Tea Cups and Carnage Read Online Free

back home. Since the spring rains had just ended, the lawns were green and the flowers blooming. Everyone was edgy about water still, since one good rainy season didn’t mean the drought was over, but it was a good start. And I enjoyed the green landscape much more than the brown it had been during most of the winter months.
    Emma sniffed my hand when I reached down to greet her after unlocking the front door. “Yep, I’ve been visiting Levi.”
    She woofed at me and ran to the kitchen door. Apparently I’d been forgiven for visiting her buddy without her, or she just really had to go outside and she would pout later. Emma was my golden retriever and a gift from Greg. She was also my running buddy. I took a mental inventory of my energy level after the workout with Amy and decided I had enough juice to take a quick run. I went upstairs and changed and when I got back downstairs, we headed to the beach.
    The parking lot was filled with cars and I remembered too late that Mary and Darla were setting up for the start of the Summer Beach Blast. Toby was supposed to drive the food truck down this afternoon right after his shift. Sasha and Nick were charged with stocking the insides.
    The truck had been parked in our back lot since I’d had it repainted at Bakerstown Auto Detail. Now, instead of the deep green sixties theme, the truck was a tan with black letters. A large cartoon coffee bean sat relaxing in a lawn chair and reading a book. The truck was cute and I thought branded our store well. This was our first outing since we’d bought the truck from Dustin Austin a few months ago. Lille was still giving me the evil eye when I ate at her restaurant. She’d been in the running to buy the truck originally, but had banned the first seller from her establishment once he revealed he’d sold it to Austin.
    Her loss, my win. Besides, Austin had promised not to sell the truck to Lille. Homer Bell, the truck’s first owner, had a long memory. And he had liked the food at Diamond Lille’s so his banishment still irked the man.
    Emma looked up at me as we crossed the parking lot. Typically, I let her off her leash here and we’d run together down to the shoreline. Today, there were too many people for me to take a chance on her mowing down someone in her excitement to greet them. “Sorry girl, you’re just going to have to stick with me today. I’ll fill up your swimming pool when we get home.”
    Greg had brought home the kiddie pool in late May and Emma loved splashing in the water. She even had pool toys. Yes, we were that kind of dog parents. Of course, Greg was only in our lives part time, but I was hoping he’d come on full time sooner than later.
    As if I’d wished him by rubbing a magic lamp, Greg crossed the beach and met me halfway to the ocean. Squatting, he rubbed the dog’s ruff. “Hey Emma, I didn’t think you’d get a run today.” He looked up at me. “Are you feeling okay? That workout was brutal.”
    The workout was a specialized martial arts program. Most of the time today had been on exercises that focused on the core muscles. I had a feeling that my stomach was going to be screaming in the morning when I awoke, just from the sheer number of crunches we’d done. Attending twice a week, the class would either get me in amazing shape or kill me. I wasn’t sure which would happen first.
    Greg didn’t have to know that. I smiled. “I thought it was great.”
    He laughed. “You’re lying. But I love you anyway. How come you picked that specific class to attend anyway? Bruce is doing a self-defense for women class that goes in the evening. Matt said Darla’s excited about going.”
    “You think I need to be in an all-female class? What, I can’t keep up with the guys?” I tried to keep my tone even, but depending on Greg’s answer, I knew I might go all postal on the guy.
    “Oh, no. You’re not getting me to fall for that. I was just wondering why you joined the class. I’m not saying what