Read Online Courting Disaster by Joanne Pence - Free Book Online

days a week to make the store profitable. All profit made went back into the business or real estate. A second shoestore was bought, and then an apartment building. Who would have expected San Francisco real estate to flourish the way it did, or that Sal was even better at real-life Monopoly than he was at selling shoes?
    Sal was a self-made, hardworking man—with more than a little help from his wife.
    Angie hoped to be a help to Paavo as well, although given his career she couldn’t work beside him the way her parents had. On the other hand, she had helped him solve a murder or two.
    Like Sal, Paavo had grown up without the support of a large, loving family. He considered himself unloved and unlovable except for the elderly Finnish man, Aulis Kokkonen, who raised him. He’d always assumed his mother had abandoned him after drugs or alcohol got the better of her. Not until recently did he learn who his father was or why his mother left. *
    He’d led a fairly wild life until he went into the Army. It straightened him out and taught him a lot about himself and responsibility. The discipline and order he’d enjoyed in the Army made police work attractive. He liked what the force stood for and what it meant to do the job well. Working hard, taking criminology classes at San Francisco State, and with a talent for analysis, he quickly rose to the position of Homicide inspector.
    Angie could readily see the similarities between Sal and Paavo, even if they couldn’t.
    Both men were driven to succeed in their chosen fields.
    Both didn’t suffer fools.
    Both hid their emotions with a gruff exterior over hearts soft as marshmallows.
    And if need be, each would give his life to save hers.
    She’d rarely met men of such strength, courage, and resilience.
    Now, if only they could get along….
    The second problem was Serefina. Her mother had phoned to ask if she thought it would be best to serve basic sushi or if the more exotic types would be better as appetizers.
    Angie nearly had palpitations. She didn’t want raw fish at her engagement party. What was her Italian mother doing spouting names like unagi, ikura, or ama-ebi sushi anyway? Angie liked Japanese food well enough. After a bottle of warm sake she’d even eat chewy but tasteless raw octopus tentacles. But it was hardly engagement party fare—at least, not her engagement party.
    Purple cakes, yellow chicks, and raw fish.
    The party from hell. And now she only had two weeks left to straighten it out!
    After a restless night’s sleep, the situation appeared no less bleak when she awoke. She phoned Connie Rogers to lament, but her dear friend actually had a customer who seemed interested in buying more than a buck-fifty greeting card. She had no time to talk.
    Angie didn’t think things could get any worse when Nona Farraday phoned. To Angie’s amazement, the conversation was actually interesting.
    Soon afterward, Stan knocked on the door.
    â€œIf you’re sitting around moping about your party,” Stan offered, eying her robe and slippers, “I thought you might want to go to lunch.”
    â€œI’d like that,” Angie said. “We can talk about what we’ve both been up to.”
    â€œHow about the Athina?” Stan suggested. “I’ve got a yen for Greek food.”
    â€œDon’t talk to me about yens. ” Angie shuddered. The word for Japanese currency brought her back to sushi, which brought her back to her party, which made her depressed. “You surely do like Greek food all of a sudden. It’s one of Nona’s favorite cuisines, by the way.”
    He stared at her, stunned. “She phoned you?”
    Angie just chuckled.
    Â 
    â€œWelcome to Athina. I’m the owner, Eugene Leer.” The rotund, gray, jowly fellow Angie had noticed during her prior visit greeted them. He’d obviously remembered her and Stan as well. “I’m glad to see you like my