Mint Chip Murder: A Donut Hole Cozy Mystery - Book 6 by Susan Gillard Page B

snuggled beneath the covers, a smile on her
face.

Chapter 7
    The next morning at 8:30, tired but
still ecstatic, Heather entered the kitchen of Donut Delights.  Somehow,
despite her excitement, she’d fallen asleep last night.  But it had taken
awhile.  As a result, she’d actually slept until the alarm woke her up.
     
    “Good morning,” Angelica greeted her. 
“Hey!  What is that on your hand?”  She crossed the kitchen in three strides
and seized Heather’s left hand.  “It’s a ring!  He finally asked you to marry
him.  You’re getting married.  Congratulations.”  She threw her arms around
Heather in a bear hug.
     
    Almost before Heather knew it, they
were all hugging: she, Angelica, Maricela, Jung, and Ken.  “Congratulations!”
Maricela said.  “It’s about time!”
     
    They all laughed.  “I still can’t
believe it!” Heather said.
     
    “When did this happen?”
     
    “Last night.”
     
    “So tell us all about it.  How did he
propose?  What did he say?”
     
    “Well, he invited me to dinner, which
he cooked himself,” Heather said.  “Salad with the best dressing I’ve ever
tasted, steak with a white wine mushroom sauce, and French bread.  He proposed
after dinner.  He said I would make him the happiest man in the world if I
would marry him.”
     
    “He cooks and he’s romantic,” Angelica
said.  “He’s perfect for you.”
     
    “Thanks, everybody,” Heather said.
     
    “So when’s the wedding?”
     
    “We haven’t set a date yet,” she
said.  “But you guys will be among the first to know.  You all have to be
there.”
     
    “Of course we’ll be there,” Angelica
said.  “We will sit in the front row and cry how beautiful you are.  Boo-hoo!” 
She rubbed her eyes, pretending to cry.
     
    Again, they laughed.  “Much as I’d
love to talk about this all day long,” Heather said, “I guess we’d better get
to work.”
     
    A female customer stood waiting rather
impatiently at the front counter.  Heather grabbed a hair net and stuffed her
hair into it as she walked up front.  “Good morning.  May I help you?”
     
    Despite the woman’s perfect makeup,
she looked tired.  “I need a dozen Southern Pecan Pie donuts and a dozen Ice
Cream Sundae donuts,” she said abruptly.
     
    “Yes, ma’am,” Heather said, grabbing a
flat, white cardboard box from beneath the counter and assembling it by popping
the sides up and locking the tabs in place. 
     
    “And don’t just smash them together,”
the woman added.  “I want them to look nice when I get where I’m going.”
     
    “Yes, ma’am,” Heather said again,
noticing that the artfully applied makeup was actually concealing bags under
the woman’s eyes.  Maybe she was cranky because she was so tired.
     
    Heather finished with the first box of
donuts and placed it on the counter in front of the customer.  As she reached
for a second box to assemble, she saw the woman try unsuccessfully to stifle a
yawn.  “Long day?” Heather said politely.
     
    “Not that it’s any of your business,
but no,” the woman said.  “It’s the pageant circuit.  Competing in beauty
pageants is exhausting.”
     
    Heather tried not to let her surprise
show on her face.  The woman looked to be in her early 40’s.  As far as Heather
knew, there weren’t a whole slew of beauty pageants for 40-year-old women.
     
    “Fortunately,” her customer continued,
“Emily wins every pageant she enters.”
     
    Wait a minute, Heather thought.  Her
daughter’s name was Emily?  Was this woman Lana Sturmer?
     
    “Congratulations to Emily,” Heather
said.  “She must be beautiful.”
     
    “She is,” the woman said.  “It was too
bad that stupid hairdresser messed up her hair right before the Miss Harper
County pageant.  Otherwise, she would have won that one, too.”
     
    “She didn’t win?” Heather asked,
beginning to place donuts in the second box.
     
    “She was