Alibis and Amethysts Read Free

since they’d come from
     Sierra, she found herself laughing instead. “You’re rationing me?”
    “I’m just looking out for you. You don’t want your material to lose its punch, do
     you?”
    Jaye nearly choked on the chip she was nibbling. There was no way to predict what
     might come out of Sierra’s mouth at any given moment. She’d made Jaye so wary and
     uncomfortable when they’d first met that Jaye had considered asking for a different
     dorm assignment. But after a month of living together in close quarters, it had quickly
     become apparent that there was no one kinder or more compassionate than her eccentric
     roomy.
    Dinner arrived, sizzling hot and smelling richly of peppers, onions and garlic. Conversation
     was suspended while they went about assembling their fajita wraps.
    “I forgot to tell you—Peggy Krueger literally crashed into my cart in the supermarket
     yesterday,” Jaye said, using her napkin to blot a drop of sauce that was working its
     way down her chin. “I guess I should be grateful we weren’t in our cars. She rounded
     the corner into the cereal aisle like she thought she was at Daytona. It took a while
     for my arms to stop vibrating from the impact. She got all flustered and started to
     apologize—until she realized it was
my
cart she’d hit. Good-bye, apology; hello, venomous glare.”
    Sierra took her time chewing a mouthful. “I guess you’re guilty by association,” she
     said finally.
    “A little over the top, don’t you think? I know you’re in competition with her, but
     everyone in business has to deal with that sooner or later. It’s called ‘capitalism.’”
    “Change comes hard for some people,” Sierra said without rancor. “Peggy had the only
     bakery around here for almost twenty years. To her I’m the usurper of customers, the
     black hole of profits. And if I’m the devil incarnate, I guess she sees you as one
     of my handmaidens. What I don’t get is why she hasn’t tried to up her game to lure
     her customers back or to hold on to the ones she still has. From what I’m told, her
     line of baked goods has been exactly the same for two decades. Even she should be
     bored to death by now. Speaking of which,” she said, “you’re coming back to my house
     after dinner to try my new apricot Linzer tortes.”
    “Have you ever considered framing an invitation in the form of a question?” Jaye asked
     with a laugh. “For example, ‘Would you like to come over after dinner? I have a fabulous
     new dessert I’d like you to try.’”
    “I like my way. It makes it harder for the invitee to refuse.”
    “I guess I’ll take the rest of my dinner to go,” Jaye said with an exaggerated sigh,
     “since you’re apparently going to be force-feeding me dessert.”
    ***
    Jaye followed Sierra into West Sedona, where her friend had plunked down half of her
     inheritance from her grandmother on a small, older home that had started to fall apart
     the day after she went to closing. As a result, renovating the kitchen and tackling
     other cosmetic issues had had to wait until the roof, plumbing and appliances underwent
     repairs. After a brief but rowdy meltdown, Sierra had meditated herself into a generally
     peaceful acceptance of the situation. Whenever Jaye had tried to practice that art
     during times of stress she’d only succeeded in falling asleep. Not half bad as failures
     go.
    They had one stop to make on the way to Sierra’s house—Dee’s Play and Stay, which
     offered day care for dogs as well as boarding. Jaye pulled into the lot and waited
     in her car while Sierra went inside. She reappeared a minute later holding the leash
     of a prancing, snow-white American Eskimo who answered to the name of Frosty. Sierra
     had adopted him from the elderly woman whose house she’d bought. Unable to take the
     dog with her to the nursing home, the woman had begged Sierra to keep him or she’d
     be forced to leave him at a shelter. Sierra had