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T he problem was, while Amalie might have pranced off to become a Citizen of the World, whatever the fuck that meant, it didn’t erase the fact that she was born and raised in Chipping Fairford, and from the age of sixteen to twenty-six had worked in the shop.

In other words, she knew the regulars, their orders, and their schedules as well as I did, and she was friendly enough with half of them to have their phone numbers in her contacts.

The other half probably followed her on Instagram.

Oh, and she was as much of a dick as I was.

It ran in the family.

So when I came out with a tray filled with clean cups, it was to find Brian Young lying in wait at the counter, on his phone.

“Cappuccino?” I asked, eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“Yep, hang on,” he said into his phone, then stuck it under my nose with a winning smile.

“That’s not how you use Apple Pay, Brian,” I said.

He jiggled it. “It’s for you.”

I took it off him and held it up to my ear.

“Charlie?” Amalie said. “Listen?—”

I hung up and passed the phone back to Brian. “You ordering or leaving?” I asked.

He took the hint. “Um. Cappuccino, please.”

“Jasper?” I said, scanning the coffee shop. “Make Brian a cappuccino, would you?”

“On it!”

Over in the corner, Saffron Clarke put down her Kindle and glanced at her phone which was lying on the table alongside her steaming cup of camomile tea. She looked startled but answered. Her gaze immediately crossed to mine.

I shook my head at her. Don’t do it, Saffron .

She did it.

She stood up and came over. “Charlie, this is weird. I haven’t spoken to her for ages, but your sister Amalie called.”

“Yep,” I said, and gestured to her impatiently. She handed the phone over, I hit the end call button, and handed it back. I lifted my brows. “Get you a refill?”

“No thanks. Are you two fighting?”

I stared at her flatly. “This is how we express our sibling affection.”

“Okaaaay.” She wandered back to her seat, picked up her Kindle, and got back to minding her own business.

I glared around the coffee shop, looking for Amalie’s next victim. Martin Newson got halfway out of his seat before I whipped my head around and pinned him with a glare. He froze.

I tightened my jaw and shook my head at him.

He lowered back to his seat where he fidgeted for a bit, phone to his ear. He turned slowly red then pushed up and hurried over.

“Charlie,” he said, “I’m so sorry but she told me if I didn’t get you on the phone, she’d?—”

I made an impatient gesture at him and took his phone. “Stop threatening my customers.”

“Have a conversation with me like an adult, then! I want to know what’s going on with you!”

Now she cared? “I’ll update my Instagram when I get a minute. Why don’t you check that?”

“You don’t have Instagram. Also, wow .”

“Stop calling,” I snapped. “I’m not in the mood.”

“Fine. You won’t give me the details? I’ll call Kevin Wallis. I hear Kevin’s in the loop. I’m sure he’s got lots of interesting things to tell me. Bye.”

“Don’t you?—”

She hung up.

I hauled the phone away from my ear and growled at it. “Jasper,” I said, “I’m taking a break.”

“No problem,” he said.

“Can…? Can I have my phone back?” Martin asked.

I shoved the phone at Jasper and strode off, digging out my own phone and calling Amalie before she could follow through with her threat to call Kevin.

I whisked past a surprised Pippa and straight out the back door, letting it bang behind me.

Amalie picked up.

“Do you know how long it is since we’ve spoken?” I said.

She hesitated.

“It’s been seven months, Ames.”

“I’ve…I’ve been busy.”

“Yeah. Me too.”

Neither of us said anything for a moment. I broke first. I always did. “Why are you calling?”

“Why? Charlie ! I need to know you’re okay.”

“I already told you I’m okay.”

“I want to know if you need me. If you do, I am on a plane.”

Because that would really put the cherry on this particular shit sundae. A house guest. My estranged sister, no less. Oh, and no house to put that unwanted, estranged guest in.

“I don’t need you,” I told her tersely.

“I’m coming home.”

“Did you not hear me? I said I don’t need you here.”

“Do you want me there?”

“No.” I’d learned not to want a lot of things, familial support being at the top of the list.

“Fuck it. I’m still coming.”

“Seriously, Amalie, don’t. It’s not worth it. What are you going to do, anyway? Fly in, hang around for a few days, and then leave again?”

She was silent. In the background I heard a burst of laughter, the faint buzz of traffic, voices rising and falling and the clink of cutlery.

By my guess, she was at a restaurant or cafe. Probably chilling with the new BFFs she’d met at the latest hostel she was calling home base.

I’d looked at her Instagram a lot when she first left. After a while, I’d stopped. Pictures of exotic food I’d never eat and cities I’d never go to had limited appeal, after all. And she was so happy in all of them. Big, wide smile. Bright, grey-green eyes, the same eyes that looked back at me from the mirror.

Only where hers were filled with life, mine were flat. Where the lines fanning out at the corners of hers were from laughter, mine were from exhaustion.

She was living her life. She was loving it. She was thriving.

The simple fact of it was, Amalie got that and I got to fund it. The money she was using to fund this quarter-life crisis came directly from my bank account, from a loan I’d more than likely be paying off for the rest of my life.

I didn’t blame her for it.

I could have done the same. We both could have said, no thanks, parents. Sell the business, I’ll take the money and live while I’m young.

But where Amalie wanted adventure and new surroundings, I had been born boring. Yes, my life stressed me out. I loved it anyway. I loved the coffee shop. I loved Phil. I even loved my house, despite the disaster it had turned out to be.

I hadn’t needed to leave Chipping Fairford to find interesting people. I knew them already. They came into my coffee shop every day, and every day, I got to do one small thing to make their lives better.

Most of all, I hadn’t wanted to leave Kevin.

Even when I’d thought my love would be unrequited, and that Kevin wouldn’t have cared or noticed if someone else served him his daily flat white…even then, I hadn’t wanted to leave him.

“It’s not a big deal,” I told her.

“Charlie, there is a dead guy in your house.”

“I’m aware of that. I saw him.”

“Ewwww. Oh my god, tell me everything. Right now, spill it.”

“Can’t.”

“Let Dawn handle the shop for another five minutes and give me some details,” she said. “Come on, I have to know.”

I shook my head and stared at the ground. “Dawn quit a year ago.”

“Oh. Well, whoever’s behind the counter.”

“That would be Jasper.”

“Jasper?” she screeched. “ Connolly ? You definitely can’t leave him in charge, he’ll break the La Marzocco again! What am I saying? He’ll break everything.”

“He’ll be fine. Pippa’s trained him. Besides, he showed up to help out. I do have people to help me out,” I said. “I’m not alone.”

Huh.

I mean, my boyfriend the corpse finder still wasn’t volunteering, but…

I smiled. Yeah. I had people.

“If Jasper wants to break a whole box of cups, I’d let him,” I said. Obviously, I’d tell him off about it, but as far as I was concerned, Jasper could break what he wanted.

Even the La Marzocco.

Although I hoped he didn’t.

“You’ve changed your tune.”

You too , I managed not to say.

“Was it the same deal as with Ray Underwood?” she asked. “Storage tub under the floor? Or was it in the garden? Give me something, bro.”

“Close enough to Ray’s deal, although I really can’t give you the details while it’s still an open investigation.”

“Charliiieeee.”

“Can’t.”

“Ugh. That must have been so gross, though. Coming face to face with a dead person.” She made a brrrr noise. “Did you throw up?”

I probably would have if he’d been fresher, but I’d been to museums. I’d seen mummies before, and that’s what he was. A mummified cowboy.

I was more bothered by the cowboy bit than the mummy bit.

“No, I didn’t throw up,” I said.

“Bet you screamed.”

“I didn’t, but Kevin did.” I winced. Okay, I hadn’t meant to say that.

“Kevin Wallis found it? Shit, this really is the same deal as Ray Underwood. It was a mummy, wasn’t it?”

“Draw whatever conclusions you like, Ames. I’m not talking.”

“I’m drawing some interesting conclusions about Kevin,” she said. “Want to talk about that?”

“Hanging up now, bye.”

“Charlie!” She laughed. “Don’t go. I…I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve been right here. I’m always here.” I didn’t go anywhere.

“I know. I’m sorry. Listen, all aggro aside, shall I come home? Yes, it will only be for a few days. It’ll be worth it. I can see your beautiful face, and we can hang out. Touch base.”

“Why not? I’ll put you in the guest room. I’m pretty sure there aren’t any dead guys stashed in there. I mean, I haven’t checked yet. But pretty sure.”

“Eep.”

I grinned. “Don’t bother coming home. It’s not worth the cost of the flight, and there’s nothing you can do. If you want to see my face, video call me. Besides, I don’t even know when I’ll be allowed back in my house. I doubt they’ll keep me out long. I’m not in a hurry, in any case. I’m staying with Adam and Ray. So far I’m giving them a solid eleven out of ten for hosting.”

“First I’m hearing things about you and Kevin Wallis, and now you’re shacking up with hot boy Adam Blake and his cutie-pie husband?”

“That’s not quite how it is, Amalie, but I’ve got to get back to work, so…”

“Right. And you’re sure you don’t want me to fly home?”

“I’m sure.”

“I hear you, but I still feel like I should.”

“It’s not as if you can do anything, even if you were here. Hell, I can’t do anything. There’s nothing to do. This is just one of those weird little life blips. That’s all it is.”

It took another five minutes to get her off the phone, but I was smiling when I hung up.

She’d promised to call soon and check in with me—and to get the goss on my whole situation, of course.

I wasn’t counting on it.

I stood for another quiet moment with my back to the alley wall, turning my phone over and over in my hand.

Amalie’s general shittiness at keeping in contact and communicating irritated me no end.

I’d be a real hypocrite if I didn’t make a solid effort with Kevin.

I pulled up his number, took a deep breath, and called.