Read The Greatest Gift (A Darcy Sweet Mystery) for Free Online Page B

around town but didn't really know her.  She'd only been working here at the deli for a few weeks, if Darcy remembered correctly.  Rita Casey, a niece or granddaughter to one of the members of Darcy's book club.  She was a plump, red-headed woman with far too much blue eyeshadow on and several rings with diamonds and emeralds in their settings.  She set the plates down and went to head off to another table.
    "Wait, Rita," Darcy said.  "How do you know Belinda?"
    "Oh, that was my job before this one.  Be right there, honey."  Rita held a finger up, talking to someone who had called for her attention.  Then she turned back to Darcy.  "See, I was Belinda's house cleaner for about a year.  Upstairs and downstairs, too.  I absolutely love her to death.  Nice woman.  She paid me good, too.  Enjoy your meals."
    Then she went off to the other table.  Darcy watched her for a moment, wheels spinning in her mind.  When she turned back she found Jon smiling at her.
    "What?" she asked him.
    "I forgot how much I miss watching you do your thing."
    "Doing my thing?"  Darcy arched an eyebrow, the corner of her mouth curling up.  "What's that supposed to mean?  I have a thing?"
    "Yes, you do.  You were always great at investigating without really questioning people.  I have officers working under me now who could learn a few things from you."  He took a bite of his sandwich, chewed and swallowed it, then added, "I missed you."
    She turned her plate on the table but didn't pick up her sandwich.  "You could have come home anytime."
    He nodded.  "I know.  I was trying to work through some things.  Plus, you know, I thought this job would be good for me."
    "Thought it would?" she said, pouncing on those words.  "You mean it wasn't?"
    "Oh, no," he protested immediately.  "I didn't mean it like that.  It's a great opportunit y.  Senior Investigator.  It's a higher rank than I could ever get here in Misty Hollow short of becoming Chief.  The work is challenging and I have men working under me.  It's a great opportunity.  It's not that at all."
    "Then what?"
    "I thought it would be fulfilling," he admitted.  "I thought it would help me work through…you know.  All that stuff we left between us."
    All that stuff.  That was putting it mildly.  "Do you remember," she asked him, "when we had just started dating?  One of your old cases came back up, the one where the murderer was leaving cryptic poems.  Remember?"
    "I remember," he said.  "There was a lot of suspicion that I was involved in that.  You helped clear my name."
    She smiled at the memory.  "Right.  Then, when it was over you told me that you didn't have any more secrets in your life.  Remember that?"
    His smile soured, but he nodded.  "Yes.  That's what I told you.  I kind of forgot one or two, didn't I?"
    "Yes."  She bit into her sandwich now.  It tasted good, fresh and tangy, but she hardly noticed.  She just wanted an excuse to collect her thoughts for a moment.  When she swallowed, she said, "Your sister.  Your father.  Those were things you should have told me about, if you were serious about being with me."
    Jon played with his fork.  "I know.  That was one of the things I wanted to talk to you about.  Now, I mean.  I know I screwed up.  The way we left things, that was my fault.  I shouldn't have sprung those things on you like I did."
    "It w asn't all your fault."  She meant it.  She had run the scene over several times in her mind.  Their final argument, when he had walked out of her life.  "Jon, we could have worked through it.  All you had to do was stay and work with me."
    He was staring at his half eaten sandwich, at the table, at the door to the deli.  Anywhere but at her.  "What if I said I wanted to come back?"
    She was stunned.  At first she didn't know what to say.  He took the pressure off her as he reached across to hold her hand on the table.  "I'm serious, Darcy.  I've thought about this every night