Pennies From Heaven (The Bella Novella Collection Book 3) by Janice Thompson Page A

Island?
    Despite my crazy workload, I dropped everything and headed to my family’s restaurant. As I pulled my car up to the pizza parlor, I noticed some activity across the street at Super Gyros, the Greek restaurant owned by the Pappas family. Half a dozen police cars lined the street.
    “What’s happening?” I called out to Mrs. Pappas after I got out of my car. “Is someone hurt?” I took several quick steps in her direction until I arrived on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant. Even from here I could smell the yummy scent of lamb from inside.
    “Not yet,” she responded. “But I’d like to give my husband a swift kick in the backside. Why he felt the need to offer free gyros to all of the police officers on Galveston Island is beyond me.”
    “Laz does the same thing. At least the police will never go hungry.”
    “Right? Problem is, they’ll be so full they won’t be able to chase the bad guys.” She shook her head. “Speaking of chaos, how are things going with Lily’s wedding? Cassia says they’re doing a French theme.”
    “Right. Paris.”
    Mrs. Pappas reached for a dishtowel and tucked it into her waistband. “Between us, it doesn’t make a lick of sense. The family is Greek, like us. Why would they do a French wedding?”
    I shrugged. “Oh, I never thought about that, to be honest. Lily just happens to love Paris.”
    “Well, my husband is beside himself. You know how he is, Bella. Says he’s boycotting the wedding.”
    “He can’t do that. Lily is his. . .” I paused to make sure I got the family relation right. “She’s his daughter’s sister-in-law. That practically makes him Lily’s uncle.”
    “He says no relative of his will have a French wedding on his watch. Then he went off on a tangent about how the French tried to stamp out the Greeks during the Crusades, but I’m pretty sure he’s got his history wrong.”
    “C’mon. I know Mr. Pappas. He’s just kidding around.”
    She shook her head. “Hardly. But never you mind all of that. I’ll get him there, if I have to drag him kicking and screaming.”
    I hoped it wouldn’t come to that. Guess I’d just have to see on the big day. In the meantime, I needed to get to Parma Johns to spend some time with Jenna.
    I walked across the street and entered our family’s restaurant. The familiar strains of Pennies from Heaven played through the speakers and the aroma of pepperoni and sausage tantalized me, along with caramelized onions and green peppers. Yum.
    “Bella, what brings you here?” My brother Nick called out from across the room. “Lunch break?”
    “Yeah. Jenna told me to meet her here.”
    “Oh, right. I saw her a few minutes ago.” He looked around. “Maybe she went next door to the bakery.”
    “Thanks.” I walked through the opening leading to Let Them Eat Cake, my sister-in-law’s bakery, and found my BFF deeply engrossed in a conversation with Scarlet. They shushed the minute they saw me.
    “Hey, you two.”
    “Hey, Bella.” Jenna had that a suspicious look on her face, one I couldn’t quite figure out.
    “What’s going on?”
    “Oh, nothing. Just talking to Scarlet. I was ordering a cake for next month.”
    “Someone’s birthday?”
    “No.” She cleared her throat. “Just missing Scarlet’s cakes.”
    “So why not take one home today?” I asked.
    “Ah.” This seemed to stop her in her tracks. “Good idea.” She turned her attention to Scarlet. “I’ll take one chocolate. . .to go. Bubba Jr. and Weston will love me for this.”
    “Speaking of the boys, I’m surprised they’re not with you.”
    “Oh, they’re in pre-school back in Splendora. Earline agreed to pick them up today so that I could have a day off. I really need it.”
    “Things at the BBQ place too much to handle?”
    “Well, business is booming, but I’m wiped out all the time.”
    As my very pregnant sister-in-law busied herself getting Jenna’s cake ready to go I glanced at my watch and gasped when I