Macadamia and Mayhem Read online

  Her French bulldog mix, Sunny, tilted her head inquisitively. Lydia wasn’t sure if the dog was actually considering her fashion choices or if she was confused why her owner had taken out nearly all of her clothes from the closet and laid them around the room. Lydia had also unpacked several of the boxes that she had already taped up for her upcoming move to a new house in town. (The exact location was still unknown because although she and her brother had sold the family home that she was currently staying in, she had not yet acquired the smaller house that she would move into in a couple of weeks.)

  Lydia looked at the two dresses she was holding and set them down with a sigh. She had made a mess of her room, and she still had no idea what she should wear to Trina’s party. She knew that she shouldn’t be too worried about her outfit since the first time that she had met Gavin and Gwen she was wearing her taffy shop t-shirt with her usual messy bun on her head, but she wanted to make a better impression this time. She wasn’t quite sure what they thought of her after their last meeting, but she desperately wanted Daniel’s friends to like her.

  Sunny let out a little bark, and Lydia moved closer to pet her furry best friend.

  “Are you trying to remind me that what I wear doesn’t really matter and that I should want people to like me for who I am and not my clothes?” Lydia asked the pup.

  However, Sunny responded by jumping off the bed she had been laying on and running towards the front door with another little bark.

  “You’re telling me someone is at the door,” Lydia narrated.

  She quickly followed Sunny. Since the dog’s tiny tail was wagging, she guessed it was someone who they both liked. When she opened the door and saw Trina, she wasn’t surprised to see her. However, she was a little surprised by Trina’s ensemble.

  Trina was wearing a green dress that offset her reddish hair beautifully, but she had also placed a bulky plastic silver crown in her hair. It looked like the birthday tiaras that children wore to celebrate their birthday except this had the letter “P” written on it as if it were a jewel.

  “P?” asked Lydia.

  “I think it’s supposed to stand for princess, but I choose to think it stands for promotion,” Trina answered.

  She looked Lydia over, and it was clear that she was also surprised by Lydia’s appearance. She was still in her work shirt but had put on pajama bottoms while going through her closet.

  “You’ll be comfortable at the party, for sure,” Trina teased. “I hope I didn’t keep you making taffy so long that you didn’t have time for anything else.”

  Sunny nudged Trina’s leg, and she knelt down to pet the dog properly.

  “No,” Lydia admitted. “I made all the dessert earlier. I was feeling a little stressed and decided to pull some taffy by hand to work it out. I made a few Italian dessert themed treats to match the place we’re going to. I made a tiramisu taffy, and a spumoni one, and a cannoli inspired salt water taffy. I also shaped some taffy so they look like mini scissors like you would find in your salon. The blade parts are made with an Earl Grey tea inspired taffy, and the handles are colorful fruit flavors. I also made more macadamia nut taffy because, during the short time I did speak to Daniel after his friends arrived, he said this might be his new favorite flavor.”

  “That sounds like a lot of work,” Trina said, sounding awed.

  “It was, but I wanted your party to be special. You’re my best friend. And my candy making doesn’t have anything to do with me not being ready now. I’ve been very indecisive about what to wear.”

  “Well, I can help with that.”

  Trina stood up. She and Sunny walked purposefully to Lydia’s room. Lydia followed behind, feeling a little embarrassed as Trina paused in the doorway and surveyed the mess.

  “Liddy, I think this is worse than when you went on your first date with Daniel. Why are you so nervous?”

  Lydia considered it. “Gavin and Gwen are a link to Daniel’s past that he barely opens up about. And they are clearly important to him. I’d certainly take it into consideration if you didn’t like someone that I was dating. I don’t want them to think I’m not right for him.”

  “Daniel is already crazy about you. And you are both good for each other. Maybe there’s a little extra danger because of all the sleuthing, but you’re both helping each other move forward.”

  Sunny barked in agreement and wagged her tiny tail.

  “See?” Trina said. “I’m right. And it doesn’t really matter what you wear.”

  Lydia nodded, accepting the advice. She picked up the nearest dress to her, but Trina quickly exchanged it for a light blue one.

  “It doesn’t matter what you wear, but I think you look great in that one. And now we just need to do something with your hair.”

  “Do we have time for that? I don’t want to make us late.”

  “Liddy, I’m a boss when it comes to styling hair.”

  Lydia laughed and allowed her friend to see if she could fashion a hairstyle other than Lydia’s go-to bun.

  When they arrived at the party, Lydia began to wonder why she had been so nervous. There were so many people at the party that she never felt on the spot with Gavin and Gwen. Mostly Gavin and Daniel reminisced and told some exciting stories about their time in Coast Guard together. Lydia loved hearing about a time in Daniel’s life that he spoke sparsely of, but she also made sure to mingle with others around the room.

  She was afraid that Jeff might feel out of place as the only taffy shop employee able to make it, but he was enjoying the food and talking to the women from the salon. Lydia made sure to greet all the other hairdressers, even though she only knew the other (now) co-owner, Felisha, very well.

  Leo and Detective Grey were also in attendance, and Brie had not accompanied them. Lydia didn’t know if Brie had to work or had not wanted to attend a party for Trina, but she didn’t mind her absence.

  Everyone was enjoying the dinner and the taffy. It seemed like it was going to be a perfect party. However, then Lydia heard Daniel admit to his friends how he and Lydia had been involved in several murder investigations around town.

  “But aren’t you both civilians?” Gavin asked. “How are you able to get involved with solving these crimes?”

  It was then that Leo dropped his drink. Lydia knew that her brother had never been a fan of her getting involved in his cases. She never meant to step on his toes, but she always thought she had a good reason to begin investigating. She knew that sometimes her actions could irritate and infuriate him, but she didn’t think it was worthy of dropping a glass over.

  However, when she finally faced her brother, she saw that his attention was not on the current conversation at all. He was staring out of the party room into the main area of the restaurant. His face looked strained, and Lydia rushed over to him.

  “What is it?”

  “Oh, nothing,” Leo said, trying to sound indifferent. “Just Suzanne on a date with someone else.”

  Lydia looked where he had been staring. The woman who had rejected Leo’s proposal and who he still clearly loved was sitting at a table and sharing a meal with another man. The thing that was strange about this was when Lydia had run into Suzanne by accident recently it had seemed clear that Suzanne still had feelings for Leo too. She had just not wanted to get married so suddenly because she believed it was a knee-jerk reaction to a near-death experience. It seemed that neither had spoken to the other since the day of the proposal.

  “It might not be what it appears,” Lydia began, about to mention to her brother how she had nearly suspected Daniel of something, and it turned out to be completely harmless.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Leo said curtly. “We’re not together anymore. She can do what she wants. I think I am going to head home, though. Tell Trina congratulations from me again.”

  Without waiting for a reply, Leo left the restaurant. Lydia felt like she should run after him, but Detective Grey offered instead.

  “I’ll check on him,” Detect
ive Grey said simply and followed his partner out.

  Lydia still felt awkward about the encounter but felt even worse when Suzanne noticed the commotion and then made eye contact with her. Then, hesitatingly, Suzanne waved. Pasting a smile on her face, Lydia did what she thought courtesy dictated. She walked over to Suzanne’s table.

  4

  The End of the Party

  Lydia walked over to Suzanne’s table, hoping that she had interpreted the wave from her correctly. She didn’t want to intrude on a date, and she didn’t want to betray her brother.

  “Hi, Suzanne.”

  “Hi, Lydia. It’s good to see you again. I thought I just saw Leo walk by.” Her voice wavered as she spoke. “He looks well.”

  “He’s been keeping busy,” Lydia replied.

  “Are you having a party back there?” Suzanne asked.

  “We’re celebrating that Trina is now co-owner of her hair salon,” Lydia explained. “And, are you… well, this isn’t a party at your table…”

  Lydia held back a groan. Why was it that she was able to talk to criminal suspects and get information out of them, but if a situation related to her life she felt like she was always putting her foot in her mouth? However, Suzanne seemed to understand what she was trying to ask.

  “Lydia Doherty, this is Michael Bridge. He’s a client. He’s opening up a music school in town, and I’m decorating the building. We decided to discuss business plans over dinner because the air conditioner isn’t set up properly in the school yet. But it’s funny. I was just talking about some of my other projects, and I mentioned the decorating that I did for your porch to help it get sold.”

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Michael said, offering his hand.

  Glad that this wasn’t an official date, Lydia shook it warmly. The man had a beard and glasses. He also had a pen in one hand. Now that Lydia was closer, she saw that they both had notebooks open on the table where they had been jotting down ideas.

  “Of course, the way she mentioned your porch, I might have to swing by and see it sometime. It’s either an amazing design or she’s in love with the owner,” he joked.

  Suzanne looked away.

  Lydia wanted to read into what he said and hope that there was still a chance to Suzanne and Leo to rekindle their romance, but she tried not to get ahead of herself.

  “I’m sorry,” Michael said, sensing that he touched a nerve. “I didn’t mean to tease you. And seeing this party nearby where you clearly have friends, I’m sorry that my schedule has been so hectic and hard to plan a meeting with. I apologize that you couldn’t go to the party. We can try and finish this up quickly.”

  “No. That’s all right. I wasn’t…”

  Lydia didn’t let her finish and say that she wasn’t invited. It was true that Suzanne hadn’t been out of respect for Leo, but Lydia didn’t want her to feel alienated. Also, she and Suzanne had been starting to become friends before she and Leo split up. Especially if there was a chance for reconciliation, Lydia decided that she wanted to be friends again.

  “We’d love it if you could stop by later and try my taffy dessert. That is if there’s any left between Trina and Jeff at the party,” said Lydia. “And I have been meaning to ask you. You did such a wonderful job making the house we sold look great, do you think you could still help me decorate my new place?”

  “Wouldn’t your brother mind?” asked Suzanne.

  “I think he’d be fine with it. And even if he’s not,” Lydia said, “it’s my house.”

  Suzanne nodded. Feeling wholly satisfied with their encounter, she said her farewells and headed back to the party room. Jeff was the first one to see her. He nodded toward the woman he knew had broken up with her brother.

  “There’s always excitement in your life, huh?” he joked.

  Conspiratorially, she said, “I’m hoping that it will work out between them.”

  Jeff grinned. “That would be nice. Hey, how late do you think this party is going to go? I have work in the morning, and my boss is a real slave driver.”

  “Ha. Ha,” Lydia responded. “It will probably be another hour or so.”

  He nodded. “I can handle that. But I think I’m going to grab a few of the little scissors. I’ll give one to Kelsey and say I found a pair of scissors that we can run with.”

  He headed back to the dessert table, and Lydia quickly updated Trina on the last few minutes, and then went back to the table and sat down with Daniel, Gavin, and Gwen. She apologized for disappearing.

  “I’m sorry to do this right after you came back,” said Gwen. “But I think we should get going.”

  “Oh?” Lydia asked, feeling disappointed. Though she was nervous being around them, she did want to get to know them better.

  “The party is not quite over yet,” Gavin said.

  “But it’s late,” Gwen responded, and her husband checked his watch. “Besides, I’m starting to get a headache.”

  “Feel better,” said Daniel. “I’m sure we’ll get together again soon while you’re still on vacation.”

  The Pierces said their goodbye and made sure to congratulate Trina on her promotion again on their way out. Lydia watched them walk away. Gwen hadn’t been acting like she had a headache at all that night, and when Lydia had approached the table she had looked in good health. Were they coming up with excuses so as not to spend time with her?

  “This has been a very fun night,” Daniel said. “Thanks for bringing the macadamia nut taffy too. I’m guessing that was because I said I liked it so much?”

  “That was a big part of it,” she conceded.

  He took her hand in his and squeezed it. This simple gesture seemed to calm her down. Maybe she was reading too much into the situation. Maybe Gavin and Gwen were still tired from their travels or wanted to have some time alone while on their vacation. Their abrupt departure might not have been because of her.

  It was true that they knew Daniel’s wife and had obviously cared about her, but they had to understand that Daniel would move on eventually. He could do worse than dating a small business owner that knew how to whip up tasty taffy, couldn’t he? Lydia and Daniel were purposely moving slowly, so his friends couldn’t think he was rushing into something new.

  Lydia squeezed his hand back. “I liked meeting your friends.”

  “I’m glad you could. I have been bad about keeping in touch with people. I think I was cutting people out who reminded me of my life with Delilah without realizing I was doing it. And I don’t think I should have done that. Anyway, I’m happy to see them again.”

  He looked off for a moment, and Lydia thought she saw a wistful look in his eye. Was he regretting his decision to move to Ocean Point?

  “I’m glad they decided to vacation in your new hometown,” she said.

  He kissed her cheek. Then, Trina announced that it was time to cut the celebratory cake. She joked that they should sing “Happy Boss Day to You,” but Lydia suggested they sing “For She’s a Jolly Good Fellow.”

  Though she had been nervous about the night and it did have some ups and downs, Lydia thought that it ended on a high note.

  However, the next morning, when she received an early morning interrogation call, she did begin to reevaluate this stance.

  5

  The Call About the Corpse

  “I didn’t wake you up, did I?” Leo asked over the phone.

  Lydia sat up in her bed so she wouldn’t drift back to sleep. Sunny had curled on the extra pillow and was still snoring away. The pup hadn’t officially woken up even when the phone was ringing. She simply waved her paw as if indicating that Lydia should hit the snooze button.

  “Well, this was my morning off. I was planning on sleeping in. Annette and Jeff are opening the shop and Kelsey…”

  “It’s important,” Leo said, cutting her off.

  Lydia nodded though he couldn’t see her. That was why she never ignored her ringing phone. Between being a small business owner and the cases that popped up
in town, she never knew when a phone call could be important. However, Lydia had a lingering sensation that this call wasn’t the serious business that he was making it out to be.

  “If this is about Suzanne, she wasn’t on a date last night,” said Lydia.

  “She wasn’t?”

  “No,” said Lydia. “She was with one of her clients, who is opening a music school. She’s going to do the interior design for the building. They were discussing the plans.”

  “Well, she might have told you that,” Leo said, not sounding as if he believed the story. “But she might not have wanted to admit to you that she was out with someone romantically. It sure looked like a date.”