Mint Chip Murder: A Donut Hole Cozy Mystery - Book 6 by Susan Gillard Read Free Book Online

having to answer Amy’s question.
     
    “Yes, please,” she said gratefully.
     
    It wasn’t that she hadn’t thought
about it, or that she didn’t know the answer.  The answer was an unqualified,
resounding yes.  Yes, she would marry Ryan if he asked.
     
    So why didn’t she want to admit that
to her best friend?
     
    Throughout the rest of the pedicure,
as the nail tech finished up and then eased the thin, foam flip-flops onto
Heather’s feet, she pondered the reason.  And as she and Amy sat at the
ultraviolet station after their manicures, their hands resting on the counter,
fingers spread apart under the rays, the answer finally came to her.
     
    Other than herself, she wanted Ryan to
be the first person to whom she would ever acknowledge her desire to marry
him. 
     
    That is, if he ever asked.
     
    ***
     
    “So what do you have planned for this
evening?” Amy asked, spooning a huge bite of sprinkle-covered frozen yogurt
into her mouth.
     
    “Ryan’s going to cook dinner,” Heather
said.  As a mother with two toddlers in tow eased past their table in the food
court, Heather reached down and scooted her bags closer to her feet.
     
    “Ooooh, a man who cooks!” Amy said.
     
    “I assume he does.  He’s never really
cooked for me before.  But the other day, when I cooked dinner for him, he
claimed to be a—in his words—‘great’ cook.”
     
    “So what’s he making you?”
     
    “I don’t know.  The card just invited
me to dinner at 7:00 at his place.”
     
    “Card?  What card?”
     
    “The one in the bouquet of roses,”
Heather answered.
     
    “Roses?  An entire dozen?” 
     
    Heather nodded.
     
    “What color?”
     
    “Red.”
     
    “You got a dozen red roses, and you
didn’t tell me?  Your best friend?”  Amy placed a hand to her chest, feigning
hurt feelings.
     
    “I guess I just didn’t think of it,”
Heather said.
     
    “Whatever.  Okay, so you definitely
need to wear that maxi dress you bought tonight.  Red roses are for passion, so
he’s obviously attracted to you.  As if we didn’t both know that.  So it
wouldn’t hurt to fan the flames a little bit.”
     
    “I was planning on wearing it,”
Heather said, taking a bite of her own sundae, and then deliberately changing
the subject.  “So when’s your next date with Chris?”
     
    “It may or may not be tonight,” Amy
said.  Then she leaned in closer and said in a stage whisper, “Why do you think
I bought that little mini-dress?”
     
    Heather laughed.  She stopped when she
saw Amy staring toward the other side of the food court.  “What?” she asked. 
“What’s wrong?”
     
    “Don’t look now,” Amy said, “but
there’s Brent Riggleman sitting over there by Orange Julius.”
     
    So of course, Heather looked.  “Oh, I
see him,” she said.  “Hmm.  He’s by himself.”
     
    “He’s kind of a loner,” Amy said. 
“Hadn’t really dated anybody for awhile until he got interested in Kelly.”
     
    “Have you told all this to Ryan?”
Heather asked, trying not to stare at Brent, who sat eating a piece of
cheesecake.
     
    “Yep.  He said thanks.  But I don’t
think there’s anything wrong with us talking about it.  I don’t have any actual
information that you don’t already know.  Just speculation, conjecture and wild
guesses.”
     
    “Brent has always seemed pleasant the
few times I’ve run into him at an event or something.”
     
    “Yep, that’s Brent.  Always smiling. 
Unassuming.  Meek.  That’s why you have to watch out for guys like him.  You never
know what they could be planning.”
     
    “Have you ever seen him angry?”
     
    “Well, once,” Amy said, her voice
suddenly serious.  “And before you ask, I told Ryan about this, too.  I once
saw Brent get pretty upset about a snide comment somebody made about him.  I
didn’t think it was a big deal.  But I guess Brent did.”  Amy paused.  “That
was the first and only time I ever