Murder for Millions (Sky High Pies Cozy Mysteries Book 7) Read Online Free Page B

my chair when the phone rang. I glanced at the display,
picked up the noisemaker and tapped the screen.
    “Ladies’ lingerie,” I said in a
sultry tone. “Are you calling about the buy one, get one offer on strapless
bras?”
    My sister snorted. “What the heck
is going on up there?”
    “I passed the point of no return
about half an hour ago.”
    “Ah, so you’re doing the
bookkeeping?”
    I groaned. “Somebody has to. It’s a
necessary evil of running a thriving family business.”
    “Speaking of which,” Olivia said,
“have you talked to mom and dad lately?”
    “She called me this morning, but
Julia and I were in the weeds. A busload of seniors had stopped on the way to Las
Vegas. I hate to admit this, but I haven’t even listened to her message yet.”
    “Well, there’s no need. I can tell you
what she was calling about—dad’s getting a tattoo.”
    I smiled. “And?”
    “And she’s on the warpath,” my
sister said. “He wants to have Taylor Swift’s face inked on his right bicep.”
    “Taylor who?”
    Olivia laughed. “Swift. As in,
Taylor Swift the singer.”
    “Is he a fan or something?”
    “Apparently,” she answered. “They
went to water aerobics a few days ago and a new  instructor played a bunch of
Taylor Swift songs. Dad went nuts, but mom suspects it was because the new
woman had an hourglass figure, a string bikini and the ability to use her
cleavage as a flotation device.”
    “Fake breasts?”
    “ Very !” Olivia said. “Mom told
me that the woman had so much plastic going on above and below the waist
that she was one part Tupperware, one part Barbie.”
    I laughed and asked if my mother
had called earlier for my advice or support.
    “Neither,” Olivia replied. “She
started a petition to convince daddy that he’s having a midlife crisis and the
tattoo is a terrible idea.”
    “A midlife crisis?”
    “You heard me. He’s suddenly obsessed
with pop singers, skinny jeans and a water aerobics instructor named Gigi.”
    I didn’t know what to say about my
father’s newfound interests, so I kept quiet. My sister has never had a problem
filling the spaces in a conversation, so I knew she’d keep going if I didn’t
chime in.
    “But I don’t see any problem with
it,” Olivia continued a split second later. “I mean, mom’s been texting me
about the new barista at the Starbucks near their condo. His name is Yoyo or
something, and he—”
    “Whoa! Hang on a sec. Did you say
his name is Yoyo?”
    She snickered. “Or Yolo or Nolo. I
don’t really know for sure. She’s mentioned it a couple of times on the phone,
but I wasn’t going to interrupt her jabbering for clarification. You know how
she gets if you barge in before she makes her point.”
    “Uh-huh.”
    “And so, Yoyo’s in grad school or something.
I think he’s studying—”
    My incoming call tone sounded while
she was revealing the coffee shop employee’s chosen educational path, but I
didn’t want to ask her to repeat it. Instead, I took a small sip of my wine and
listened while Olivia explained why our parents were entitled to pursue
whatever flirtations and fantasies caught their eye.
    “I mean, it’s not like they’re
going to run off with an aerobics instructor or barista,” she said, coming to
the end of her rant. “They’re too levelheaded for such dramatic changes this
late in life.”
    “Time will tell. And speaking of
time, I hate to cut this short, but I have about a dozen more invoices to process
before I can call it a night.”
    “I just wanted to give you a quick buzz
to see if mom had cajoled you into signing the petition.”
    “Thanks for the warning,” I said.
“I’ll call her tomorrow, but I won’t let her know that we talked tonight.”
    “Okay, but don’t call between nine
and noon their time,” Olivia advised.
    “Why not?”
    “Water aerobics runs from nine to
ten,” she said. “And then mom meets her girlfriends for morning coffee