A Frothy Fiasco: A Cozy Mystery (Sweet Home Mystery Series Book 3) Read Free

otherwise.
    But there was one problem: I didn’t find her ring. I did water her flower gardens, but I didn’t bring the ring back to her. It must have been there, and she just assumed I brought it. Anyway…time for training.
    Tony went over the process with us – grinding the beans finely in the attached grinder, tamping down the grounds, attaching the filter tightly, letting the crema form on top, steaming the milk for lattes and cappuccinos – the whole nine yards.
    Essie and Hildie lost focus about halfway through when Harvey came in with Toe Thompson.
    “Aunties, are you going to be able to do this when I’m not here?”
    “How hard can it be?” Essie shrugged it off and brought Toe a cup of coffee. “It’s coffee grounds and water…and a little steam in the milk.”
    “Just make sure he leaves the instruction book, dear,” Hildie added with a smile. Then she brought Harvey his coffee and the chocolate chip muffin.
    “Mmm. That looks pretty good.” Toe looked at the muffin with a lusty eye. “I’ll have one of those too.”
    Essie walked to the counter and put one of the plain cake donuts on a plate and set it down in front of him. He and Harvey looked at each other, and a big smile grew on Harvey’s face.
    “Looks like my girl likes me more than your girl likes you, Toe.”
    “Nonsense. Neither of us likes either of you two old coots. We’re just closed today for training, so we didn’t bake anything.” Essie was a good liar when she wanted to be.
    “And we’ve been saving a muffin for Harve every day for years – long before we ever let you two escort us to dinner or dancing. That one’s from yesterday,” Hildie added. “And you two are the only ones around here who’ll play cribbage with me. That’s all I’m looking for in a man.”
    And that was the truth. Hildie was never married and never wanted to be. But she did enjoy a little companionship now and then.
    “This donut is exactly what I wanted, Essie. Perfect for dunking. Why don’t you girls join us for a cup?”
    “We’ll think about it – if you codgers will make yourselves useful and stop by the house tomorrow to help us paint our latticework arch.”
    “You girls always have the best looking yard on Peach Tree Lane,” Harvey said, “but Toe here is the handyman. He probably has the brushes and ladder to knock that thing out in half an hour.”
    “Yes, Indeed. Just leave the paint on the front steps, and it’ll be done for you by lunch time.” Toe had a big smile for Essie and looked like he couldn’t wait to help out his favorite girl. Essie was doing her best to conceal her smile, but it came through anyway. She was in no hurry to have a man in her life. She’d been widowed for several years now since Uncle Joe passed from a heart attack, but I think she missed having a man around.
    Well, they started talking about the heat and all the new kids in town, so the aunts were a lost cause at this point. But they can probably manage to put ice in the blender with coffee or fruit. Tony turned around to slide one of the blenders over for the frappe lesson.
    “What’s this?” I asked as I playfully snapped the stretchy finger of a blue plastic glove sticking out of his back pocket, “Do a little brain surgery on the side?”
    Tony was a little red-faced as he pushed the gloves down in his pocket and chuckled. “Aw, I wish. I have to use those when I open up a machine sometimes so the electrovalent charges in my skin don’t short out any of the tiny capacitors or anything. A shot of static electricity can screw these things up pretty good. So, where’s the ice?”
    We spent nearly an hour making frappes and smoothies. It was fun, and we had a lot of laughs – and a lot of smoothies and frappes. We all enjoyed Tony’s wit and stories so much, and he talked with the guys and the aunts for a while too, bringing them samples of our cold beverages to taste. The caramel mocha frappes were a big hit, and so were the