Proof of Murder (Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery #4) - Lauren Elliott Page 0,50

a regular customer.

Addie took a deep breath and pasted on the friendliest smile she could muster. “Martha, how nice to see you.” Addie set the books on the counter. “I’m surprised to see you in at lunchtime, though. Paige told me that since you started your new select-your-own-toppings sandwich bar, it’s become your busiest time of day.”

Martha fanned her round, flushed face with her hand. “I needed to get out of that heat for a few minutes. Those ovens have been going since five a.m., and the air-conditioning is on the fritz. I feel like I’m the one getting baked in there.”

Addie didn’t know whether to offer support or laugh, but when Martha erupted into a deep belly laugh, she had her answer.

Paige popped her head around the corner of a bookshelf. “What happened, Mom? Why are you here?”

Martha swatted a tear from her cheek as if it were a mosquito and tried to answer, but it was no use. The heat of her shop had obviously made her dizzy in more ways than one. Addie choked, stifling her laugh, and looked at Paige.

Paige glanced from one to the other. “I guess I missed what the joke was.”

Addie pawed at the air, trying to regain her composure under the watchful eye of a customer by the end sales rack. “It’s just that your mother is half-baked.”

“Yes, what she said.” Martha jerked her thumb at Addie and wiped her eyes with the corner of her white apron. “But seriously, Paige, you didn’t take a lunch with you this morning when you dashed out of the house for work, and that useless girl I hired, well, she made way too much egg salad, so I brought you both in a few for lunch.” She held up a brown paper bag, a flush spreading across her apple cheeks. “That is if you want them?”

“Of course we do.” Addie grinned and took the bag. “How did you know my stomach was rebelling against starvation?”

“I guess when I heard what happened last night”—her gaze dropped—“that if Paige had to get in early to open and didn’t have time to make anything, then you probably didn’t, either, considering . . .” She snapped her mouth closed. “I just hope you like egg salad.”

Paige threw her arms around her mother’s neck. “Thank you.”

Martha’s eyes glittered with unshed tears, proving her tough exterior was slowly cracking. The old Martha would have insisted that Paige quit working for a troublemaker who went off and got herself arrested. This new version of Martha was one Addie hoped was here to stay.

“Thank you so much, Martha. You’re a real lifesaver,” Addie called after her as the doorbells jingled with her departure.

Paige opened the bag. “It’s full. There are at least half-a-dozen sandwiches in here.”

“Really?” Addie peered into Martha’s bakery bag. “Why don’t you take a couple and go next door to Serena’s and have lunch with Elli. I’ll eat mine when you get back.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m hungry, but I’ll wait.” Addie scanned what she could see of the shop. “It’s quiet in here for the time being. You go ahead and take your break now because you opened this morning when I was . . . indisposed.” She hoped Paige didn’t see the hot flush that spread across her cheeks.

But there was no worry about that as Paige pulled three wrapped sandwiches from the bag. “I’ll see if Serena can get away now, too, and come have hers with you,” she called as she scampered out the door.

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Paige burst back in through the door, giggling. Addie looked up from the consignment account book she’d been balancing. “I take it you had a good break.”

“Yeah, Elli’s such a hoot. She’s not all that bright sometimes, but what she doesn’t have in smarts, she sure makes up for with her sense of humor.” Paige took one look at the books Addie had refilled the stocking cart with. “Where did all these come from?”

“Wendy came in with a couple of boxes. She sold that old house she and her husband had.”

“The one over on Juniper?”

“Yeah, and she doesn’t have any room in her new apartment for even half her book collection, so she’s going to donate them to the store.”

“Donate them? Not consign them?”

“She wouldn’t hear of making money off them. She just wanted them to find good homes.” Addie pivoted around the end of the counter toward Paige. “I think this move is very hard