SLAY PAIRS WITH ROSE (The Kelly's Deli Cozy Murder Mysteries Book 3) by Sophie Brent (phonics reading books .txt) 📕

in England. Rain and thunderstorms were forecast for next week to break the heatwave, but she didn’t mind that. She loved the seasons.  One more reason why her mother couldn’t tempt her to move to Florida and work with her in the Russo family hotel and catering trade.

Erin smiled up at a photograph that her neighbour Lucien Reynolds had taken of her parents shortly after they had married. The young couple was standing outside Kelly’s deli, grinning at the camera with such delight on their faces. They looked so young and in love. Full of hope and excitement about what the future would bring.

Hot tears burnt the corners of Erin’s eyes, but she brushed them away with the back of her finger.

Everything she did came from the wonderful gifts that her parents had given her and the skills they had passed on. Her mother the chef, who was now running a yacht catering business in the Caribbean, and her father, who had been the heart and soul of this deli. She missed him so much. He would have loved seeing this wedding cake and hearing about all of her grand plans for the new Kelly’s bistro. It had always been his dream and now she was going to make it happen.

He had taken a risk when he made this deli her inheritance. Now it was up to her to show that he had made the right choice.

Then Erin glanced at the wall clock and gasped. Where had the time gone to today? She still had to finish decorating the mini cakes for the girls’ dinner party that evening and make more individual rosebuds for the gift bags for the wedding reception.

Of course, it was entirely her own fault for agreeing to make this wedding cake in the first place. But how could she refuse when her friend Zoe had pleaded with her to step in at the last minute to help in an emergency?

Zoe’s cousin Fiona Hanson had planned to work with her mother and make a simple wedding cake for her small family wedding in Abbotsdown. Then she was hit with a huge new project at work and her whole family had gone down with the summer flu that had just swept through Kingsmede.

End result? No wedding cake and Emma Wilson had stepped in as Fiona’s maid of honour to help to organize the wedding. In her own style!

The cake Fiona specified had to be based on the vintage lace dress and matching veil that had belonged to Fiona’s grandmother. She had asked for the cake to be decorated with sugar flowers the same colour as her bouquet, with no sludgy icing to drip on the precious vintage lace. The pastel pink and ivory colour scheme was simply gorgeous. It was an elegant and classy design which suited Fiona Hanson perfectly.

Fiona had two extra requests when it came to the cake. The bottom layer had to be dark organic chocolate with a Morello cherry jam filling. No dried fruit thank you. With a lemon and vanilla top layer cake for her mother and friends.

The really good news was that Fiona only wanted two tiers for their cozy family wedding and because it was all last minute, Fiona and Emma had approved the cake design by email based on scanned pictures of Erin’s sketches.

Thank you for the sleepless nights Zoe. But it had been worth it. The cakes looked stunning.

After drying her cool hands, Erin grabbed a plastic box of coloured fondants, perfumed with rosewater and vanilla, out of the refrigerator and got back to work.

Resisting the urge to rush ahead, Erin bit her bottom lip as she concentrated on curling the thin layer of pink fondant sugar paste into a range of tight smooth petals identical to the silk rose bud on the table, then stood back and checked the work.

Not bad. Not bad at all.  Now all she had to do was make another ten just like it.

Gulping back her panic, Erin turned back to make more rosebuds and had just started moulding the last flower when a familiar voice echoed from the shop.

Her old school friend sauntered into the kitchen. News reporter and photojournalist Zoe Hanson was wearing a smart summer dress and sandals, with a handbag over one shoulder and her camera bag on the other.

“Hey Zoe, you’re back early. How was the wedding rehearsal?”

“Super smooth.  St. Peter’s is such a pretty church and on a day like today?” Zoe flicked her hands into the air and grinned. “A photographer’s dream. Even Emma Wilson was impressed with the stained glass and polished wooden pews. The vicar was a bit formal for me, but he’s known our family for years. He wasn’t worried about having to cope the panicking bride, the slightly mad bridesmaids, and a manic maid of honour. It was all good.”

Then she rubbed her hands together. “I left everyone back at the hotel finishing lunch, then the girls have booked a long relaxing session in the spa before the dinner party tonight.”

She gestured with her head towards the marble block where Erin had been working. “Are those for the cake?”

“No, I finished the cake topper at some silly hour of the morning. These are extra rosebuds for decoration and the gift bags.”

Zoe sat silently watching Erin curling a sugar rose petal with tiny tools before pressing it against a darker pink tight centre.

One petal broke into fragments. “Oh no. I think that’s a sign that I need to take a break. Where are the boys?” Erin asked as she packed away the fondant.

“Heading into town for last minute shopping and probably the pub,” Zoe told her and folded her arms.  “You already know why I’m here instead of in the hot tub at Abbotsdown Hall. Come on, show me what you’ve been up to! I promise not to breathe