HUNTING
FOR HAPPENSTANCE
(A
Merchant Street Mystery Book 2)
Cindy
A. Christiansen
Daniela Estrada slammed the meat
cleaver down, pulverizing the beef roast and chopping a deep slice into the
butcher block cutting board on the counter. Poppa would not be pleased. Nor had
he been pleased with anything she had done or said these past few weeks.
She pushed back a strand of hair
that had escaped her ponytail and sighed. She had to get out of the butcher
shop before she mutilated another pot roast into ground beef. She washed up,
grabbed her sweater, and headed out the door.
“I have to go out, Poppa,” she
called over her shoulder.
She didn’t wait for his answer.
If she stayed one more second, she’d explode, her hot Chilean temper getting
the better of her. Why couldn’t she be more like Mamá than Poppa? Mamá was a
docile woman who never raised her voice or a hand to anyone. Poppa was the
boisterous, cantankerous type who said what he thought without thinking. How
she had always longed to be more sweet and demure like Beth Marsh in Little
Women. That was far from her image of herself.
Daniela turned her thoughts to
Holly’s bridal shower and let the cool autumn air fill her senses. She marveled
at how easily Holly Waterbury had come to Salt Lake City from Idaho to help her
Uncle Kipp and met Zach Abberley, who had pretended to be homeless just to get
to know her. Now, just like that, they were getting married.
Why did relationships have to be
so difficult for Daniela?
Before she could answer her own
question, she reached the clock shop and pushed open the huge antique door. The
old-fashioned bell jingled over the door and Kipp Waterbury’s Scottish terrier,
McTavish, rushed to greet her. She gave him a coo and a pat on the head, and he
padded back upstairs to his owner.
The transformation of the clock
shop from a cluttered, dirty mess to a beautiful showroom had all been Holly’s
doing. And what a statement it made. Holly’s presence had helped improve sales
and morale for everyone on Merchant Street. Well, eventually. At first, the
store owners on the street had acted like a mob of vigilantes. Daniela had had
her own reservations. In the end, most everyone pulled together. Daniela still
wished her father would hire Holly to make the same kind of changes to their
shop, but he refused. He rejected any changes, including letting her make her
own decisions.
“Hi, Daniela,” Holly said, coming
in from the backroom.
Daniela smiled. Holly with her
flowing red hair and glistening green eyes looked perfectly radiant. Love
agreed with her.
“Hallo,” Daniela said. “You will
make beautiful bride.”
Holly looked adoringly down at
her marquise-cut diamond engagement ring. “I’m still on cloud nine.”
“Well, I come to talk about your
bridal shower.” Daniela moved around the counter and took a bar stool next to
her friend.
“You look unhappy. What’s wrong?”
Holly asked.
“¡Ay! No, no. We talk
about your bridal shower.”
Sweet Cravings: http://bit.ly/1evhycC
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