Love/Hate Relationships are the Strongest of All Bonds #WickedWednesday by Jodi Rath

WICKED WEDNESDAY 

Help me welcome back Jodi Rath. Always fun and this post is a treat! Think about all those wickedly trying and wickedly fun holidays with family.

The holiday season sure can bring out some extreme emotions. The family is gathered around the fireplace when Aunt Gillian pops in. Everyone yells, “Happy Holidays!” but some in the family sincerely wish good ole Aunt Gill a happy holiday, while others say it with a vengeance, remembering the time Gill one-upped them by buying little Sally her first bouncy ball. Others have that love/hate relationship with Gillian—she did marry Grandma’s son after all—Grandma knows better than anyone that Gillian is NOT good enough for her little Billy and never will be, yet Gillian did provide me, her beloved granddaughter.

Ah family . . . the good, the bad, and the ugly. In the holiday novella, Yuletide Cast of the Iron Skillet, Jolie goes for a holiday stroll through her hometown of Leavensport, Ohio every year. But this year, she is going with her beau, Mick Meiser. He is finally doing much better after his most recent MS flare-up. She’s looking forward to the double wedding coming up for her BFF, Ava, with her fiancé, Delilah, and her Grandma Opal with Tom Costello. 

I nodded and took another sip of my cocoa, slurping up a marshmallow that had melted and enjoying the soft vanilla flavor mixed in with the rich chocolate. 

As we walked through the park, I noticed the gazebo covered in puffy, white snow and said more to myself than Mick, “It would have been nice to see a wedding in the gazebo.” 

I was referring to the upcoming double wedding with my grandma and local grocer Tom Costello, and my best friend, Ava, and Delilah. Tom was a real character. He had to be to keep up with my grandma’s orneriness. They looked adorable when they were together. Grandma Opal was not even five feet tall–stout, with tight curly black hair with lots of grays mixed in, and always with a bulldog expression on her face. She was a real spitfire. Tom was two times her size in height, with a rotund belly that hung over his leather belt, bushy black eyebrows, and I swore he colored his equally bushy black hair to a deep black. 

“I’m sure the church will look beautiful, too,” Mick said. 

I thought Ava was going to be the bridezilla, seeing that Ava was all things big, bold, and fabulous. But Grandma Opal gave her a run for her money, pushing Tom’s wallet to the limit. I asked my mom if Grandma had a big wedding with my grandpa, and she told me it was lackluster, to say the least. 

One of the themes that run through The Cast Iron Skillet Mystery Series is those dysfunctional family feelings we all experience from time to time. Jolie adores her family and would drop everything in a heartbeat if any of them were to get into trouble, but they can also drive her completely batty. And she’s pretty sure the feeling is mutual.

Those universal themes that we find in books help us as readers connect with and relate to the characters in our favorite books. We are all made up of good, bad, and ugly and only family (blood relations or not—whatever form family comes in for you) accept us for who we really are, warts and all! These are the ties that bind.

Happy Holidays!

Links to purchase book:

Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Yuletide-Cast-Skillet-Mystery-Holiday-ebook/dp/B085ZR2CRQ   

All other e-platforms:  https://books2read.com/u/mdzPwR

Moving into her second decade working in education, Jodi Rath has decided to begin a life of crime in her The Cast Iron Skillet Mystery Series. Her passion for both mysteries and education led her to combine the two to create her business MYS ED, where she splits her time between working as an adjunct for Ohio teachers, educational writing, marketing consultant work with authors, and creating mischief in her fictional writing. She currently resides in a small, cozy village in Ohio with her husband and her eight cats. 

Newsletter link to A Mystery A Month—sign up for my monthly newsletter to receive a free Mystery a Month and a chance to win prizes for those who guess the right answers! http://eepurl.com/dIfXdb

Website: www.jodirath.com 

FB Author page: @authorjodirath or https://www.facebook.com/authorjodirath/

Twitter: @jodirath

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/jodi-rath

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/dashboard

Revving up with Kickboxing by Jodi Rath #FearlessFriday #Romance

FEARLESS FRIDAY

Please welcome back Jodi Rath. Always a fun post!

I’m thrilled to be back on Fearless Fridays with Brenda Whiteside. It’s one of my favorite blogs to read! I’ve been on once before, and this time I had to rack my brains (lots of rattling around in there) to think of all the ways I’m valiant. You have to understand, this is coming from a high school English teacher of over twenty years. So, yep, super exciting lifestyle! So much so that the kids in one of my honors English classes used to move my stapler every morning and then take bets on how long it would take me to move it back to its spot on my desk. Which was usually not long, and always without me even realizing I was doing it. What can I say? I like my desk and my life orderly and predictable.

But I digress . . . I’m an only child, and I’ve always been more introverted than your average Jodi. I enjoy my “me time” and have always been able to find ways to stay busy and happy on my own. I like to unwind and enjoy myself with writing, research, art projects, and … kickboxing? That’s right. It’s something called Kenpo, which is a Japanese term meaning ‘all types of martial arts.’ My Kenpo style was a blend of street fighting, martial arts, and straight kickboxing.

I worked my way right up to the brown belt—one away from the coveted black belt. Then, I began to spar, and that proved to be my downfall. Did I mention I’m also somewhat of a klutz? Yeah, I am. It went something like this:

Hank (my Kenpo instructor): Mandy wants to get a sparring partner. I think you’re ready.

Me: Huh?

Hank: To spar. Meet here this Saturday at 10 a.m.

Me: Okay.

A brief pause for a summary of what sparring is—maybe you know, I didn’t, but that didn’t stop me from blindly signing up for it. “Sparring” can mean different things, depending on the discipline. Boxers spar with contact, but there are lots of rules to protect them from injuring themselves. In Kenpo, we spar to make ourselves and our sparring partner better. It’s training, and we do it with no contact, just practicing the moves that our trainers call out from the floor. The point is not to touch or hurt each other, but have the feeling of the other person there. Back to the story.

Saturday at 10 a.m., I walk into the gym with my holey old purple sweats hiked up to just below my knees—you know the super-old elastic-around-the-ankle sweats from the eighties, plus an old Rolling Stones T-shirt and my flip-flops because I know I’ll be barefoot in the ring anyway.

Mandy is already in the ring, bouncing, jabbing, and kicking the air. She has tattoos all over her body, one being a skull on her leg that says something that isn’t appropriate for this blog but has to do with death. She is decked out in a sleeveless, breathable black Kenpo shirt with matching short shorts and muscles bulging.

Nope! I turn on my heels. No joke. My heart escapes and goes right up to my throat, where I come close to spewing it up.

Poor Hank–he runs after his wimp of a student (I know, I KNOW—so much for Fearless, right?) and says, “There is NO contact. This is practice for you both!”

I try to imagine myself through Mandy’s eyes at that moment. She is probably thinking if my fighting skills are anything like my wardrobe, I will be easy to demolish. She is probably right.

I take a deep breath, then say to Hank, “You promise? No contact. She’s not allowed to kill me, right?”

Hank is trying really hard not to laugh. He shakes his head.

So, ladies and gents, I get into that ring, shake the hand of the beast, Mandy, and spar. And I mean, I SPAR. Mandy and I amp up our game as we continue, and I become more and more confident holding my own (meaning knowing Mandy isn’t going to annihilate me.) Then Hank yells, “REVERSING CIRCLES!”

Time out for explanation: Reversing circles means I do a front left roundhouse kick followed by a left punch. Back to the story.

So, I’m all in it now, and I hear, “REVERSING CIRCLES!” and I’m bouncing, and I’ve got my mouthpiece in and my pads on my hands. I bounce and flip around, taking my left leg toward Mandy and kicking her right in her face. Then I throw that punch–which might have landed if she had not already gone down from the kick. CONTACT! WHOOPS!

Crap. That isn’t supposed to happen. Mandy and her trainer are not happy, to say the least. I  bend over her to check on her, although I am pretty terrified she’ll reach up and grab me by my neck and take me out then and there.

In the end, she walks away with a bruise and a swollen eye, while I have a torn ligament in my ankle and have to have surgery—which keeps me from getting my black belt.

I blame Hank.

Anyway, completely fearless? Maaaayyyyybeeeeee NOT! LOL! But, here I thought Mandy would end up hurting me and instead, look at me, all bad-to-the-bone. Mandy and I are still friendly today. Kind of, sort of.

If any of you are fans of my series The Cast Iron Skillet Mystery Series, then my absurd antics may remind you of Jolie Tucker, the protagonist. She and I both get ourselves into some ridiculous scrapes. Book five of the series, Deep Dish Pizza Disaster, just came out last Friday 9/4/20. Purchase at Amazon or another e-retailer.

How’s that for Fearless Friday? BAM! Mic drop!

Killer Villains: Name Your Favorite By Jodi Rath

WICKED WEDNESDAY

Jodi Rath is treating us to Wicked Wednesday with her take on villains. Clowns? Gulp! It doesn's stop there.

Big red-nose, three times too big painted on a red smile that turns sinister like dark clouds invading a sunny day. The evil clown is my least favorite villain. Why? Clowns freak me out. They seem caustic by nature. My favorite villain is the everyday, normal citizen that no one would ever guess. The one that looks too good to be evil. They wear the same mask as the clown does paint, but they hide it so well that we readers struggle to figure out who the killer is.

Other heinous archetypes are the femme fatale, the dark god, the power-mad scientist, and the slighted sibling.  Written well, these characters can difficult for us readers to decipher too. One way to write them well is to write to them like that every day, wholesome individual. When we see the man twirling the long, wiry mustache that becomes a dead give-away who the culprit is. Yet, write that same guy with as autistic gentleman who twirls his mustache as a tic, and we second guess that he’s an evil villain.

These examples and more are things writers have to consider when developing their best villain for their novel. How can I trick you, the reader, into never guessing this sweet, innocent old spinster holds grudges against women in their young twenty’s due to the time she was mugged by a group of sorority sister’s that needed to do this as part of their pledge?

So, what are your favorite and least favorite villains in the stories you read, and why?

CLICK HERE FOR ALL OF JODI'S BOOKS

Watch for the next two books of Jodi's popular series in 2020:

Blueberry Cobbler Blackmail, book 3

Releasing 2/28/2020 

Welcome to Leaven—oh wait—Santo Domingo, where DEATH takes a DELICIOUS turn!

Family bombshells, sibling rivalries, blackmail, and a trip that could be deadly...and the new year has only just begun! After a disastrous Thanksgiving, Jolie Tucker is beside herself and feeling the walls closing in around her. She feels like she needs to escape Leavensport before she loses her mind. She unexpectedly gets her wish when her best friend and co-owner of Cast Iron Creations, Ava Martinez, gets a terrifying email revealing that her papa, Thiago, is in danger in Santo Domingo. The girls are off on a dangerous adventure in new territory. Will they be able to save the day before danger finds them?

Cast Iron Stake Through the Heart, book 4

Releasing 5/29/2020

On again, off again, ON AGAIN–Jolie Tucker and Mick Meiser are giving their relationship another try. Things seem to be working out for them so far, and love is on the menu all over Leavensport! An unexpected pregnancy with a surprising partner, a therapist pairs off with the chief of police, and the mayor of Leavensport falls for Jolie’s Aunt Fern!

Although Leavensport is serving up affairs of the heart, there are a lot of mysterious activities lurking in the air. The townspeople awake to find freshly dug empty holes throughout the fields that were recently up for sale under suspicious circumstances. Jolie and Ava believe they are taking a break from solving murders when they start teaching an online cooking course–until they witness one of their students take a stake through the heart!

ABOUT JODI RATH

Moving into her second decade working in education, Jodi Rath has decided to begin a life of crime in her The Cast Iron Skillet Mystery Series. Her passion for both mysteries and education led her to combine the two to create her business MYS ED, where she splits her time between working as an adjunct for Ohio teachers, educational writing, marketing consultant work with authors, and creating mischief in her fictional writing. She currently resides in a small, cozy village in Ohio with her husband and her eight cats. 

Undaunted Underdog By Jodi Rath #fearless #trauma

FEARLESS FRIDAY

Coming out on the other side of an abusive childhood followed by marital abuse, being able to talk about it, owning it, and then helping others is huge on the fearless meter. Please welcome Jodi Rath back to Discover... for Fearless Friday. I was in tears half-way through this post, but it has a happy ending. 

Being in education for over twenty years, I’ve run into students who have fallen victim to their environments and circumstances. I hope to help them find something deep inside themselves that enables them to pull themselves out of that darkness and gives them the grit and determination to create their own future path. And that is the key–they must be the one to find it, not me or anyone else. Also, they must believe it. Many times, I’ve been able to help them, and sadly, other times, not so much.

One of the reasons I’ve found success in helping traumatized teens is due to my own harrowing past experiences. Growing up, I faced abuse from my biological father. What I didn’t realize was, many people deal with abuse in one form or another. I learned that others had had similar experiences as I grew older and got into a profession where I saw it firsthand. It doesn’t make it any less daunting for those of us that experience it—and any type of abuse is as bad as the next: physical, sexual, mental, psychological.

I’m an only child, so I didn’t have siblings to talk to as I worked through things. Somehow, I found strength in reading and writing from the young age of five. When I was in fifth grade, most of the abuse ended—although the psychological effects have lasted a lifetime. Knowing I would be writing this blog today, I had night terrors last night and thrashed my body into a cramped mess. I awoke at one in the morning and spent two hours taking deep breaths while counting to six, pressing my thumb into the palm of my hand—these are little tricks my previous therapist taught me to help me get through these overwhelmed feelings. Once I caught my breath, I read until five a.m., when I got up. When this happens, I can forget about sleep. As you can see, reading is still an escape!

My first marriage, unfortunately, was to someone like my biological father. He worked extra hard to never to have see me, and when he did, he took that time to tell me how worthless I was. I got out of that relationship at age twenty-nine, and I was fortunate. Fourteen years after we divorced, my first husband set his second estranged wife’s house on fire. He barricaded himself in his apartment when SWAT came, firing his gun at them, injuring one officer and killing another. He is in prison for life now.

My biological father and my first husband are two solid reasons why I could have ended up repeating this vicious cycle of abuse. One of the things I’ve tried to teach my students is that for every monster that appears in their lives, there is an angel present somewhere as well. The trick is understanding which is which.

My mom married my stepfather, whose name is Mike Miller, when I was in fifth grade. He was invested in being a father to me, although I had a difficult time accepting him at first. But he worked hard and made us a family. He wanted to adopt me, but my biological father refused to allow him to do it. When I was seventeen, my mom divorced my stepdad. She and I left the house that he had built for us as a family, where most of my happy memories were made. I was sure I would never see him again, but before we left, Mike took me for a drive to talk about it. He told me he understood what I went through with my biological father, and he understood that it is difficult for me to trust people, but he promised that he would prove to me that he was in my life for good.

He was right. I didn’t believe him. But, he proved me wrong. He called me every day, even though he was broken-hearted by the divorce. He drove me to and attended all my major life events: sporting events, graduation of high school, and graduation of college. In contrast, when I got my college degree, my bio father said to me, “I never thought you would ever get through high school, let alone college.” Mike also walked me down the aisle for my first marriage, even though my biological father was strongly opposed to it.

Mike died from prostate cancer when I was thirty-seven years old. I took time off work from teaching to be there for him during his last months. The last thing I said to him was, “I love you, dad.” Then he kissed me on the cheek. He is and always will be my dad. He’s one of the good ones.

My second husband’s name is Mike, too. I say my Mike’s are my angels. He and I have been together seventeen years, and he has bought me fresh flowers once a week all seventeen years. We have nine cats in our home—our fur babies. (I had to have a hysterectomy at age twenty-nine, right before I left my first husband.)  We’ve had nineteen cats in seventeen years—my current family consisting of my husband, Mike, and our nine cats are my pride and joy.

I’ve wanted to be a full-time writer since I was five. Here I am, at age forty-six, having survived childhood abuse and domestic abuse–sporting psychological scars that I’ll never be rid of. But instead of passing on the pain, I channel it and have used it to help teens and adults through my teaching and writing. I now own my business, where I split my time between teaching Ohio teachers online, writing for educational publications, and writing The Cast Iron Skillet Mystery Series. My third book in the series came out November fifteenth.

Writing the series is so therapeutic for me. My protagonist deals with some of the things I’ve dealt with, as well as issues like youth homelessness, and also physical, emotional, and mental issues, including characters facing challenges like navigating life with MS. These topics are near and dear to my heart. I’ve paired up with True Colors United, an organization that helps homeless youth (and is run by Cyndi Lauper!) and the National MS Society to help raise awareness as well as sharing a percentage of my profits with both organizations.

“Fearless Friday” blogs are about life-changing events: I feel like my entire life has been life-changing for me, and I hope for many others too. My wish is to continue helping to educate and write and create a ripple effect of kindness.

One of my all-time favorite quotes is by Ralph Waldo Emerson: To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.

I’ve shared this quotation with every student I’ve worked with in trying to help them understand that it is their choice to be who they want to be—the world may try to dictate other things for our lives—but we get to be the ones to make the final choices.

COMING 2/28/20 BLUEBERRY COBBLER BLACKMAIL

Pre-order here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07YX8Y1VM/

Family bombshells, sibling rivalries, blackmail, and a trip that could be deadly...and the new year has only just begun! After a disastrous Thanksgiving, Jolie Tucker is beside herself and feeling the walls closing in around her. She feels like she needs to escape Leavensport before she loses her mind. She unexpectedly gets her wish when her best friend and co-owner of Cast Iron Creations, Ava Martinez, gets a terrifying email revealing that her papa, Thiago, is in danger in Santo Domingo. The girls are off on a dangerous adventure in new territory. Will they be able to save the day before danger finds them? 

FIND JODI HERE:

Newsletter link to A Mystery A Month—sign up for my monthly newsletter to receive a free Mystery a Month and a chance to win prizes for those who guess the right answers! http://eepurl.com/dIfXdb

Website: www.jodirath.com 

FB Author page: @authorjodirath or https://www.facebook.com/authorjodirath/

Twitter: @jodirath

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/jodi-rath

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/dashboard

Inspiration in Unlikely Places by Jodi Rath #mystery #MuseMonday

MUSE MONDAY

Please welcome back Jodi Rath to Muse Monday. It's always a pleasure to have her. She's talking inspiration and therapy today. We can all use a little therapy!

The Cast Iron Skillet Mystery Series becomes closer to my heart with each book I write. It’s become a type of therapy for me; so, it’s no wonder that the protagonist Jolie Tucker begins therapy in Turkey Basted to Death.  I’ve dealt with a dysfunctional family all forty-six years of my life. Growing up, I had an M.I.A. biological father (I’m sure you all can tell how close we are with my formal title). My mom married my stepdad (who, BTW, I treated horribly the first year because I wanted that M.I.A. bio dad) who ended up being more of a father to me than I could have ever hoped for. I will now refer to my stepdad as just ‘dad.’  Jolie deals with a similar situation, and she dives into it more in this newest book in the series.

Not only does this series provide therapy for me, but it also combines my passion for writing with educating. I was a high school English teacher for two decades. Now, I teach higher education online, working with teachers through my business. Many of my previous students read my work. I can’t help but expand knowledge beyond the craft of something in a cozy (which for this series is cooking with cast iron), but I’ve found overarching themes of urban sprawl, gentrification, family dysfunction, and effective communication for finding solutions in society and families to come through. I think the thing that has surprised me the most is the feedback I am getting from readers through social media, emails, and messages. Readers are sharing their experiences of dysfunctional families; some readers refer to gentrification as urban renewal and share their experiences, and I get the exact opposite. I’ve learned about the process of gentrification/urban renewal that has taken place in New York, Ohio, and as recent as a year ago and as long as four decades ago.

One of the most exciting things to happen with this series recently is I’ve teamed up to collaborate with The National MS Society and True Colors United for this book and the rest of the series. Let me explain a bit: one of the characters in the series, Mick Meiser, has MS. My best friend was diagnosed ten years ago, and I write Meiser’s character to show how people navigate the disease. No one will feel sorry for Meiser! True Colors United is run by THE amazing Cyndi Lauper, and it is an affiliation that helps homeless youth—ALL homeless youth, but they do focus on the 40% of homeless youth that is LGBTQ as well. Turkey Basted to Death deals with issues of homeless teens, transgender teens, and homosexual teens that have been kicked out because of who they are. I am happy to announce this collaboration and that all purchases of this book and every book after in the series will have a percentage that goes to The National MS Society and True Colors United!

So, yes, this series has become close to my heart in many ways. It is helping me deal with my dysfunctional family and realize who my family is and help me heal old wounds—but it allows me to continue to educate and to learn from readers as well. The most amazing thing of all is being able to give back to help others in need!

Welcome to Leavensport, Ohio where DEATH takes a delicious turn!

Thanksgiving is here, and Jolie Tucker has had quite the year! She is ready to sit back and relax with family and friends. But this is Leavensport, OH—so get ready for intense therapy sessions, dysfunctional family holiday gatherings, uninvited guests, and an inner-city teen advocate found DEAD—stabbed in the ear with the turkey baster!

Links to purchase book:

Amazon: http://authl.it/b8o

All other e-platforms:  https://books2read.com/u/ba2YM8

Moving into her second decade working in education, Jodi Rath has decided to begin a life of crime in her The Cast Iron Skillet Mystery Series. Her passion for both mysteries and education led her to combine the two to create her business MYS ED, where she splits her time between working as an adjunct for Ohio teachers, educational writing, marketing consultant work with authors, and creating mischief in her fictional writing. She currently resides in a small, cozy village in Ohio with her husband and her eight cats. 

Website: www.jodirath.com 

FB Author page: @authorjodirath or https://www.facebook.com/authorjodirath/

Twitter: @jodirath

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/jodi-rath

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/dashboard

Newsletter link to A Mystery A Month—sign up for my monthly newsletter to receive a free Mystery a Month and a chance to win prizes for those who guess the right answers! http://eepurl.com/dIfXdb

Real Life Fun Inspires Fiction by Jodi Rath #CozyMystery #Inspiration #Recipe

MUSE MONDAY

Some of our best inspiration for our stories come from real life situations. Jodi Rath is my guest today, and she knows how true this is. Her mystery series  are enriched by her life. Read on...

My series, The Cast Iron Skillet Mystery Series, is a lot of fun to write. I use personal experiences from my life that come from many places.  I taught high school English for close to two decades and I have so many funny stories from being a teacher that I use for small scenes here and there. Not to mention, my family is a huge inspiration.

Grandma Opal’s character is developed from my Grandma Evelyn who is just as much as a hoot in real life as fictional Grandma Opal. For example, my husband and I have eight cats—so we have eight litter boxes with little close-lid trash cans by each box. We use the grocery bags to line the trash cans throughout our house. I don’t want to have to spend money on the small trash bags. I found I didn’t have enough grocery bags, so I told my grandma and my mom to save their bags for me. One day, I get a bag full of what looks like used bags except when I pull them out there is a HUGE stack of brand-new bags that my grandma pulled off the hooks at the store. I was like, “Grandma, I didn’t ask you to steal a stack of bags for me!” Her reply was a slitted-eyed glare in a snarky tone, “I can’t steal something that is free to the public, Jodi Lynn!” I knew I was in trouble when she used my middle name, so I quietly held my tongue and shook my head in desperation.  Yep, you guessed it—this scene shows up in book two coming out June 21, 2019 of my series, Jalapeño Cheddar Cornbread Murder. That’s only one of many examples. Trust me when I tell you I can’t make some of this stuff up!

With that said, yes, it is fun to write this series as well as therapeutic.

JALAPENO CHEDDAR CORNBREAD MURDER

Welcome to Leavensport, Ohio where DEATH takes a delicious turn!

Financial fraud of elderly villagers in Leavensport, an urban sprawl threat to the community, disastrous dates, cross-sell marketing gone wrong, and another murder? 

Jolie Tucker is ready to try dating again. Well, she has no choice—since her family auctioned her off to the highest bidder. Her best friend, Ava, has agreed to a double date, but both friends find out hidden secrets about their partners as well as deception by one of the village’s own, who will soon be found dead. This plot is sure to be spicy!

EXCERPT:

We both jumped as we heard a hard knock on our front door.

I saw Bradley’s boss, Lou, standing outside the door. I unlocked and opened the door briefly, “Sorry Lou; we had an unfortunate incident a few moments ago. I had to close briefly to clean up. I’ll open up soon.”

“Where is Bradley? He wanted me to meet him here, and here I am. Why we can’t talk at the workplace is beyond me. This is ridiculous. He could at least be outside regardless of what “incident” you’ve had,” he said making air quotes with his fingers.

“Bradley was part of the incident. He probably ran to change his clothes. I would assume he’ll be back soon,” I said.

“Figures, I’ll call him,” he said grabbing his phone and storming off.

I went to close and lock up again when Mr. and Mrs. Seevers came storming up to Lou.

“You no good son of a gun; I oughta take that phone and shove it up your . . .”

“Earl!” Mrs. Seevers exclaimed. “No need for that kind of talk ever, regardless of how much of a creep this guy is.”

“What are you two talking about?” Lou demanded.

“We know what you did, and you won’t get away with it!” Mr. Seevers seethed.

“You two old bats need to mind your own business; I’m out of here,” Lou protested stomping off with his phone to his ear probably calling poor Bradley to chew him out.

“Rude,” Mirabelle stated as I closed and locked the door again.

“Agreed,” I said wondering what was going on with the Seevers, a typically nice retired couple, and Lou.

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Jodi Rath

B.A. English Literature; M.A. Education

Author of The Cast Iron Skillet Mystery Series

Entrepreneur MYS ED LLC

https://www.jodirath.com/