“What was that?”Zac asked.
“I think she said that Becky tried to poison her.”Maxie stole back her tea.“It’s not personal.”
Roxie took another desperate bite of her funnel cake.At last, her eyes rolled back, and she relaxed.“Do you have a lab down at that station house, Sheriff?I want that tested.”
“It’s not poison,” Zac said, chuckling.Although he knew how she felt.“It’s just horrible coffee.”
“Horrible?”Maxie frowned at him.“I thought you liked her coffee.You buy it every day.”
He tugged on a strand of her hair.“Because her shop is next door to yours.”
“What?But…”
“But nothing.I’ve been suffering through one cup of Drano after another just to get close to you.”
Roxie smacked her hand against the table.“Poison, I knew it!”
Maxie’s lips quivered.“Really?You did that?”
“You think I like that swill?”
“Well, I thought that maybe your time in a Chicago precinct had hardened your stomach.”She giggled.“It is pretty atrocious.”
Roxie let out an offended squeak.She pointed at them with the piece of funnel cake in her grip, and powdered sugar puffed in the air.“You both knew it was that bad?Why didn’t you stop me?You let me walk up there and buy it.”
By now, Zac couldn’t help but laugh.He slid his hand under Maxie’s hair and rubbed his thumb behind her ear.“You don’t like it either?”
She tried to act indignant, but she was laughing too.“I thought my taste buds hadn’t adjusted to pricey high-end coffee.”
“There’s nothing wrong with your taste buds, Beauty.”
“He should know.”Roxie stole another sip of tea.It must have gone down better because she didn’t go into another set of convulsions.“After all, he’s examined them all up close and personal-like.”
“Rox,” Cam sighed with exasperation.
“What?It’s the truth.”
“Becky’s too friendly,” Zac tried to explain.“Nobody wants to tell her that her coffee could melt pennies.”
Maxie grinned.“Sounds like a job for the town sheriff to me.”
“What’s so funny?”Lexie asked as she returned from the ladies’ room.Cam stood and pulled out her chair for her.She sat next to Roxie, smiling as she looked from one of them to the next.
“Roxie thought that—”
Before Maxie could finish, Roxie grabbed the coffee and passed it to their sister.“Here, try this, Lex.”
“Mmm, coffee.I’ve usually had two cups by now.”
“Babe,” Cam said, reaching for her.
“Lex—” Maxie began.
“Eee—” Zac finished.
Roxie had beat them all to the draw.Well-mannered Lexie took an appreciative gulp of the hot liquid, but jerked the moment it hit her tongue.She looked as if she’d bit into a lemon, but she was too classy to spit it out.With a tear sneaking from the corner of her eye, she forced it down.“Ohh, that’s just…” She shuddered and stomped a foot against the floor.
Maxie passed along her tea.“Here, this is good, I swear.”
