Free Creamy Casserole Murder: Book 15 in The Darling Deli Series by Patti Benning Page B

more experience at running a business than you have,” Moira pointed out. “Don’t worry, you’ll get there. The deli was a mess when I first opened it, but look at it now… things run pretty smoothly for the most part.”
    Making the chocolates turned out to be a simpler process than the deli owner had imagined. Candice obviously knew what she was doing, and smoothly moved from one double boiler to the next, giving the contents a stir and occasionally adding an extra dash or drop of this or that flavoring. Moira did her best to keep the counters clean, and hurried to help her daughter whenever she requested something.
    “Can you take the molds out of the fridge and begin putting the chocolates in that box over there?” her daughter asked. “Put parchment paper between the layers, and when it’s full, close the box and call me over so I can label it. Then the molds get washed and used again for the next batch.”
    The deli owner got to work, careful not to break any of the chocolates as she popped them out of the mold. They were in the shape of a paw print, with the letters CAHS stamped into them.
    “What are these for?” she asked as she worked.
    “Oh, it’s the Capital Area Humane Society,” the young woman replied. “They’re having a fundraising event for the animals. The person I got Felix from gave them my name.”
    Felix was Candice’s one-in-a-million male calico cat. Moira watched him once in a while when her daughter was away, and held a special spot of fondness for him in her heart.
    “How is Felix doing? It’s been a while since I’ve seen him. I bet he missed you while you were gone.”
    “Eli said he slept on my pillow every night,” her daughter said, smiling as she sifted some confectioners’ sugar into one of the double boilers. “He was definitely happy to see me again—he tried to climb up my leg when I walked in the door. I still have some scratches.”
    “It sounds like he still thinks he’s a tiny kitten,” Moira said, laughing. “I bet that was pretty unpleasant. His claws are like needles.”
    They worked in silence for a few more minutes, the deli owner focusing on laying the chocolates out in nice rows on each layer of parchment paper. She sensed her daughter glancing over at her periodically, and got the sense that there was something on her mind. When Candice spoke up at last, it was to ask something completely unexpected.
    “Mom, do you love David?” she asked.
    “Yes,” Moira said, setting the box of chocolates aside so she could focus on her daughter. “I do.”
    “Like, as much as you loved Dad?”
    She was surprised. Her daughter rarely brought up Mike these days. His death had hit Candice hard, despite there being both physical and emotional distance between them. Wondering what the young woman was getting at, she considered her answer carefully, trying to remember the days when she had first been married to her ex-husband.
    “It’s a different sort of love,” she said at last. “Back when I met your father, I wasn’t much older than you are now. I didn’t really know what I wanted back then, or what kind of man I wanted to be with. I was infatuated with your father, but it just wasn’t the kind of love that lasted… on either of our parts. What I feel for David is much deeper.”
    The young woman nodded. “Good.”
    Moira was about to ask her daughter why she wanted to know, wondering if she was having doubts about her relationship with Eli, when Candice’s phone buzzed on the counter beside the stove. The young woman glanced over at it, then quickly wiped her hands on a hand towel and answered it.
    “Hello?” she said. She was silent for a moment as she listened, and Moira saw her visibly pale. “We’ll be right over.”
    “What’s going on?” Moira asked once her daughter had hung up the phone.
    “Someone else was just killed at the nursing home,” Candice said. She frowned, as if still trying to make sense of it in her own mind. “It