It’s all about the food…

By Shauna Marie Clodagh from FATALITY BY FIRELIGHT by Lynn Cahoon. 

Nice to meet all of you. I’m the one that makes Warm Springs Writer’s Retreat work like a fine-tuned clock. I’m also Cat’s best friend.

We met in Los Angeles when she started visiting the gay bar where I bar-tended. No, I’m not outing the girl. She’s as straight as an arrow and is dating that hunk of a guy, Seth Howard. He’s a sweetheart and became a fast part of the Warm Springs team.

I enjoyed working there because I didn’t have to worry about being hit on. Cat came into the place because she liked the location. The girl’s a little naïve. But we had a lot of time to talk and when she got the word that her ex-husband had died and left her this amazing Victorian, I was ready for a change.

So here we are in Aspen Hills, Colorado. The town lives and dies around the college. Covington is a small private school full of privileged brats if you ask me. Although I didn’t go to college, so maybe it’s different when you get to extend your childhood for four more years and still drink at the local bar. I went right to work after graduation at a little restaurant in Ohio. That’s where I’m from. Then I followed a loser out to California. I stuck and the loser left.  I liked the weather out there a lot more than Ohio, so I stayed on. Well, until last year.

Colorado’s nice, but this is my first winter. The good thing is we can ski right outside of town. The bad news is I hate driving on the roads when it ices up so I tend to stay at home when the weather takes a turn. And when I’m home, I bake. I’m always trying out new recipe to use during the retreats. Some of the treats I share with our neighbor, Mrs. Rice. She’s always looking for a new piece of gossip to share or hear.

I don’t think she really knows what to think about Cat, Seth and me. But I feed her, so she’s generous with the town gossip. Of course, she’s not the only source I have. Cat’s more of an introvert. She likes her people in small groups. I love the big party. And I talk to everyone. The library, the grocery store, I even know people at the hardware store. Seriously, Aspen Hills is a very welcoming town.

Come on by one morning for coffee and treats. I don’t know what I’ll have baking in the oven, but I can promise it will be yummy!