Sweets Forgotten (Samantha Sweet Mysteries Book 10) Read Online Free Page A

feet
sliding on coffee grounds. She moved two carafes out of harm’s way and helped
to right the machine.
    “I don’t know what happened,” Jen
said, wiping her brow with the back her hand. “One minute I was opening the lid
to make a fresh batch and the next minute it was coming down on me. Maybe when
I cleaned the machine yesterday I didn’t put things back right—I don’t know.”
    “At least it’s under control now.
Don’t worry about it.” Sam checked the base of the machine to be sure it seemed
steady.
    “I’ll get the broom.” Jen headed
toward the kitchen but a customer walked through the door and sidetracked her.
    “Maybe I can put Jane to work
sweeping it up,” Sam said as Jen attended to the man who’d headed straight for
the bear claws and ordered two.
    But in the kitchen, Jane was
standing over the chocolate Sam had abandoned. She’d scooped up the tempered
liquid and was now injecting it into the molds through the tip of a pastry bag.
    “Jane? What are you doing?”
    “Oh, sorry. It had cooled and I
was worried it would set up too quickly. You would have had to reheat and
temper it again, and since it nearly became overheated earlier, I was worried
about the flavor.”
    Sam eyed the perfectly filled
molds. “Okay, that’s the second time you’ve saved this order. You know
something about chocolate, Jane. Quite a lot, I’d say.”
    Jane went very still. “I guess I
do. I have no idea how I would have known to do that.”
    Becky and Julio had both stopped
working and were listening in.
    “It could be a clue to your
identity. If Beau doesn’t immediately come up with your name, maybe we need to
start calling candy companies around the state.”
    “It was as if I didn’t even have
to think about it. I just knew what to do.” She stared toward the middle of the
room. “I don’t know what—”
    The back door opened and all
attention went that direction. Sam’s daughter, Kelly, stopped in mid-stride.
    “Um, sorry. Didn’t mean to
interrupt.” Her brown curls bobbed a little and a flush rose to her cheeks.
    Julio cleared his throat and
turned back to his task, pouring red velvet cake batter into the pan for a
half-sheet cake. Becky greeted Kelly as she placed the cake topper on the
finished anniversary cake.
    Kelly looked at Jane, standing
frozen in place with a pastry bag in hand and chocolate on her fingers, with
frank curiosity.
    Sam skipped introducing
them—explaining everything would have taken way too long. “What’s up?”
    “Well, I know I said I would get
pizza and come out to your place for dinner tonight, Mom. But something else
has come up.”
    “Okay, no sweat. Something
special?”
    “A date. I have a date.” The
twinkle in her eye belied her casual tone.
    Sam carried the chocolate molds
to the cooling rack. “Oh yeah? Anyone I know?”
    “Um, I really can’t say.”
    “Ah … can’t say or won’t say?
C’mon, who’s the mystery guy?”
    “Yeah, well, I better get back to
work. I’ll talk to you later.” She was out the door before Sam could respond.
    “Okay, that was weird. Becky, has
she said anything to you?” All young people kept secrets from parents but Kelly
was usually fairly candid about her friends and her love life.
    Becky shrugged. “No idea at all.”
    Sam turned her attention to the
devil’s food cupcakes Julio had baked first thing this morning. They were to be
the basis for the Sherlock-themed dessert for the book club. Devil’s food lava
cakes, mocha cream frosting, molded chocolate toppers—these folks never seemed
to OD on chocolate. They even called themselves Chocoholics Unanimous.
    While Sam iced cupcakes, Becky
began kneading food color into sugary gum paste to make the assortment of fall
flowers on their biggest project of the week. After an hour she had almost two
dozen orange lilies and yellow nasturtiums done. The time-consuming work on the
individual petals of chrysanthemums hadn’t even begun and she needed to