Hickory Smoked Homicide Read Online Free Page A

destination!” His eyes shone.
    “So you’re thinking about getting your mama to call him up and invite him over to the restaurant? Maybe make sure he has a first-class meal with us? Then he’ll blog about it to all his followers?”
    Ben hesitated. “Well, yes. That’s what would make sense, of course. But the reality is that Mother shuts down whenever I mention the Internet to her. She’d reject this idea right out of the box. So I went ahead and e-mailed him. . . . See, Sara, you e-mail people like him. He’s an online guy. He’s planning on coming by tomorrow and checking out Aunt Pat’s.”
    Sara had a feeling that she still wasn’t getting the full story out of Ben. “And that’s it? I guess he’ll probably want a couple of pictures of your mom. She’s kind of the face behind the restaurant now, even if she isn’t spending as much time in the kitchen as she used to.”
    “Yesss, that’s pretty much it. Pretty much.”
    “What else is there, then?” asked Sara.
    “As a reader of Gordon’s blog—that’s his name, Gordon—I’ve found that he’s a really nice-looking guy. Nice looking for a man, I mean. And he’s older—not too old. Actually, he’s in his sixties, just like Mother, and seems really active. He’s obviously real sharp, too, to be doing all this stuff online at his age. So I thought maybe he and Mother would hit it off a little bit. I told him that Mother would be pleased as punch to show him around Memphis, seeing as how he’s new in town,”
    Sara shook her head. “Ohhhh, no you didn’t! You know your mama is perfectly happy by herself! If she was interested in going out with people, Ben, I think she’d be able to handle setting herself up on her own dates.”
    “She needs some prodding,” said Ben firmly. “Mother needs to try to relax and have a little fun. She’s so serious all the time. And she doesn’t seem to do anything with her appearance; she looks like a little old lady with her hair in a bun and her flowered dresses. I think she needs a little shaking up.” He thought about this for a moment. “Maybe Mother needs a makeover. She’d look cute as a button if she updated her look a little bit.”
    “Humph,” said Sara.
    “I had my own makeover a few years ago, remember? The before-and-after was real dramatic. I think it made a real difference in the way I looked and felt, too. I felt younger and more energetic, so I was more energetic.”
    Sara sighed. She wasn’t sure that Ben’s comb-over, which made his hair resemble a helmet, and his mustache, which conspired to make him bear a startling resemblance to Captain Kangaroo, qualified as a makeover. But she loved him too much to point that fact out. “Ben, I think you better let your mother do her own thing. If she wants to update her look, she’ll do it. Besides, I’m sure that Gordon is going to like your mama anyway.”
    Ben brightened. “I’m sure he will. Think of all they have in common—food! The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, and I’m going to make sure it’s an expressway right through it. I’m cooking up a plan to give him some real, mouthwatering southern cuisine—and tell him Mother made it.”
    “So you’re thinking that this guy isn’t just going to move Aunt Pat’s into the twenty-first century—you’re thinking he’s going to move your mother into the twenty-first century.”
    “I can dream,” said Ben with dignity.
     
     
    “I’ve got a funny feeling about this,” said Sara as she, Steffi, and Lulu walked up to Tristan Pembroke’s front door for the art benefit. “You know that feeling you get when you know you’re going to get some bad news?”
    “Now, Sara, it’s not like you to be silly,” chided Lulu, smoothing down the new floral dress she’d gotten from Dee Dee’s shop. “You’re going to have a wonderful time and sell a ton of paintings,” she said with determination as she plastered a smile on her face and walked in with what felt