Free Booked for Trouble by Eva Gates Page A

York City and had opened a seafood restaurant, where he was the head chef. When Josie wasn’t running her own bakery and catering business, she could be found at his place, chopping vegetables or sitting on a stool, watching him work.
    Merely thinking about Josie’s schedule was enough to exhaust me, but my cousin seemed to thrive on it.
    Now her pretty face was pinched in concern. She peered at me over the rim of her coffee mug. “Talk to me.”
    â€œYou know Karen, from the book club?”
    â€œWhat about her?” Obviously the news hadn’t spread to the bakery. Or, if it had, Josie’s head had been buried in pastry dough or a hot oven.
    â€œI don’t know her well,” I said, “but she always seemed nice enough. What’s your take?”
    â€œShe’s a lot older than us, more Mom’s age. Local woman. Why are you asking, Lucy?”
    â€œJust indulge me. What’s your feeling about her?”
    Josie leaned back in her chair. She cradled her mug. “Her husband, Norm, worked here for a while—did you know that?”
    â€œNo. When?”
    â€œA couple of months ago. He didn’t, shall we say, work out.”
    â€œWhy not?”
    â€œI’d been warned about him. That he’d been fired from a lot of jobs because he was so unreliable. But, well, I guess I wanted to help. Their youngest daughter worked here the previous summer, but she had a baby over the winter. Something went wrong and she’s having a lot of health problems, and can’t be on her feet for long hours. So I figured I’d do the family a favor and hire Norm. His job was to help get things up and running in the mornings, and make the deliveries.” When Josie said “morning,” Josie meant morning. She began work at four to get started on the first batches of bread and pastries that, as well as being sold in her shop, were delivered to hotels in Nags Head, Kill Devil Hills, and Kitty Hawk. “He’d only been with me one week—one week!—and he showed up drunk. I mean falling-down drunk, not just hungover, which would have been bad enough. He staggered into the kitchen, knocked over a bowl of bread dough, dropped a tray of croissants. I obviously couldn’t send him out in the truck in that condition.” Josie shook her head. “I had to call Jake, who had barely crawled into his own bed, to come and help me out.”
    â€œSo you fired him?”
    She shook her head. “Foolish me. I sent him home with a flea in his ear and another chance. Things were okay for a few weeks, and I figured he’d just needed some time to get into the routine of our hours. Then, same thing again. Out-of-his-mind drunk. That time I sacked him on the spot.”
    â€œHow’d he react?”
    â€œNot well. He threw me a couple of what he thought were withering insults. I threatened to call the cops, andhe left. End of story. For me, anyway. I heard that Karen threw him out of the house and filed for divorce.”
    â€œHe was angry with her?”
    â€œProbably.”
    â€œHad they been married a long time?”
    â€œI think so. I mean they’re grandparents, and I don’t think she’d ever been married to anyone else. Him losing this job was probably the last straw. Maybe she figured the kids were old enough and she was better off on her own.” Josie shrugged. “But since you’re asking, I never had much time for Karen.”
    â€œWhy? I thought . . . I mean, I think she’s nice.” I didn’t add that I’d had no patience for listening to her complaints. I was feeling guilty about that this morning.
    â€œMaybe it’s me, but she seems to play at being nice. Stuff like helping you clean up after book club. I mean, how hard is that? She told you about her marriage ending, right?”
    I nodded. Karen had stayed after book club, chatting with me after everyone had left. “She