A Sticky Situation by Jessie Crockett Page A

feeling in my gut that she was behind it all somehow.
    â€œThanks. It was a lot of work but it was tremendous fun, too. Now, I am hoping it will be even more fun to run. And I managed to get it up and running in time for the festival next month.”
    â€œI wanted to speak to you about the festival. Specifically the pageant.” Celadon was starting to use the tone she always did with Mom when she wasn’t about to listen to any more nonsense about astral projection or tarot cards.
    â€œI won’t have any time to worry about the pageant this year. I’ll be much too busy running my business.”
    â€œSo you are planning to stay and operate it yourself?”Celadon asked. I heard her jaw pop again and the temperature in the room dropped by a few degrees. I could almost see Celadon’s breath in the air as the words left her lips.
    â€œI am. It was time for a change and I knew exactly what I wanted to turn my hand to next. I’ve always had a soft spot for Sugar Grove and with all the free sap from the family trees I’m bound to make a go of it.” Jade turned one of her high-wattage smiles full force on me. I was trying to keep my own smile from slipping off my face but I could feel it moving southward like drips from an ice cream cone on a sunny August afternoon.
    â€œFree sap from the family trees? Have you talked this over with Grampa or Grandma?” I asked.
    â€œWhat’s there to talk about?” Jade shook her head at me and rolled her eyes.
    â€œCongratulations on all your hard work. Will you be coming by the house for dinner? Our grandmother’s making all your favorites,” Celadon asked as she dug her fingers into my elbow in her preferred way of letting me know I should be quiet.
    â€œWell, of course I will. Hazel’s picking me up at closing time and bringing me and some of my stuff over.”
    â€œWhat kind of stuff?” I asked, hoping I hadn’t a clue.
    â€œClothing, makeup, personal possessions.” Jade rolled her eyes again. “You know, the stuff you keep in the place where you live.”
    â€œSo you’re intending to live at Greener Pastures?” I asked.
    â€œWhere else would I live?”
    â€œAnd where do you expect to be sleeping?” I asked but I was pretty sure the answer would be the same as it had been for all the years we were growing up.
    â€œYour room, of course.” Jade rolled her eyes again. “Or should I say our room.”
    â€œSince you’re planning to be here awhile you might want to get Doc MacIntyre to take a look at your eyeballs. They seem to be rattling round loose in your head.” With that Celadon dragged me back out of the store and halfway down the block before releasing my elbow.
    *   *   *
    â€œI don’t know about you but I can’t go home yet,” Celadon said. “I know I’ll say something I’ll regret, most likely to Grandma. And it isn’t like this is her fault.”
    â€œYou need a distraction.”
    â€œUsually I’d stop in at the opera house and check on the work but with progress being held up by the body in the cellar I am at loose ends.”
    â€œWhy don’t I drop you off at the town hall anyway for a couple of hours? You can make a call to Wesley Farnum. The only good news this morning was that since he’s done at Jade’s he might be available to work on the restoration project. When you’re done with that you could head over to the library.”
    â€œWhere are you going?”
    â€œI promised Knowlton I would look in on Tansey since he says she isn’t doing too well after her fall. But I need to stop in at the doc’s place first. I want to findout if Tansey’ll be up for some visitors or if I should wait awhile. Did you want to go to Doc’s, too?”
    â€œCertainly not. I couldn’t possibly take Jade and Yahtzee all in one morning.” We drove a couple of