you were going to buy me a cupcake.” She pulled back from the hug and gave me a quizzical look. “If it’s your shop, why do you have to buy it for me?”
    I released Sadie and touched her nose. “He’s using a figure of speech. He just means that I said I’d give you both a treat because he did me a favor.”
    “Oh, okay. Can I have a strawberry cupcake with the filling? They’re my favorite.”
    “I know they are.” I tapped her adorable button nose. The little girl brought sunshine into the room even when it was pouring rain outside. I gave her the treat before looking at her dad—that made me catch my breath (a not-uncommon reaction of late where he was concerned.)
    It’s strange that I really disliked him when we first met, but now looking at him did funny things to my stomach. Maybe it was because of everything I went through last spring and how cool he ended up being about it (except for the IV, of course.) He even made fun of Bronson for me, which I needed at the time. Since then, seeing him with his daughter had made me like him more. He’s scads more relaxed around her, and it’s