A Fitting End, page 16
“Sure, honey. Go ahead. I’ll be there in a minute.”
Peggy tensed. That seemed a little staged and she was afraid Angela was trying to avoid a discussion of payment for the work Peggy had done. Glancing at Arlene, she finally nodded her head at Angela as she said goodbye.
“Peggy, I wanted to talk to you a minute alone.” David sat down on the sofa and Peggy felt her stomach clench, but she continued packing the dress into the box.
“Our thirtieth wedding anniversary is coming up in a few months and I’m planning to ask Angela if she’d like to have a renewal ceremony at the church.”
Suddenly, Arlene came back to life. “Oh, David. That’s a wonderful idea. I’m sure she’d love that!”
Peggy was not yet won over. She now feared he would ask for the dress to be reverted back to its original style and she was debating if she could just say no.
David put his finger across his lips. “It’s a secret.”
“Of course. Of course!” Arlene sat down in the chair beside the sofa. “Angela could wear the dress!” Peggy’s eyes shot daggers at Arlene. “The new dress! This dress. It looked like she really loved it.”
“That’s what I’m hoping.” David pulled out his wallet and handed Arlene his credit card as Peggy relaxed. “What I wanted to know is whether one of you could make one of those stitched plaques for me.” David held his hands up in a rectangular shape. “I don’t know what it’s called, but you sew on material with colored thread and frame it.”
“Embroidery or cross stitch.” Peggy looked around the room for a sample and pointed. “This is embroidery.”
“Yeah, like that. Can you make me one of those? Can I give you the words and you can do that?”
“We can. When do you need it?” Peggy looked over David’s head as Arlene returned with the credit card, nodding to her that it went through.
“Oh, not until our anniversary.” David fished around in the flaps of his wallet and pulled out a small piece of paper to hand to Peggy. “It’s just a part of my vows.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem. We can add some flowers around it and frame it for you.” Peggy handed the slip of paper to Arlene.
“Great!” David jumped up off the sofa. “Wait until I call you to confirm, though. You never know, she may not say yes.”
Peggy smiled as she handed him the box. “I’ll wait to hear from you. We can alter the dress if it doesn’t fit. Just let us know.”
“I will. Thank you, both. We appreciate everything you did.” David rushed out the door with the large bulky box under his arm.
Arlene sighed as she sat down on the sofa. “Isn’t that sweet? Isn’t it nice to see something good come out of all this mess?”
Peggy hummed. “A fitting end.”
Next in the Carom Seed Cozies:
Read the first chapter here~>
Chapter 1
Peggy’s feet slapped the hot pavement of Paprika Parkway as Sully pulled her along by the leash. She had taken him out early for a morning walk today hoping to beat the heat, but when she had to change her usual walking route, it put her in the direct sun.
Approaching Fennel Street, she saw Mayor Bingham sitting on one of the new iron benches outside Chervil Drugs swinging her feet forward and back as she glanced over her shoulder.
“Good morning! Are you testing out the new bench?”
Startled, Cora Mae swiveled around in her seat and smiled. “Hi, Peggy! Yes, and this one is a little high for me.” Cora’s feet did not touch the ground. “I’m waiting on Ted to refill a prescription for me.” Cora patted the seat next to her. “Give it a try!”
Sully greeted Cora Mae and then Peggy sat down beside her. “I would be in the air conditioning, if I was you. It’s already too warm for us.” Sully’s tongue hung out of the right side of his mouth dripping saliva on the sidewalk as he panted. “We usually walk around this block because it’s shaded, but you can’t get down Fennel Street again today. If they don’t clean this mess up by tomorrow, Sully and I are going to skip the walk altogether.”
“I know. It’s gone on too long. The chief said he would check on things, but having a semi-trailer truck parked on Fennel Street for two days has not just been a headache, but I’m sure it’s hurting everyone’s business. Saucy told me he couldn’t even walk by there to get to the bakery yesterday.” Harvey “Saucy” Salzman liked his morning social at the Fennel Street Bakery every so often. He didn’t go daily, but when the weather was nice, he liked to stop in for the camaraderie.
“I think everyone’s business has been hurt. No one has anywhere to park. They drive down just to see what’s going on, but when they can’t park, they move on. I can’t even see the bakery and I’m right across the street from it!”
“I’m surprised there hasn’t been an accident. It’s blocking the entire lane and you can’t see around it.” Cora Mae waved when she saw Chief Harris walking down the opposite side of the street with his dog, Briscoe, leading the way toward the new business. “There goes the chief. Maybe he’ll hurry them along.”
Regina Adkins was opening a new dress shop in the storefront next to the Fennel Street Bakery called Sassafras. The semi-trailer truck had arrived yesterday to unload her merchandise and equipment. The sidewalk was littered with boxes and handcarts while several people walked in and out of the dress shop.
“Have you met the owner, Regina?” Peggy scratched the top of Sully’s head. His breathing had slowed but he needed water.
“I haven’t, but it seems everyone else has. She’s been in City Hall, but I must have been out at the time. I was planning to stop in and introduce myself, but I didn’t want to bother anyone while they were moving. Dorothy said she’s been in the Caraway Cafe almost daily, but I always miss her. Is she nice?”
Peggy’s forehead creased as she searched for the proper word to describe a slightly pretentious middle-aged city person having a mid-life crisis. “She’s different.”
Cora raised one eyebrow and smiled. “I understand she’s brought a group of employees with her. I guess she doesn’t plan to hire local people.”
“My understanding is that this group travels with her to set things up. Sometimes she leaves one behind to manage the place and the group moves on with her. This time she said she plans to stay and give small town life a try, so I assume she’ll hire local people once they open.”
“Interesting business plan.” Cora Mae smirked. “Dorothy tells me the team she brought is mostly young people. I think they’ve come in the cafe. I wonder where they’re staying.”
“Oh, Clyde’s got them scattered all over town.” Peggy chuckled. Clyde Newman worked for Red Pepper Realty and had rented the storefront to Regina. He had also been helping her look for a permanent home, but in the meantime, he found temporary rental accommodations for the girls. “Regina is in the Nutmeg Inn, but the others are in rentals around town.”
“Well, I’m sure I’ll eventually run into them all.”
“We need to be getting back to the store. Arlene will be missing us and I think Sully needs to cool down.” Sully got to his feet when Peggy stood.
“Okay, I’ll check on Ted’s progress. See you later.”
Regina Adkins rushed down the sidewalk toward Conrad Harris as he approached. He saw Briscoe’s tail and ears quiver with tension. “Whoa!” Conrad held his hand out to stop Regina and pulled Briscoe back to stand at his side. “You don’t want to rush up on a police dog like that.”
“Oh, sorry, Chief. I’ll be careful.” Regina calmed her voice and stayed several feet away.
“How’s it going with this?” Conrad waved his hand at the 18-wheeler blocking all access to the downtown community and the major east-west road through town.
“I know what you’re going to say, Chief.”
“You do?” Conrad’s eyebrows rose and he tilted his head. “What am I going to say?”
Regina hesitated a moment. “You want to know when it’s going to move.”
“I know when it’s going to move. You told me yesterday that it would be gone by noon today. Do you also know what I’m thinking? Or what I plan to do if it is still here at 12:01?”
“I know, Chief. It’s taking longer than I thought. I haven’t found a place to live yet, so I had them bring my stuff today so I can move it upstairs. I don’t know if I’ll like it up there or not, but it will be a place of my own for now.”
“As long as the truck is gone by noon.”
“But, Chief, I don’t know if that’s possible now. I hadn’t planned to move my stuff in when we talked yesterday.”
“I see two guys going in and coming out. Where are all the extra people you have working here? Why aren’t they helping?”
“The girls are upstairs cleaning the living area for me. I don’t think anyone’s lived up there in ages and I can’t unpack until it’s cleaned.”
Conrad huffed. “You can all clean house when the rig is gone. Right now, you need everybody you have out here in this street moving these boxes inside because at 12:01 today I will ticket and tow this truck off Fennel Street. Do you understand me?”
“But you can’t do that!” Regina advanced again and raised her voice.
Conrad pulled Briscoe close to lean him against his leg. “I can and I will.”
Regina stepped back and huffed. “So much for the congenial small-town welcome.”
“You had that welcome yesterday despite the fact that you systematically shutdown all of these people’s livelihood without a single consideration for them at all. None of these storefronts can get any business because you are blocking the street and all the parking.”
Regina looked around the street avoiding Conrad’s gaze. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t tell me. Tell them. You owe them all an apology and if you aren’t going to be considerate enough to move that rig to the community center parking lot and carry your stuff down the sidewalk to your store, I will see that it gets moved myself.”
“I’ll take care of it, Chief.”
Conrad nodded and turned Briscoe around to walk back to the station. They couldn’t get down the sidewalk anyway and he had to start working on a plan to move an 18-wheeler. That situation didn’t come up often in a small town and it might take at least a phone call or two.
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If this is your first trip to Spicetown and you would like to see more, you can learn all about it in the original Spicetown Mystery Series.
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Sheri Richey, A Fitting End
