Susan Kiernan-Lewis - The French Womens Diet

Wicked Good

Susan Kiernan-Lewis

C opyright 2012 by Susan Kiernan-Lewis. All rights reserved.

L iddy James put off her dream of owning her own French cupcake shop for 25 years. Now a widow and an empty nester, she knows if she's ever going to do it, she better make it happen soon.

Unfortunately, there are a few roadblocks in her path to finally achieving her dream. One is a sexy DEA Agent dealing with the local meth problem who obviously wants her--but preferably not living in the same town. Another is a cantankerous elderly mother who refuses to play fair. Finally, there are the townspeople of Infinity, Georgia, who want nothing to do with her fancy cupcakes or her big city ways.

In fact, someone in particular is determined to help Liddy go back where she came from...the hard way.

Books by Susan Kiernan-Lewis

The Maggie Newberry Mysteries

Murder in the South of France

Murder la Carte

Murder in Provence

Murder in Paris

Murder in Aix

Murder in Nice

Murder in the Latin Quarter

Murder in the Abbey

The French Womens Diet

The Irish End Games

Free Falling

Going Gone

Heading Home

Blind Sided

Rising Tides

Cold Comfort

Never Never

Mia Kazmaroff Mysteries

Reckless

Shameless

Breathless

Heartless

Ella Out of Time

Swept Away

Carried Away

Stolen Away

Wicked Good

I t is a truth universally accepted that no matter how carefully you plan your life, you can always count on it to go totally to crap just when you need it to hold together.

Liddy sat at the gate in the Atlanta International terminal and felt the delicious butterflies in her stomach that matched her memory of how she felt when she first moved to Paris as a very young woman. It had been twenty years since she had first boarded the Air France flight from Atlanta to begin her lifeher adventurein the City of Light. In many ways, nothing had ever been the same for her since. The intervening years had seen her obsess over all things Parisian. Shed decorated her Atlanta house to mimic a Parisian salon, shed learned how to bake French pastries that would make a patisserie chef weep. Shed kept her French language skills sharp and alive with French clubs and novels. Shed lobbied to spend nearly every annual vacation taken in Paris with her husband and son.

She pulled out her boarding pass just to see the words again: ATL to Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport. Twenty years, one marriage and a child, now grown and gone, and she was going back to the city of her heart, the city of her youth. Liddy smiled to herself and glanced around at the other people waiting to board the flight. She thought they looked French. One woman sat and squinted at her smartphone in a seat across from Liddy. She was dressed in casual elegance, as if she had just thrown herself together but she wore her clothes with a grace and style that most women would have labored to achieve. Shes Parisian, Liddy thought. Its all so effortless for her. And soon, for her, too.

She planned to stay the summer but she was open to staying longer if things worked out. If, after three months of sipping caf crmes in neighborhood cafes and strolling the museums, the quaint, cobblestone streets and waking up to the City of Light outside her balcony window every morning, she felt she must stay, then she would. A year, perhaps forever. Her schedule, her time, belonged to instinct and serendipity now. There was no husband, no office, and no child to influence or dictate how she spent her time.

For better or for worse, her life was her own again. And now, it was time to claim it.

The gate official broke into her thoughts by announcing that they were ready to board the airplane and Liddy felt her stomach lurch with anticipation and excitement. She looked at the French woman on the smartphone and noticed that she appeared oblivious to the fact that they were all about to begin their journey.

Does she make this transatlantic trip so frequently that it really is all just de rigeur to her? Liddy wondered. She gathered her purse and her carry-on and walked to the line that was forming in front of the gate desk. She held her passport and boarding pass in her hand and felt her butterflies go into hyper drive.

Im really finally going.

Suddenly, she felt her cellphone vibrate in her jacket pocket. She was several people back in line and so pulled the phone out and looked at the screen. Her first thought was that it might be Ben. He was taking a summer session at the University of Georgia but he normally texted not called. The screen had a phone number on it she didnt recognize. But an area code she did.

With her stomach now evolving from delicious butterflies to a growing uneasiness, Liddy edged out of line and let the other travelers go ahead.

It was the area code from the part of South Georgia where her mother lived.

Hello? she said into the phone, holding her breath.

Is this Lydia James?

Liddys stomach dropped. The voice sounded official, not friendly.

Yes, Liddy said. Is this about my mother? Is she okay?

Ms. James, the voice said, Im afraid your mother has had a bad fall. My name is Rita Swanson and Im the charge nurse at the Hospital here in Infinity?

Liddy nodded, and watched the column of fashionably dressed gate travelers move past her and disappear one by one into the hallway that would take them to the airplane that was leaving for Paris within the hour.

Is she okay? Liddy asked.

She will be, the nurse said. But right now shes pretty upset and confused. Shes been asking for you.

Of course, Liddy said, shaking her head at the gate official who gave her a questioning look. Tell her, please, that Im on my way.

Liddy disconnected and turned away from the gate, still clutching her passport, her boarding pass and her cellphone. She walked back to her seat in the now empty gate area and sat down heavily. She stared out the window at the airplane parked on the tarmac and at the other planes taking off and landing. She looked down at the boarding pass in her hand as if surprised to see it there.

I nfinity , Georgia.

A sleepy little southern town two hundred miles southeast of Atlanta. Liddy drove there straight from the airport. Her bags had been checked through to Paris but she had her carry on with enough clothes to last her a few nights. Once she found out what the situation in Infinity was shed be able to determine when she could rebook her flight to Paris. No point even in having her things sent back to Atlanta, Liddy decided. Shed arrange to have them stored at Charles de Gaulle until she could personally retrieve them.

She tried to remember the last time she had driven to Infinity. Her visits to her mother down there had been few and far between over the years. There had been nothing for Ben to do as a boy in Infinity, no summer camps, a community pool that looked like it hadnt been shocked since the summer before, no decent restaurants, no nearby golf courses for Bill, and no comfortable place for the three of them to stay. It was always easier to have her mother to come up to Atlantasomething that, admittedly, she had chosen to do less and less.