Double Dip Dilemma: A Cozy Mystery (Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book 5) Read Free

daughter, would come by after school to help Stormi and me with the evening crowd.
     
    It was 4pm when Sammy and her boyfriend Colton entered the shoppe. Before Stormi and I could say hello, Sammy was asking about the accident that morning.
     
    “So you heard about that huh?” I asked.
     
    Sammy put on her apron as Colton sat down at one of the tables. “Yes we did. In fact the woman in the accident is the stepmother to Colton’s best friend Jeremy.”
     
    “Oh wow,” Stormi exclaimed as she replenished the waffle and sugar cones on the counter behind the ice cream case. “Have you heard how she’s doing?”
     
    “They released her from the hospital,” Colton answered. “She’s shook up and they told her she might be sore for a few days, but other than that she’s okay.”
     
    “That’s good,” I replied. “She said something about her brakes not working.”
     
    Sammy pulled her long dark tresses back into a ponytail. “That’s what Jeremy told us as well. The car was totaled so they were going to take it to the salvage yard, but now it’s at the police station. I guess they’re checking it over to see what happened with the brakes.”
     
    Colton placed his ever-present laptop on the table and opened it. “Yes it’s odd because Jeremy and I took the car to the auto shop a week ago to have it serviced. You would think the mechanics would inspect the brake lines.”
     
    I put a small scoop of my new flavor Chocolate Explosion in a cup and walked around the counter to give it to Colton. “Here, try my new flavor and see how you like it.”
     
    “Thanks,” Colton answered.
     
    I knew he loved ice cream so named him my new taste tester. “That is odd about the service call. I don’t think I would want to take my auto there for a maintenance visit if they aren’t that thorough.”
     
    Sammy began emptying the trash receptacles scattered around the store. “Unless the brake line was cut.”
     
    Stormi dropped the ice cream scoop she held in her hand back into the water bin installed into the ice cream case. “You sound like your mother.”
     
    Sammy pulled the bag from the trash receptacle. “Is that a bad thing?” She smirked at Stormi.
     
    “Not necessarily,” Stormi teased back. “Evidently you have her suspicious streak.”
     
    Sammy tied the ends of the bag closed. “I’ve heard you have the same streak.”
     
    “My dear, suspicion is my middle name,” Stormi answered with a smile.
     
    “And she’s not kidding!” In walked the man who was becoming the love of my life. Stormi’s brother Brandon.
     
    If you told me this one year ago, or heck even 6 months ago, I would have laughed hysterically in your face. Brandon and I grew up with one another and the idea of us being a couple didn’t hit me until a couple of months prior. I began looking at him differently. Not as the mischievous boy he once was, but as the man he’d become. Hard working, humorous, giving and caring. Everything I’d been looking for in a man and hadn’t found was right under my nose the entire time. We’d been dating for around a month now and even double dated a few times with Stormi and Greg. But mostly we loved to pick up a pizza, rent a movie, and curl up with Winchester on the couch.
     
    So here he walked into the shoppe, his thick black hair tousled after a full day of work. His blue eyes danced as he walked over, gave me a kiss on the cheek, and sat down at the table with Colton and me.
     
    “Listen brother, you’re the one that made me this way…you and your impish ways,” Stormi said as she wiped the counter.
     
    Brandon ignored her. “So I heard about the excitement here on Main Street. Lucky that Ol’ Charlie didn’t become a hood ornament.”
     
    “Brandon!” I admonished. “Actually the entire episode didn’t faze him in the least.”
     
    Brandon leaned back in his chair. “Doesn’t surprise me a bit. The guy’s got nerves of steel.”
     
    “Uh oh…” Colton