Pistols & Pies (Sweet Bites Book 2) (Sweet Bites Mysteries) by Heather Justesen Read Free Book Online Page A

that I’m a creature of habit who keeps everything in essentially the same place as I did in the restaurant in Chicago, you can get that drink and we’ll talk about the menu and pricing.” I acted irritated, but it was so nice having him here—and that I could trust him to know what he was doing and to need very little oversight.
    Several more customers came in while he sipped his coffee and watched us interact. When the last one left with a chocolate cake for dinner that night, he shook his head. “Things here in Cowboy Springs really are different.”
    I leaned back against the counter and studied him. “Are you sorry you came?”
    “No.” But his expression said he wasn’t sure if he was telling the truth. “I needed a complete change. This is sure going to be it.” He looked around as if still not believing he was here.
    “Things at the hotel got that bad, did they?”
     He tapped the side of his coffee cup. “We’ll just say that Karen never liked me when you worked there, and she disliked me even more after you left. I was probably on my last leg there anyway.” He finished his drink and tossed the paper cup, moving toward the counter. “You’re doing me a favor, getting me out of there.”
    “When’s Kat coming?” I felt a tug of worry when grief passed through his expression, then was shunted away.
    “Give me a list of your flavors.” He pulled out an order form I showed to customers and began paging through.
    “Lenny.” I couldn’t believe he’d just ignored my question.
    His eyes closed for a moment before he returned his gaze to the papers. “Just leave it, will you? Not now.”
    They could not have broken up. Lenny and Kat went together like milk and cookies, like cake and filling, like ganache and fondant. The look in his eyes was heartbreaking, though, so I tried to accept his request. My ringing cell phone assisted in that.
    “Hey, Honey,” I answered when her name popped up on the display. “What’s up?”
    “I thought maybe when your friend comes in tonight we could all grab some dinner and do some dancing at the Silver Spur. Show him a real friendly Cowboy Springs hello.” She’d found his nickname for our town funny and often used it when we were alone.
    “He’s already here. He dragged in this morning looking like a whole herd of cows ran over him. I think Mary Ellen nearly had a heart attack.”
    Lenny chuckled and started adjusting the pastries in the display cases. I kicked his shoe in annoyance, which only made it worse.
    “Really? That must have been fun,” Honey said.
    “Okay,” I admitted after a moment of trying to hold back my laugh. “It was hilarious. She looked like she thought he was going to mug us, and I just laid into him about being such a mess.”
    “And telling me to shower before sleeping in your bed,” he said loud enough that Honey would be able to hear him.
    “You said what?” she asked, half laughing in surprise.
    “I explained. Anyway, I think a country hello is exactly what this kid needs. Meet you at seven?”
    “We’ll be there.”
    I ended the call and turned to find him staring at me as if I’d grown another head. “Did you just call me a kid ? And what exactly is your idea of a country hello?”
    I ignored the first question. “We’re going to the bar for fried food and really bad, loud music.”
    “And beer?” He perked up at that.
    I sent him a scathing look. “Just remember you have to be down here ready to work by six tomorrow morning. If you’re hung over, you get the crap jobs all day.”
    His face fell, which made me laugh.
     

 The Silver Spur was just what you’d expect a country bar to be: everything was decorated in rough-hewn logs, and the air stung of cigarette smoke even though the clean air laws meant no one had smoked in the building for years—at least, not during open hours. And though I’d heard they cleaned every night, the floor looked like it hadn’t seen a mop inside of this century. In