A Lime To Kill: A Key West Culinary Cozy - Book 1 Read online

  “About staying here,” she said, impatiently, as though her mother should be reading her mind. “I was wondering if I might be able to get an advance,” she said, looking at Marilyn hopefully.

  “What kind of an advance are we talking about?” she asked, not wanting to commit without a specific dollar figure. It wasn’t at all that she didn’t trust Tiara, she just made it a point to be very prudent with her spending.

  “I need fifteen hundred dollars. You could deduct it from my paycheck in two hundred dollar increments until it’s paid off.”

  Marilyn stopped walking. “Fifteen hundred dollars? Honey, that’s a lot of money…”

  “Right, but it would just be a loan, and I’ve already verified that you’re able to do it without impacting your expansion plans at all.” Tiara kept walking while she explained, forcing her mother to catch up.

  “That’s not a problem, sweetie, but what’s happening in your life that causes a need for fifteen hundred dollars?” Marilyn asked, consumed with thoughts of dark scenarios.

  “Ok,” Tiara paused. “I’ve been trying to think of a way to tell you this…and I really don’t want to hurt your feelings.”

  Marilyn took a deep breath, trying very hard not to panic.

  Her daughter continued, “I was thinking…you know Jess and Stacey? They had a girl living with them who just moved out, and that leaves one of the bedrooms in their apartment open. I thought it would be good for both of us if I had a place of my own.”

  Marilyn pulled her daughter to her and hugged her hard, “Oh, thank heavens…I always do think of the worst things when you start a conversation that way,” she exclaimed, wilted with relief.

  “So it’s ok with you? If I move in with them?” Tiara prodded.

  “Of course it’s okay with me, you’re an adult. I’m just glad that you’ll even be on the same island. But, I can’t promise that I won’t drop by unannounced and force Jess and Stacey into binge-watching zombie movies with us,” she teased.

  Tiara chuckled and they walked the rest of the way to the beach in silence. Marilyn threw her arm around her daughter’s shoulders, knowing that her stubbornly independent offspring would only allow it until the guilt of leaving home wore off.

  “So my daughter moved in and now is moving out again,” Marilyn thought as her feet touched the sand. There was precious little time for reflection about life and the passage of time, however, they had reached their destination. It was almost nine and the sun was relentless. Everyone attending the yoga class wore sunglasses and sunscreen. Most had worn swimsuits, some under their clothes like Marilyn, and some who were confident enough to do a full hour of yoga in nothing but a bikini.

  Plopping her bag down in the sand, Marilyn noted with wry amusement that her daughter had suddenly become one of those supremely confident bikini people. Her daughter was an exact physical opposite to her mother in every way. Marilyn was 5’4,” Tiara was 5’9”. Marilyn was a brown-eyed brunette, Tiara was a blue-eyed blonde. Of course, the physical differences between the two could only be attributed to Daniel, the insensitive ex-husband and lackadaisical father. He was tall, blue eyed, and blond, with an athletic build that had once upon a time made Marilyn swoon. Oddly, fifteen years ago, Daniel had looked a lot like their current yoga instructor…who was now headed in their direction.

  “Good morning ladies,” he grinned benevolently, showing teeth that appeared to be incredibly white because of his deep tan.

  Marilyn got the impression that he wasn’t really talking to her so she smiled then looked to her daughter. Tiara showed her dimples and tilted her head in a way that revealed to her mother exactly why the teacher had approached them specifically.

  “Hey, Drew,” she said coyly.

  Marilyn noticed for the first time that morning that her daughter was wearing make-up. In fact that color of her lips looked remarkably similar to that of her favorite lipstick. She picked up the tee-shirt Tiara had worn to the beach and discarded upon arrival.

  “Here you go,” she said, handing the gray cotton tee to her daughter. Tiara frowned at her mother, slung the tee shirt over her shoulder, then turned back to the teacher.

  Marilyn had been coming to this class on and off for the past two years and she couldn’t remember ever having heard the instructor’s name before.

  “I’ve been working on that arm balance all week, and I think I’ve got it,” Tiara put her hands in the sand and her knees on top of her elbows.

  Marilyn watched as her sweet little girl lifted her barely-clad bottom up into the air as Drew looked on. She didn’t quite know how to react to the uncomfortable situation. She could let herself “stumble” into her daughter right now, knocking her over, or “accidentally” kick sand at the instructor’s feet, or yell “shark”. Thankfully Tiara’s pose collapsed all on its own, solving the problem.

  “This is what happens when I leave my daughter alone in yoga one time. One single time,” she thought to herself, pursing her lips and shaking her head. Last week Marilyn had decided to spend the morning curled up in a hammock with a slice of key lime pie, coffee, and the newspaper. This was her penance for the shameless indulgence.

  To begin the class Drew put on his teaching voice and circulated among the fifteen women who actively sought his attention and guidance. Marilyn became very aware of the fact that there were no men in this particular class and a rather large group of dedicated women. She frowned, wondering, “How old is this Bernard anyway?”

  “Focus your breathing and let yourself become one with the sound of the ocean,” he directed gently, beginning their journey to peace.

  Suddenly every syllable that the attractive instructor uttered was suspect and subject to scrutiny. Become one? Just what exactly did he know about becoming one? And why mention it in a yoga class?

  If she had to guess she’d have to say that he was likely in his mid-thirties. “What kind of thirtysomething flirts with a twenty-one-year-old girl? Probably most of them would respond to my lovely young daughter if she smiled at them that way,” she admitted to herself, realistically.

  Marilyn moved fluidly through her first series of poses. Noticing that he was indeed rather attractive, she covertly looked at him upside down from beneath her raised leg. Instead of attaining the perfect union of body and spirit this morning, she spent the rest of the class looking from Tiara to Drew and back again. She tried to covertly read their body language and facial expressions. Whenever he came around to move Tiara physically deeper into a pose Marilyn watched like a hawk, as if she were trying to figure out how to do the pose properly herself.

  By the end of class, she was exhausted. Her shoulders tense, her mind was alight with jangling thoughts, even her eyeballs felt stiff. As they all said, “Namaste,” Marilyn was already wondering how quickly she could spirit Tiara home.

  Trying to play it cool, she playfully suggested, “Race you home?” Tiara stared at her mother like she’d just lost her mind.

  “Go ahead, I’m going for a swim to cool down.” She nodded at the water and Marilyn noticed Drew drawing closer.

  “I’ll jump in too, what a great idea, honey. Come on, let’s go in.” Marilyn said in the same overly enthusiastic way.

  “You go in, I’ll be right there…” Tiara drilled her with a look, as if her mother would pick up on the significance of the suggestion and actually respond appropriately.

  “Hey,” Drew appeared with his aging beach-boy smile.

  “Class was great,” Tiara said in the saccharine way that her mother had never seen before today.

  “Thanks—”

  “—Yeah, class was great!” Marilyn cut in.

  “Uh…thanks…” the instructor gave her a rather puzzled look, then turned his attention back to Tiara. “So…” Drew pulled a hand back through his hair in a very movie star manner. “I just heard that a new species of fish was found in the reef… it’s probably impossible to find but I thought, since you dive…maybe—”

  “That sounds
amazing!” Marilyn blurted, drawing a warning look from her daughter.

  “Yeah,” he gave her a polite smile and again directed his attention to her barely-clad daughter. “There are at least a hundred species of fish right around here, but this one was just discovered. I guess they, the scientists, or marine biologists, or whoever, have to submit their findings before it’s official but…I thought you might want to take a look. I have a boat so we could pick a couple different dive spots,” he offered.

  Tiara was temporarily struck speechless by his invitation, but clearly excited at the prospect. In absence of a response from the star-struck girl, and feeling Marilyn’s hawk-like gaze, Drew turned to her.

  “You’re welcome to come too…if you’d like…” The manner in which the question was asked let Marilyn know that it was offered to be polite, rather than being an indication of genuine interest in having her tag along.

  “Wow, I would love to…that is if you really don’t mind?” she beamed, satisfied with the idea of chaperoning.

  “Sure…come along,” Drew looked from Tiara back to her mother. “The more the merrier…”

  Chapter 4

  Suddenly, business-savvy, mathematically gifted Tiara was a teenager again. “Mother how could you do that to me?” the red-faced young woman demanded, hands on hips.

  “Oh dear, I’m sorry, honey, it just popped out of my mouth before I realized it,” Marilyn explained, somewhat contrite. She really hadn’t meant to invite herself along on her daughter’s date, but on the other hand, she certainly felt that she had valid concerns about her young daughter keeping company with a yoga teacher who was several years her senior. “Well, we can either tell him that I have a conflict in my schedule, or we could just make the best of it,” she shrugged, not quite understanding why her typically level-headed daughter was throwing such a fit.

  “I don’t believe this.” Tiara was power-walking down the boardwalk at such a fast pace that it was difficult for her mother to keep up.

  “Ok, now, let’s just calm down,” Marilyn reasoned. “There’s really no need to be so upset.”

  Tiara snorted derisively, shot her mother a scathing look, turned, and began walking in the opposite direction. Rather than trying to follow, Marilyn decided to let Tiara walk off her anger and approach the subject again when her suddenly sensitive daughter had cooled down a bit. Sighing and shaking her head, she headed for home, sad that the beauty of the day had dimmed somehow.

  **

  Marilyn was surprised to find a woman waiting for her at the shop a full two hours before opening. While she completely understood the intense yearning for key lime pie, she’d never had a customer camp out in front of the store.

  “Good morning! Can I help you?” she asked pleasantly.

  “Are you Marilyn?” the petite redhead asked with a smile.

  Marilyn took a quick mental inventory of people she knew and places in which she might have been introduced to this woman, but couldn’t quite place her.

  “I am. Have we met?” Marilyn asked tentatively.

  “No,” the woman responded. “I believe I’ve spoken with your daughter.”

  “Oh?” Now she was really confused.

  “About the position,” she explained, catching on that the befuddled owner obviously had no idea who she was or why she was there. “I’m Susan Dwyer,” she reached out her hand.

  She seemed nice enough, plain, maybe a bit older than Marilyn. Susan’s hand gave the fact that she was a baker away immediately. Something changed in your skin’s chemistry when you washed your hands thirty times a day, punched dough, mixed, whipped, stirred, and had the occasional burn. Marilyn could feel years of baking in this hand.

  “So you’re a baker?” she smiled, feeling an instant kinship with the woman that she’d just met.

  “Yes,” Susan sounded relieved. “I responded to your daughter’s ad yesterday. She seems incredibly efficient.”

  “Yes, she certainly is,” Marilyn smiled with pride. “Come on in, Susan. It’s nice to meet you.” Unlocking the store, she pulled the tables and chairs to the outdoor area, turned on the ovens, and returned to the front to speak with her prospective employee.

  “Well, why don’t you tell me a little bit about yourself?” she encouraged, leaning against the front counter.

  “I grew up rural Idaho, my daddy owned a farm and my mama was very much a farmer’s wife. I was supposed to find a local man to marry but… there was this one boy…” she trailed off, nostalgic.

  “Isn’t there always?” Marilyn nodded sagely as she grabbed a few of her prep supplies and started washing her hands.

  “Would you mind if I help?” Susan asked, looking at the supplies. “I think better when I’m baking.”

  Marilyn smiled. It was only two minutes since she’d met this woman and she was already beginning to like her. She nodded with an understanding grin and Susan, looking relieved, put her purse down, rolled up her sleeves, grabbed one of Marilyn’s extra aprons and washed up. Just moment before, she had seemed shy and a tiny bit awkward, and now the industrious woman was filled with energy and vitality. She clearly felt very much at home in the kitchen and was beginning to hit her stride.

  “Have you made Key Lime before?” she asked, feeling as though she already knew the answer.

  “Blindfolded and with my hands tied behind my back, honey,!” Susan smiled mischievously.

  The two women began separating ingredients. Marilyn portioned out graham cracker crumbs, and Susan instinctively gauged that the amount was sufficient for four crusts, portioning out butter and sugar accordingly.

  “I started baking when I was a girl, which is a perfectly healthy past time in farm country,” she winked, waiting for the whirring of the industrial mixer to subside before continuing. “I won prizes at the State Fair for my cakes and pies, then started submitting to more contests and won those too. I’m sure if my parents ever imagined I would use my baking to run away from them, they would have shut down those plans right away.” She scooped out a chunk of the sweet, sticky mixture and pressed it evenly into a pie pan. “I never actually went to school for it, just taught myself by trial and error.”

  “Well, you seem to have a gift for it,” Marilyn remarked, surprised at how they seemed to automatically work well together. Susan knew what needed to be done without having to be told.

  “It was a lucky thing too, my family certainly wouldn’t have been able to afford culinary school. It wasn’t an option,” she made a face, remembering.

  Despite her humble beginnings, Susan seemed to have her life together. She wore an immaculately pressed outfit - capri pants, simple button-down summer-weight blouse, nice shoes, and a nice purse. Her haircut and color were definitely not cheap, and her accessories were tasteful.

  “What happened to the boy?” Marilyn asked.

  “We got married,” she smiled, trimming the edge from a crust with a knife. A series of emotions that were hard to decipher colored her gaze. It looked to Marilyn as though perhaps it was a combination of good memories followed by a sad ending. Susan took a deep breath, released it with a soft sigh, and didn’t say anything until she’d finished pushing the next crust into the pan. “He was going in for his second heart surgery…and…” she broke off tremulously, her eyes filling.

  Marilyn reached over and placed her hand over the frail hand that rested on the counter, not knowing what to say. Saying she was sorry seemed ridiculous, so feeling incredibly inadequate, she just squeezed the hand that sadly clung to hers for a moment.

  “Anyway,” Susan took a deep breath, withdrawing her hand and scooping up another glob of dough. “So now I’m on my own and I thought that I should move here,” she finished, bravely trying to smile. “I’ve always loved sun and sand and the ocean…everything I wanted to see when I left the potato fields of Idaho.”

  “That sounds like the perfect thing to do. There’s just something special here, it’s a balm for the soul,” Marilyn said, meaning every word, a
nd knowing it to be true from personal experience. Key West was safely insulated from the hustle and bustle of non-island life. If there was one place to go when you thought you might never have another chance at happiness—this was it. She liked to call it the “Resort of Last Resort.”

  “Ok, let’s put these in and we’ll start the filling,” Marilyn smiled.

  Chapter 5

  Tiara was stared at her mother in disbelief. “You just… hired her?”

  “I know, it’s so unlike me,” Marilyn nodded, pleased with her decision.

  Mother and daughter were in the shop, sliding forks through a midday slice of bliss.

  “Ladies,” a man’s voice boomed out, announcing his arrival in the most boisterous manner possible.

  “Fergus, would you like a slice, or the whole thing?” Marilyn said to one of her favorite regulars.

  Fergus stopped in every Wednesday and Saturday without fail, and quite often several times in between, when the mood struck him. Today he was decked out in blue and pink plaid pants, with a white track-suit top. His curly salt-and-pepper hair was still interspersed with clusters of his original dark brown, and was usually carelessly tousled.

  “That depends, lovely lady” he sidled up to Marilyn. “Will you be joining me or will I be eating alone?”

  “Alone,” Marilyn laughed. Fergus had been asking Marilyn out for four years now, and it was more of a running joke between them then an actual offer—unless she should chance to say yes, then it would immediately become a real offer.

  “Ouch,” she kneaded the back of her neck, feeling stiff and sore all over. She had a sneaking suspicion that the pain was related to craning her neck in her extreme effort to chaperon Drew and her daughter at yoga yesterday.

  “Need a massage, my damsel in distress?” Fergus cracked his knuckles with exaggerated anticipation.

  “Have you ever tried online dating?” Tiara asked, her voice dripping sweet sarcasm.

  “Nahhh, I’m all talk and no game. If I got a girl out on the town I wouldn’t know what to do with her. Besides…I’m too grumpy to keep polite company,” he shrugged and waggled his eyebrows.