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“No more than they did Isabelle,” Carmen said, referring to Declan’s twin, “and she’s doing okay.” She had a point. Isabelle was away at grad school. The twins, who were the youngest of the bunch, couldn’t be more different if they tried.
The bell above the door rang, and Carmen perked up, ready to greet paying customers, but it was only Lyra, our sister, with my six-year-old niece, Sophia, in tow. Lyra looked harried, and by Sophia’s petulant expression, I could guess why. Sophia was a spitfire—in other words, a girl after my own heart.
Lyra blew out a breath. “Someone unplugged all the alarm clocks in the house.”
“Nice one.” I grinned and held out my fist. Sophia smiled shyly and bumped her fist with mine.
“No, not nice one.” Lyra gave me the evil eye. “Now we’re late, and mischievous behavior is not an excused tardy.”
“Then what are you doing here?” I asked, earning another evil eye. I shrugged. I might have been blunt, but I still had a point. And anyway, I’d been on the receiving end of her evil eye so many times it no longer fazed me.
“For the sake of everyone I come in contact with today, I need caffeine. I left my coffee on the counter at home. It was quicker to stop here than go back for it.”
All of my sisters were hooked on the stuff. Me? I could take it or leave it.
Sophia tugged on her mom’s jacket. “And you said I could have a muffin.”
Carmen, who had already started preparing coffee for Lyra, smiled at our niece. “What kind would you like?”
“Chocolate—”
“The healthiest kind you have,” Lyra interrupted. “Preferably low sugar.”
I held back my snort. Carmen’s confections were known for being irresistibly delicious, not healthy.
“One blueberry muffin coming up.” Carmen took one out of the case, placed it in a box, and tucked in a stack of napkins. “Do you have time to run over to the police station after you drop off Sophia?”
Lyra slurped her coffee then winced. Carmen’s brew could be scalding hot. I shook my head. That was Lyra in a nutshell—impatient no matter the consequences.
“Normally, yes, but not today. We’re slammed,” Lyra said.
Carmen, Hudson, and I frowned and chorused, “But it’s the off-season.”
“The Harmony Wellness Retreat starts this week.”
I didn’t know how any of us could have forgotten. The event had taken place in the Carolina Banks every year for as long as I could remember. The retreat attracted an odd mix of hippies and hipsters. For two weeks, the smell of patchouli and siracha would be in the air as well as hundreds of asses as they did downward dog poses on the beach. The short surge of business was good for the local economy, but it was also stressful since shops and restaurants only had skeleton crews during the off-season. Plus, the visitors intruded on my peaceful respite from outsiders.
Sophia lifted the lid of the pastry box, but Lyra took it from her before she could indulge. “You can eat it in the car. Let’s go.” With a wave, Lyra bustled her daughter out of the shop.
“I wonder if the meditation sessions will be open to the public this year,” Carmen mused.
“Who cares about open meditation?” Hudson waggled his eyebrows. “I want to know when they’ll be skinny-dipping so I can put on my birthday suit.”
I groaned. The year before, some participants had taken matters into their own hands when breathing exercises and positive affirmations didn’t lead to spiritual enlightenment. Police seized “a shit ton” of mushrooms belonging to seventeen naked people discovered in a half-constructed pool when the work crew showed up the next morning. Half of them were treated for hypothermia. It was a miracle no one drowned. At the time, I had thought that might be the end of the retreat, but sadly, I was wrong. The retreat organizers had bounced back from that PR nightmare and nearly doubled the attendees for this year. Perhaps it wasn’t despite that incident but because of it that we were expecting more Birkenstock-clad feet in our midst.
Carmen rolled her eyes. “They’re here for their spiritual health, not to be hammered by a local handyman.”
Hudson put a hand over his heart. “For starters, I’m a contractor, not a handyman. But ouch. You’re really cutting me down today.”
She laughed. “Somehow, I think your ego can take it. But I tell you what—if you take the box of pastries to the police department, I’ll look the other way when you inevitably take another one for yourself.”
He frowned. “How is this benefiting me? The station is at least twenty minutes out of my way.”
“Can you please do me a solid? I’d go myself, but I’m flying solo today. Maddie is helping Alec with his bookkeeping.” Alec and Maddie were our other siblings. Maddie split her time between all of the family businesses, filling in where needed.
“You don’t have any customers,” Hudson said. “Couldn’t you put a sign up that says back in twenty?”
Carmen’s mouth twisted. “Uh, no. And the senior book club is due any minute.”
