Morning Glory Circle by Pamela Grandstaff Read Free Book Online Page A

blueberry muffin. “Trick brought a lady friend in here who was not Mrs. Trick, if you know what I mean. Maggie caught Trick slipping his hand up Not Mrs. Trick’s skirt and she went ballistic. It was awesome.”
    “She doesn’t even like Mrs. Trick, I mean, Sandy.” 
    “She told Trick this was not a whorehouse, and he was not to bring his whores in here.”
    “Wow. What did Trick say to that?”
    “He told Maggie she needed to get laid and lighten up. I thought she was going to have a stroke.”
    “He’s lucky to be alive,” Scott said.
    “Oh yeah, for sure,” Mitchell said admiringly. “She threw a teapot at him. It hit the wall over there and broke into about a million pieces.”
    Scott took his cappuccino and over-sized blueberry muffin to his usual table at the end of the coffee bar, by the window. From this vantage point he could see a large section of Rose Hill Avenue, from the college entrance to his left to just beyond the diner at the crossroads to his right. He saw Trick outside, giving a young woman some money and then pointing at the bookstore. The young woman came in and ordered an extra large iced latte to go.
    Hannah came in and plopped down next to Scott, then reached over to steal his muffin. He grabbed his plate out from under her hand and held it beyond her reach.
    “You are not seriously thinking of leaving that dog with Maggie,” he said.
    “Hey Mitchell,” she called out. “Scott’s buying me an extra large caramel latte with whipped cream and two cheese Danish.”
    “Is that a bribe?” Scott asked her.
    “Let’s just call it an alternative foster placement fee.”
    “Alright, then. Where did you go with Drew?”
    “To the Eldridge Inn. You know Connie’s old cat, the one who attacks all her guests? We had to put it down. Kidney failure. It seemed kinder to do it there, and Drew wanted someone to hold hands with Connie.”
    “How’d she do?”
    “She’s a mess, of course. You’d think someone that germ phobic wouldn’t have a pet in the house, but she adored that wicked old cat. It was eighteen years old.”
    “Are the college president and his wife still staying there?”
    “You mean since Gwyneth inherited the house they were living in and kicked them out in the snow? He is, but the wife’s gone to Florida to stay with their daughter. You know, I don’t think Connie and the president are getting along very well.”
    “I hear she drives everyone crazy who stays there, following them around with sanitizing wipes and air freshener.”
    “Yeah, she’s a nut, but no, what I mean is when we got there, Connie and the man were having a huge fight in the kitchen.”
    “What about?”
    “I think he wants to move out, and she was telling him he couldn’t go.”
    “Seems like it would be up to the paying guest whether he stayed or went.”
    “Sounded to me like he’d reserved the room for a long time and she’d turned away other customers. This is a really busy time right now with the festival coming up.”
    Scott shrugged, saying, “None of our business, really.”
    “You’re no fun at all,” Hannah said, and then thanked Mitchell for bringing her order to the table.
    “Is that going to be your breakfast?” Scott asked her.
    “Are you kidding? I had breakfast hours ago. This will just about tide me over until lunch.”
    “How can you eat like that all the time and stay so skinny?” Scott asked her.
    “Thin genes, I guess,” she said. “My brothers are all the same way.”
    “Are we square about the dog?”
    “I know I often forget to pick up animals when I leave them with people, but I really am going to take that dog with me. I’ve got a gal up at the library who loves Chihuahuas, and I’m going to take it up there to her.”
    “What did she ever do to you?”
    “Now, don’t be hateful. We can’t all be pretty and precious. Speaking of which…”
    At that moment, Ava Fitzpatrick came in the bookstore with her children, and Hannah snorted in