Page 51 of Honeycombs & Homecomings

“Allie!” She jumped out of the booth, and moved away, hoping the Warners hadn’t heard her slip-up. “Where am I? Where are you?”

“Uh,” Allie hedged. “Well . . . it’s a long story, how much time do you have?”

After days of stress, Jo lost it. “Allie, I’ve just spent the last three days pretending to be you so that the investors that your lameo fiancé got for us would agree to sign the contract. My patience is shot. If you don’t tell me where you are, I swear, I’m going to beat the tar out of you.”

She glanced over at the Warners.

Cynthia pointed to her watch.

“Okay, okay.” Allie let out a deep breath. “Tony took out a loan from a loan shark.”

Jo turned from the Warners and slapped a hand to her forehead. “What?!”

“I know, right? Ugh,” Allie said. “That was why he was late the night I was helping Mirabelle. That was also why he had that bruise. He’s been runnin’ from them. Anyhoo, they came and picked me up the other night, hoping they might get Tony to come forward with their money—”

Jo’s eyes bugged. “Are you tellin’ me you’ve been kidnapped?” She practically yelled it, drawing attention from the tables closest to her.

“No!” Allie blurted. “We don’t like that word. More like taken on a forced vacation.”

“Do you have Stockholm syndrome?” Jo put her hand on her hip.

“Absolutely not,” Allie said. “Only it’s not their fault. Tony borrowed a lot of money from them and now he’s gone run off. They’ve been real sweet to me. Oh, oh! And they love our royal jelly. I had some in my purse when they grabbed me; we did masks this morning. Henry wants to invest.”

“Who’s Henry?” What on the lord’s green earth was going on here?

“Oh, he’s—”

Jo moved to a server station and stepped back. “No, never mind, where are you?”

“Atlantic City.”

“Atlantic city?!”

“Heavens to Betsy, Jo, you’re hysterical,” Allie said. “What’s been goin’ on?”

What was going on? Her sister’s fiancé had broken into their store, stolen money, taken a loan out with a loan shark, got her sister kidnapped, and now her sister had Stockholm syndrome. That was what was wrong.

A tap on her shoulder made her lurch around.

Cynthia had her hands on her hips. “Sorry to be a pain, Allie, but Ryan and I are planning on going to that Halloween party at the festival tonight, but the sign out front says you can only get in if you have a costume. So, if you could just sign the contract, so we can be on our way, that’d be great.” She handed Jo a pen.

“Right, sure thing.” Jo marched over and signed the last page. “There you go.”

A Cheshire grin spread over Cynthia’s face. Ryan leaned back in his seat, holding back a smug smile of his own. It caught her off guard, but she couldn’t deal with that right now. Someone had kidnapped her sister.

“Thank you,” Cynthia said, and pushed the papers over to Ethan.

Jo didn’t wait for him to stamp it, but hurried out of the café. “Allie, you still there?”

“Of course I’m here,” Allie said. “We’re down in the day spa getting pedicures. You know, they were so hesitant to get them, but you should see them now—these big old loan shark tough guys getting foot massages.”

Jo pinched the bridge of her nose where a headache was forming. “Okay, Allie, you need to get away from them, ask someone for help.”

“No, it’s fine, really, they’re bringing me back tonight,” Allie said. “I have a plan. It’s all going to work out, these poor guys that Tony took advantage of will get their money back, and you and I will be free of him for good.”

“Wait, free of Tony how?” Just how gone was she? She couldn’t be talking about having Tony put six feet under, could she? Was she going to need counseling to get over this when she got back? How long did Stockholm syndrome last for?

“Tony has it coming. And he and I are so through. When I see him tonight, I’m going to knock him into the next century.” Next time she spoke, it sounded like she’d pulled her phone back. “Am I right, boys, or am I right?”

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