A Young Adult Cozy Mystery Book Series
Lainey Quilholt Mysteries by Lorelei Bell
Series Excerpt
Because I had already made plans for my evening, my aunt allowed me to leave early from the bookstore. She had only one request of me, that I take the book Irene Hampa had been waiting for (the UPS driver had delivered later that day), to her. The Herb Lady (the name of her shop), was on my way home, so I didn't mind dropping the book off. She had already paid in full for it, so this only took a few minutes to do.
When I stepped through her door, the little bell above it sounding sharply, Irene was busy with a customer. She scurried around her shop like she were on fire. I always liked the smell of her shop, and couldn't help but eye the various items she had for sale, and her samples of food on her counter. There was a sample bowl of Quinoa chips. I tried one. Not bad. Barbecue. Irene thanked me as she took the book, and I walked back out into the sultry air.
Earlier, I had set out the clothes I would wear tonight, and was deep in thoughts on my exciting night. That's why I didn't see the person as I stepped out onto the sidewalk until it was too late and I rammed right into him. We both made startled sounds. I bounced off his large body, stumbling like a dope. Well, it wasn't so much large as much as in my way, and solid as an oak.
“Oh! Excuse me,” we both said at the same time. Large hands on my arms steadied me. Our eyes locked, and my mouth fell open.
“Oh, my God! Brett?” I nearly screeched.
“Lainey?” We were both flabbergasted that we'd literally bumped into one another. His hands let go of me and we stepped back to regard one another and try to shake off the shock and embarrassment.
“Yup. That's me,” I said. “Clumsy as ever.”
“Oh—hah!” He laughed, throwing his head back. “I'd heard you moved here. I hoped to run into you, in fact. And my wish came true!” His hands out with his explanation.
The blood rushed into my face more so than it already had. He'd wanted to run into me? Me? Wow.
“I heard you've got a gig tonight. I'll be there,” I said, quickly filling in dead space between us.
“Really?” He looked surprised.
“Definitely! I wouldn't miss it.”
“Great! I'll look for you.”
“Won't be hard,” I said. “It's a small place, so, you shouldn't have any trouble.”
“Tell me about it.” He rolled his eyes, and made that little chuckle again. His hair had grown since last I'd seen him, the bangs were so long he'd parted them off to each side and the back length came down past his collar. He'd lost weight, or something. He looked different, in any case. In fact, he looked better than I remembered.
We were already politely side-stepping away from one another, as if we were on our separate ways to important destinations. Which, I'm sure he had to go get set up, and I had to get home to shower and change.
“Well, I'll see you tonight,” he said, back peddling.
“Yep,” I said, nodding and we made that dumb wave that people do when they part. I nearly skipped as I walked briskly along the sidewalk, and nearly forgot to turn at the corner to go home. My brain was going wow…wow… Brett… we ran into one another! How awesome is that? He was looking for me, too. Wild!
Once home, I took a shower (singing a Taylor Swift song badly), got dressed, chose to wear my black Sketchers, for casual, and put on a little more make-up than I normally did. I wanted my eyes to come out, rather than be invisible. I had already decided to take my car. I didn't like walking home at night, and The Coffee Huddle closed at nine or nine-thirty (I couldn't remember), and was at least five blocks away. It would be dark then. Not that things happened in this small hamlet, but you never knew. Besides, I had promised my aunt to take my car, and to not stay out passed ten. That was my curfew. I hoped to be able to visit with Brett after his gig.
A few minutes later, after finding a parking spot around the corner a block away from The Coffee Huddle, I paid a cover fee and walked in to the sounds of music on a CD. Brett's band wasn't playing, yet. They were all set up, but the show wasn't supposed to start until seven. I was early by a few minutes. The music sounded familiar. Old tunes my aunt might listen to.
People were sitting in booths and at tables. My friends had already commandeered a table nearest to where the band was setting up—right smack dab in front of them.
“Lainey! Over here!” They shouted unnecessarily.
“Hi, Lainey. Looking good, girl!” The voice turned my head as I made my way to the table. It was Nadine's brother, Moon, who held a tray in his hand. “Going to be a crazy night! Hold on to your hat!” he said, already dashing to the table he was serving.
“Hi, Moon!” I said in answer, but he was already working his tables.
I slid into a chair next to Wendy. It was a good thing she was sitting down. She stood six foot even. Nadine and I looked like midgets next to her—me at five-four, and on a good day, and without heels, Nadine stood at five-one. When we walked together, Wendy took the center spot, to keep us from looking like odd spokes in a wheel. I'd always thought that my inclusion was slightly unwanted by Wendy in the beginning, but she soon warmed up to me, but it was still on the lukewarm side. The two had been friends since grade school. I had only just joined them in our junior year of high school. Nadine and I had become fast friends in calculus class, and she helped me get a B minus. Wendy was part of the package deal. Since they'd been friends for so long, I didn't want to step on any toes, and so, unless I was invited out, or to their houses, I didn't try and muscle in. I'd learned the hard way, years ago, how jealousy could raise its ugly head where friendships were concerned.
I realized that our table was no more than ten feet away from the small stage, where Brett would be standing at the microphone. My heart tap-danced in my chest while my friends yammered excitedly about how they were first to get here and grabbed the table before anyone else could. I guess they expected me to thank them, but this put me in a spot. For the past couple of weeks all I had ever talked about was Brett this, and Brett that, and how I'd had a crush on him, and had to see him play. Now the pressure was on. If he did nothing but say hi to me, and barely made eye contact with me the whole night, I'd be humiliated. I'd never be able to speak about him again, or hold my head up. What sort of corner had I painted myself into this time?
I sat and took in my friends' attire. Both wore nearly identical white fedora hats.
“Oh, I didn't know we were wearing hats tonight,” I said and laughed. “Nadine! You did cut your hair!” I said astonished. Her hair had been down to her butt, now it was just under her jaw. “I like it! Very chick.”
Wendy laughed at that.
“I decided to donate it. You know. They make wigs with real hair for kids and people that are going through chemo?” she said unnecessarily. She wore her largest glasses with the black frames.
“Well, it looks great!” I said. But it would take a while for me to get used to it.
Nadine regarded me with narrowed eyes, then said, “You look thirsty.”
“I am.” My mouth was dry. “What do you guys have, it smells fabulous!” I looked at their coffee drinks.
“Iced carmellow latte,” they both said and laughed.
Wendy shifted in her seat, looking around.
“Ow!” Nadine said. “Watch your big damned feet!” She kicked Wendy, but not hard.
Wendy jumped and looked at her. “Sorry.” She had the largest feet of any girl I'd known. She'd been more athletic than either of us, too. We had cheered her on in cross country when she ran in meets. She was so happy to get that part of her life over. Never wanted to run like that again, she'd said.
Moon came to our table to take my order and I decided on something light and ordered raspberry ice tea.
“You need a menu?” Moon asked.
“No. I couldn't eat anything right now,” I said and sat back to put my hand on my stomach. It was like I'd swallowed live moths and they now fluttered around inside.
“Nerves?” Wendy said patting my shoulder. She had her mousy-brown hair clipped back from her face. Her eyes looked like blue ice in a snow drift, her complexion was the color of cream from the carton. She actually had nice skin, and I wondered why she didn't put her hair back more often to show it off. She didn't wear make-up—said it made her face break out. With skin like hers, she didn't need it.
The CD that had been playing was silenced. Someone in the band hit a couple of zippy notes on a keyboard, another guy tuned his guitar, and tested the amps. They sounded good just getting set up.
A guitar strapped over his shoulder, Brett stepped up to the mike. My stomach flipped when his eyes searched and fell on me. He smiled, and then to the room—which had become crowded in the last fifteen minutes—said, “Hello, Montclair!” Hand raised he made a fist, and I noticed the braided friendship wristband he wore. He strummed his guitar once sending shivers through me. The room responded loudly with cheers and sharp whistles. I really wished I could do more than scream, like my friends around me did.
“Oh, God, he's better looking in person!” Nadine said.
Without any more preamble, they went into a song. It was a toe-tapping, hand-clapping tune. They did three songs back-to-back, all of which were old classical rock songs. When they were done with the last song, the other band members continued to play softly in the back ground, while Brett spoke into the mike.
“As you all may know, I'm Brett Rutherford,” he said. We all clapped. He turned to his band members. “I'd like to introduce my band to you. On base is Clint Darvin.” He paused as Clint did a rift on his base. “And on keyboard Wayne Richardson.” Again Wayne played a few impressive chords. “On drums, the amazing Kevin Hannon.” The drummer went wild on his drums. “And last but certainly not least is our talented one-woman vocal on tambourine, Ms Melody Simms.” Melody hit her tambourine and shook it as everyone clapped.
“Tonight we're going to do some classic favorites, but sprinkle in some of our own stuff, as well.” He smiled crookedly and added, “You'll let us know which is which.”
The crowd laughed. They went right into a Rolling Stones song and after that, Brett sang a medley of John Denver tunes. Most of them I recognized from stuff I'd heard either my parents playing, or my aunt. After this they played some of their own songs, songs Brett and the others had written themselves. It was all good. They then took a brief break.
“He's really good!” Nadine said. “Isn't he, Wendy?”
Wendy looked up from her cell phone. “Huh?” Nadine repeated what she'd said. Wendy nodded. “Oh, yeah.”
“Did you take a picture?” Nadine asked, moving her body in order to look over to her phone. Wendy pulled the phone away from her, and Nadine pouted.
“It's just crap,” she snapped. Seeing how the both of us were put off by her short temper she said, “My mom's been bugging me lately.” She put her phone face down on the table.
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