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Good morning! As you may have heard, the initial drafts of Summerset, Book 4 in the Harbor Secret Series, have been completed. I hope to have the book available for purchase in the next couple of weeks! Below, I’ve included Chapter 1 from the new book for your reading enjoyment. I’m excited to join Kylie, Jason, and Cupcake on another adventure!

CHAPTER 1


Kylie Branson sat at the desk in her cupcake shop, licking the frosting of a cupcake from her fingers. The Harbor Light newspaper lay spread on the desk in front of her. Her eyes moved from the left page to the right and then focused in on a photo of a family from the 1960s. She saw a mother, father, three boys, and a little girl who sat in the front and center of the group. Kylie leaned forward and studied the black-and-white photo before reading the title of the article. “Fiftieth Anniversary of the Robison Family Murders.” She skimmed parts of the article, mumbling to herself. “Entire family brutally murdered…bodies not discovered for weeks…unsolved mystery for fifty years.”


As she drew in a little gasp, Kylie’s hand moved over her mouth before her eyes moved up to the photo of the family again. She ran her fingertip lightly over the image of the little girl. “I’ll bet you were the apple of everyone’s eye.” Kylie looked at the boys and then the pretty mother. “You probably kept trying until you got your little girl,” she whispered as she studied the photo of the doomed family. Finally, Kylie leaned back, crossed her arms, and began to read the article. She was only a few lines in when the bell on the front door jingled. She looked up to see a pretty, blonde woman in her fifties enter and look around thoughtfully.

Tossing the cupcake wrapper in the garbage, she gave the large, black pit-mix dog lying on the floor a quick pat on the head. “You stay here, Cuppie.” Cupcake lifted her head. “Stay and be good,” Kylie repeated the command. Cupcake let out a groan and dropped her head back onto her paws. Kylie stepped over the baby gate that barricaded the office from the rest of the shop. “Good girl,” she whispered to the dog before stepping away.


“Good morning,” she greeted the woman cheerfully.

“Hi,” the woman said lightly, her eyes landing on Kylie and taking her in.


“Can I get you something?” Kylie asked.


The woman looked Kylie up and down, studying the owner of the only cupcake shop in Harbor Springs. “Huh?” she asked distractedly.

An uncomfortable, intuitive twinge pinched Kylie’s stomach. “Can I get you something? A cupcake?”


“Oh,” the woman said, moving her gaze from Kylie to the display case. “You make cupcakes?” she asked in a voice that hinted of a French accent.


Kylie’s eyes moved to the side and then back before answering slowly. “Yes. It’s a cupcake shop.”


The woman looked around again as if just realizing that fact. “Oh. Um, yes, I guess.”


Kylie watched from behind the display as the thin, blonde woman with a high ponytail appeared almost confused. Kylie decided to help her out. “Do you have any particular flavor in mind?”


The woman’s eyes read the flavors. “Black Cherry Pecan, Love Spell, Harbor Hummer?”


“That one is flavored like that ice cream drink called a Hummer,” Kylie volunteered proudly. “It’s my boyfriend’s favorite.”


“You have a boyfriend?”


Kylie held up her left hand. “Fiancé, actually.”


The woman leaned to look at the square-cut diamond. “Wow, that’s quite a ring.”


“He’s quite a guy.”


The woman looked at her again. “I’m sure.”


Kylie felt the odd twinge of her intuition again and cleared her throat. “So what can I get you?”


The woman didn’t look away from Kylie but said, “Oh, I don’t know. How about just a chocolate one?” She gestured with her hand to indicate that she really didn’t care about the flavor as long as she got a cupcake.


“Er, we don’t have plain chocolate.”


“No chocolate?”


“I like people to expect the unexpected. You can get plain chocolate at the grocery store,” Kylie repeated her mantra that was also a bit of a mission statement.


“I suppose so,” the woman said, still looking at Kylie. “You’re very pretty, you know.”


Kylie placed her hand on her abdomen to cover the nagging feeling that grew stronger each time she felt it. “Thank you.”


Finally breaking her gaze as well as the awkward moment, the woman said dismissively, “Oh, just give me that Hummer cupcake that your fiancé likes.”


The woman pushed some loose strands from her ponytail behind an ear, and Kylie hesitated for a moment studying her. “Do I know you?”

A faint smile darted across the woman’s mouth but quickly disappeared. “If you have to ask, then probably not.”


“Yeah, probably not,” Kylie said, dismissing the idea and leaning to remove the cupcake from the display case. “Do you need a box?”


The woman seemed confused almost to the point of being disoriented as her eyes looked around the shop for help before answering the simple question. “For what?”


“For the cupcake.” She held the delicacy up as if to remind the customer.


“Oh, no. I’ll just eat it on the way.” She dug into her purse and produced some dollar bills, laying them on the counter.


“Exact change. I love it,” Kylie said cheerfully. “Have a great day!”


The woman took the cupcake and stepped towards the door. Pulling the screen door open, she turned back and said, “I really like your shop. It’s,” she thought for a moment, searching for the right word, “quaint.” She flashed a weak smile that triggered a childhood memory for Kylie.


“Are you sure we haven’t met?”


The woman just widened her dimpled smile and drifted out the door.


Kylie tapped her index finger on her chin thoughtfully. “Where have I seen you before? Hmm.” She slid the display case door closed and returned to the open newspaper in her office. Cupcake lifted her head in greeting, and Kylie gave it a pat. “Good girl, Cuppie.”


Kylie sat down at her desk and refocused on the photo of the ill-fated family in the newspaper. Her eyes focused in on the woman in the classic suit who stared back at Kylie with sad eyes. Kylie’s gaze went from the woman in the newspaper and back to the closed screen door before the realization hit her, and she asked out loud, “Mom?”


Jumping up from the office chair, she leaped over the baby gate, ran around the display case, and out the front door of the gingerbread house that served as her shop in downtown Harbor Springs, Michigan. Running to the end of the whimsically-curved pathway, she looked up and down the street before softly calling, “Mommy?” A few summer tourists passing by slowed their walk to look at her as she looked frantically up and down the short block.


Feeling beads of sweat on her chest, she turned right and ran down to Main Street where a few early-morning dog-walkers and joggers made their way up and down the street of shops that had kept their original style from the previous century. Kylie looked both directions before resting her eyes on the cold, blue water at the end of the street and then Petoskey on the other side of the bay. “Mommy,” she whispered.


Kylie stood there, staring at the sparkling water of the bay for moments until she felt two hands on her waist followed by a whiskery kiss on her cheek. “Good morning, Sunshine. Is today the day?” He asked the question daily that Kylie had been avoiding answering.


Kylie continued to stare ahead while giving her head a small shake, indicating her answer to his question.

The man behind her snuggled his face into her neck for a moment before realizing something was wrong. Pulling back, he stepped to her side and turned her to him. “Sweetie, what’s wrong?” When Kylie didn’t respond, he continued. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”


Kylie moved her eyes up the strong, uniform-covered chest, onto the stubbly cheeks, and then to the brown eyes of her fiancé, local fire chief Jason Lange. “Jason, I think I just saw my mother.”

*****

Coming soon!