Tomato Basil Murder: Book 7 in The Darling Deli Series Read Online Free Page B

and a gorgeous master bath. She found herself falling more and more in love with the house with each room that she entered. She had never lived so far out of town, but could see herself being happy here. The only downside would be living farther away from the deli. But I’d be closer to Candice, she thought.
    “Can I go look around outside now?” she asked the real estate agent. “How much property does the house come with, anyway?”
    “I’ll have to double-check the listing to get the exact amount, but I think it’s about five acres,” the other woman said.
    Five acres , Moira thought, amazed. It seemed like quite a bit of property to her, more than she would ever need. Living out here would be far different than even living at her old house had been; there, she had been surrounded by neighbors and houses, and the sounds of children playing, dogs barking, and the summer growl of lawn mowers. Out here it seemed like there was only birdsong and silence.
    When she got outside, she noticed that Ben’s truck was gone. Probably wants to beat the rain , she thought. She didn’t blame him; the sky was beginning to look ominous.
    She walked around the outside of the house, not sure what to look for, but keeping her eyes open for any obvious issues. Though the yard was a bit overgrown, the house seemed to be in good repair. The fenced-in area out back was secure, and when she finally managed to track down the sound of the creek, she was delighted to find that a little wooden footbridge had been built over it, and there seemed to be the remains of a path leading off into the forest.
    She was debating whether or not to explore further when she felt the first pinpricks of rain on her face. Time to head back to the car , she thought. Within seconds, she could hear the soft pattering of rain on the leaves above her, and knew it was time to thank Madeline for showing her the house and go.
    Her mind raced as she drove back to town, trying to figure out how she could come up with the money for the house. She knew it would be smarter to buy a smaller, more affordable house in town and put the extra money into her retirement savings, but visions of what she could do with the stone house kept returning to her. She found herself mentally decorating the interior, imagining the furniture she would buy and what colors she would paint the walls of each room.
    She was so distracted by her fantasy that she almost missed her turn into the deli’s parking lot, and had to brake harder than she liked to make it. Keep your mind on real life , she chided herself. She had a deli to tend to, and tomorrow, a boyfriend to see. Maybe David would be able to come up with some brilliant plan for how she could afford the house, because she was certainly drawing a blank.
    “Hey, Ms. D,” Darrin said when she walked in. He gave her a cheerful smile, then returned to rearranging the piles of cheese in one of the refrigerated display cases. Other than him, the deli was empty, likely thanks to the rain that was continuing to fall outside. For a moment, she thought that she even heard the low rumble of faraway thunder. “I thought you had the day off.”
    “I did, but I’ve got nothing else to do today; there’s no way I’m going to the beach in this weather. I thought I’d stop in and see how things are going. How has business been?” she asked. “It wasn’t too bad being here on your own?”
    “It wasn’t bad at all,” he told her. “We had a few people early on—I think they came right after church got out—but no one since.”
    “I think it’s supposed to storm later,” she told him. “If you want, you can take off once I get the soup simmering. I doubt we’ll be very busy this afternoon.”
    “Thanks,” he told her. “I might take you up on that. I’ve got some reading I wanted to get done this weekend. Gotta do it before school starts up again later this month.”
    “Sure,” she said. “I’ll go start on the soup. It