Free A Charming Wish by Tonya Kappes

my
foot. “My friend at Wicked Good Bakery in Whispering Falls makes
them. But there’s just something about the real thing and
unwrapping that foil.”
    “ This can be a good thing.
Maybe you can do something different to help out with stress.” She
stood up and put her hands together in a praying position. “I was
going to check on you today after what happened last
night.”
    “ Oh, yeah.” Kenny’s dead
body was tattooed on my brain. “Last night.”
    “ Do they know what
happened to him?” She leaned against the table.
    “ He was murdered, but the
autopsy isn’t back yet.” I made a mental note to make a quick visit
to Two Sisters and a Funeral. Surely the results from his autopsy
were back by now.
    “ I know you didn’t do it.
You have to find a better way to soothe that stress of yours.” She
bowed with her hands still in the clasped position. “I really think
you should join me in yoga.”
    Yoga? Chocolate? Weighing the two, I
think chocolate wins.
    “ I’ll think about it.” I
straightened my shirt. “I’m going to go. Thanks so much for your
help.”
    “ Anytime.” Adeline made it
to the door before me and opened it. “It feels good to help you out
instead of the other way around.”
    “ Technically, you just
killed my one and only bad habit.” I bit my lip trying to figure
out how I was going to get my hands on some Ding Dongs. “I’ll let
you know about the yoga thingy.”
    Pish. There was no way I was going to do that meditating crap when
all I needed was a Ding Dong.
    “ Hi,” Adeline’s voice rose
to a high-pitched squeal when a sandy blond-haired guy greeted
us.
    Hmm …Was this why single women went to the grocery store? To find
a man? No wonder the produce section was so popular.
    He bent down and gave Adeline a kiss
to remember. She melted right into him, forgetting all about me and
my dilemma.
    “ I’m sorry.” Adeline’s
face was rosy red as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand,
and then rubbed her hand down the hot, hunky man. “George, this is
June. The owner of…”
    “ A Charming Cure.” He
smiled and nodded. George stuck his hand out. We shook. “It’s great
to meet the face behind the name. My Adeline has told me all about
you.”
    “ It’s nice to meet you.” I
pointed toward the door. “I really need to get going.”
    “ Okay.” Adeline tucked her
arms in the crook of his elbow, locking her hands. Her shoulders
rolled up. “I’ll check back with you about yoga.”
    “ You aren’t trying to get
her to do yoga are you?” By the sound of George’s voice, she must
be trying to get him to go with her.
    “ I’ll think about it.”
George reminded me of how I had to find a new stress relief,
putting a bitter taste back in my mouth. “I’ll see you later.” I
eyed her suspiciously, my gut tugged and I fiddled with my
fingers.
    Angrily, I stomped back to the Green
Machine. Mac had rolled down the window and was drumming his
fingers on the windowsill.
    “ Where have you been?”
Hastily he rolled the window back up.
    “ You aren’t going to
believe this.” I let out a big sigh. “They are no longer making
Ding Dongs, the end of an era and the end of sanity for
me.”
    “ You better find something
and quick.” Mac’s voice sent chills up my spine. “Wicked Goods was
robbed last night.”
    “ Oh, no.” I gasped. “Do
they think the killer broke in there?”
    “ They think you did.” Mac opened his
damn notebook. “The only thing they took,” he looked up, his eyes
hollow, “were June’s Gems.”
    Instantly, Adeline’s face hit my
mind’s eye like a ton of bricks. My gut curled in knots. My
instincts told me her name was written all over this. Not only did
she get the June’s Gems for her boyfriend, but she was also
standing there last night when Petunia and Gerald stumbled across
Kenny. Plus, she’d do anything to keep that boyfriend of hers.
After all, all she wanted the first time she came into A Charming
Cure was a