Maple Sugar Crush (An Autumnboro Sweet Romance, #2)

by Beth Labonte

The office was mostly quiet, except for the sound of a Zumba class coming through the wall on one side, and the chugging of washing machines on the other. A woman sat at a desk near the front of the office, staring intently at her computer. She had a pencil tucked behind her ear and several coffee cups on her desk, and seemed to be hard at work on a local news story. Seated across from her was a man with a similar setup, although, from the way he was clicking his mouse, I was pretty sure he was playing Minesweeper.

“I have to run some paperwork over to Town Hall,” Riley called after me. “Want to come?” I stopped in my tracks. Of course, I wanted to come. And, I mean, if he was going over there anyway, what was the harm? It wasn’t like it was a date or something. It was just a walk to a government building. I’d walked to Town Hall with ninety-year-old Ed Woodbury when he’d needed a copy of his wife’s death certificate, and we hadn’t fallen in love with each other.

So, what it comes down to is that I’ve been avoiding anything that might make me die. Travel. Thrill rides. I’ve completely cut out romaine lettuce.”

“Don’t worry, they’ve all agreed to pitch in. You know how the saying goes: you can never have too many cooks in the kitchen!” “That’s not how the saying—”

“I used to bring Riley coffee at his work all summer,” I continued, “but he didn’t realize how he felt about me until he saw me trick-or-treating with another man this past Halloween.” “You still go trick-or-treating?” asked Audrey, appearing from the kitchen. “That is so lame.” “It’s an Autumnboro tradition!” I said. “All the adults do it!” Okay, so maybe I wasn’t the greatest at making up convincing lies on the spot. “Anyway,” I went on, trying to focus only on my parents, “after he saw me swapping Snickers bars with this other man, he was so overcome with jealousy that he spelled out my name in pumpkins across the town common! It was so magical!” “That is so romantic,” said Mom, her eyes misting over as she looked up at Riley. “And what is it that you do for work? If I had to guess by the suit, I’d say…financial planner?” “Funeral planner,” he said, bobbing his head up and down. “I plan funerals.” “Oh,” said Mom, her face falling. “I’d be happy to plan yours,” he said, motioning to her and Dad. “Josie hasn’t let me plan hers yet, but I’ll talk her into it, eventually.” He gave me a wink. I pinched his waist, hard. “That’s…lovely,” said Mom, taking a step back. “But I think we’re all set with, um, with our funerals.”

Not only did Riley have a surprise for me, but now he was using wink emojis? Did Maple Sugar Crushes cause hallucinations? That would certainly explain why Donnie once thought he saw a sasquatch crossing the street outside The Shaky Maple.

“They might still come,” said Granny. “People will do anything for free stuff.” I looked up. “You think so?” Granny nodded. “Gladys Porter once drove fifteen miles through a blizzard for a free hot dog. That was in 1974.”