Fatal Reservations by Lucy Burdette Read Free Book Online

you’ve forgotten, I had no idea where my life was going. I just knew I couldn’t spend the rest of it in my mother’s back bedroom.”
    “Speaking of which,” said Eric, “how is your mother?”
    “Of course you remember that Sam had surgery and Mom went up to see him through it?” My mother had come down to winter in Key West last December, and to everyone’s surprise—especially mine—had instantly landed a plum catering position. She flew north only to nurse her new fiancé, Sam, through his hip replacement. “The docs had Sam up and walking the evening they put in the new hip,” I said. “It’s kind of amazing what they make people do right after surgery. I’m sure in the old days he would’ve stayed in a hospital bed for a week.”
    “And suffered for it,” said Eric. The waitress brought two brown bags of leftovers, two kinds of dessert in plastic containers, and the bill.
    “Anyway,” I added, once she’d left with my credit card, “Mom wants to stay up north long enough to make sure Sam can fix himself a cup of soup or cup of coffee, and then she’ll be back down to finish her season at Small Chef at Large. Jennifer’s got her covered for three weeks, so there’s no hurry. Except that it’sfifteen degrees and snowing every other day in New Jersey.”
    Eric groaned. He’d come from my hometown, too, and he knew what winters were like. “I bet she can’t wait to get out of there. But for you, maybe it’s a smidgen of relief to have her out of town for a bit? She’s larger than life.”
    “No comment.” I grinned and took a bite of the key lime cake, which was both light and sharp, and then the fried blueberry pie. I jotted some notes in my phone.
    Eric glanced at his watch. “I need to get going. Don’t you get involved with this case, okay?”
    “Only if Lorenzo needs me.”
    Eric chewed on his lip. “Not loving that answer.”
    “Only if he’s flat-out desperate, and I’ll call the cops first, okay? Thanks for everything. I bet talking to you helped him a lot.” I kissed him on the cheek, gathered up my stuff, and followed him out into the perfect Key West day—a little sun, a little wind, a few clouds, and air that was as warm as bathwater. I zipped back to the Key Zest office feeling edgy and tired. Last night’s commission meeting had worn me out, and my worry about Lorenzo was piling on top of that.
    And now that I was closer to the office and unable to push the feeling aside, I realized that I wasn’t quite comfortable with Palamina Wells running the staff meetings while Wally was out of town. “Not quite comfortable” didn’t really describe what I was feeling. “Worried sick” was more like it.
    Oh, this first month with Palamina was definitely miles better than my time working for Ava Faulkner had been, with her nasty digs, impossible demands,and poorly disguised threats. But what if I couldn’t live up to Palamina’s expectations? I had never written for a New York City magazine, as she had for years. I felt less sophisticated in every way. Plus, Key Zest didn’t feel quite the same with her installed in Wally’s office and him Skyping on the computer screen—at least until his mom was stable. Eric would say I working myself up over nothing. I tried taking a couple deep breaths. Whoo-ha , whoo-ha .
    Then I remembered that Palamina had promised to make some changes in the decor, too. She insisted on doing this overnight, by herself—like we were hapless contestants in a desperate office makeover. Nothing that would cost a lot of money, she assured us, but a step above the fake palm trees and flowered chintz that we had been satisfied with before she came. How I hated familiar things changing.
    Most of all I wished that I’d had time to spit shine my opening paragraph on lunch. The last thing I wanted was to have her suspect that Wally had hired me only because he thought I was cute.
    I parked my scooter in the back lot and raced up the stairs, already