Free Death of a Chocoholic by Lee Hollis Page B

high.
    â€œJust one more, Hayley. For safety.”
    â€œSafety? We’ve done it two dozen times.”
    â€œI know. But on that last one, you winced as you ate my chocolate. I can’t have you wincing, Hayley. People will get the wrong idea.”
    â€œI winced because I can’t eat any more. I just can’t, Bessie. I’m about to be sick,” Hayley pleaded.
    Bessie just pouted and shook her head as if Hayley were being a kitchen diva.
    â€œI’m sorry . . . I just . . .” Hayley stopped herself. She knew in her gut Bessie was never going to take no for an answer.
    Bessie gave her the puppy dog eyes. “Just one more? For me?”
    Hayley found herself nodding.
    Bessie clapped her hands excitedly and turned to her crew members, who were texting. Her smile faded in an instant. “Focus, you imbeciles, or I tell your teacher you goofed off the whole time and you’ll get no credit!”
    The boys snapped to attention; one hit a button on the camera and the other lifted up the boom mike.
    Hayley went through the motions while Bessie encouraged her to try her chocolate, and Hayley made sure to keep a smile pasted on her face and tried desperately not to wince as she ate the chocolate. She thought she was doing pretty well at pretending to be over the moon for the chocolate as she chewed and chewed. This one was loaded with sticky caramel.
    She felt an odd texture on her tongue.
    It wasn’t gooey.
    It was something stringy.
    What the hell was that?
    It was like . . . hair!
    Or cat fur!
    Oh, Lord, no!
    Supermarket Ron was right.
    Bessie’s unsanitary kitchen had led to this!
    She was eating cat fur!
    Hayley gagged, reaching into her mouth with her fingers to try and pull it out.
    Bessie never took her eyes off the camera. “Hayley, are you okay?”
    Hayley shook her head and then, without warning, she felt bile rising up in her throat. She tried in vain to swallow it, but it was too overwhelming and powerful.
    She vomited all over the place.
    Bessie screamed.
    The pimply kid behind the camera burst out laughing.
    The plump one turned green at the horrific sight, dropped his boom mike, and threw up a torrent of liquid goo himself.
    Bessie just screamed, “Shut the camera off! Shut it off now!”
    Hayley wiped her mouth with her sleeve and just apologized over and over again to poor Bessie, who was nearly catatonic from the shock of Hayley spitting up her delicious chocolates in such a violent manner.
    To make matters worse, Bessie’s cats appeared out of nowhere and began rubbing up against Hayley’s leg. Two more jumped up on the island counter and licked a bowl dripping with chocolate. All those cats closing in on her, like a scene from some frightful Stephen King horror novel, made her feel even sicker.
    Bessie finally snapped out of her stunned state and hastily grabbed a mop and a pail and began madly scrubbing the floors clean.
    The cats just kept on coming, and Hayley couldn’t stop herself from thinking about the fur in the chocolates.
    She had to get out of there before she got sick again.
    Bessie collapsed in tears, resting her forehead on the mop handle.
    Hayley signaled to the two boys to give them some privacy. They appeared grateful and hightailed it out of there.
    â€œBessie, I’m sorry. But it was only one take. We got a bunch of good ones you can use on YouTube.”
    â€œI just wanted my video to be perfect and show that awful Nina Foster-Jones she’s not the only game in town.”
    Nina Foster-Jones was a local caterer, very snooty, who gained a reputation with the wealthy summer crowd for her offbeat hors d’oeuvres and her scrumptious desserts. However, during the winter months when most of her clients had left town and business was slow, she worked part-time at an insurance company.
    â€œWhy do you care about her?” Hayley gently asked.
    â€œBecause she thinks I’m stealing her ideas.”
    â€œWhat