Read Online Sleeping With the Entity by Cat Devon - Free Book Online

unhappy customer?” Daniella asked.
    “It depends on what made them unhappy, but I’d try to help them in any way I could. Maybe they are just having a bad day—but that doesn’t mean that I can just dismiss their complaint. I’d do whatever I could to make them chill out.”
    Daniella was impressed. The only other applicant had answered by saying “What do you expect me to do about it?” in a defensively crabby way.
    “We close early when we run out of cupcakes for the day,” Daniella said. “We bake them fresh every day.”
    “By ‘we’ you mean you and who else? Do you need help in the kitchen?”
    “Sometimes.”
    “I can do that,” Xandra said. “I’ve done it before. Just consider me to be one of the Keebler Elves, only better.”
    When something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Suz told Daniella that all the time.
    But it wasn’t as if tons of people were lining up at her door for the minimum-wage job. Daniella wasn’t sure why not. Times were tough, and people needed work. She wondered if Nick was somehow behind the lack of applicants.
    “I’m also great at using social networking tools to bring in business,” Xandra said.
    That did it. Daniella trusted her gut and hired her. “Providing your references check out.”
    “They will.”
    Daniella held out her hand and one of the custom-designed navy-blue T-shirts with the hot-pink shop logo. “Welcome to Heavenly Cupcakes.”
    “It’s gonna be sick,” Xandra said with a grin.
    “ Sick isn’t really a term you want to use in the culinary arts,” Daniella said.
    “Right. I know that. Sorry. I’m just really stoked.”
    Daniella grinned back at her. “Me too. I think we’re going to get along just fine.”

 
    Chapter Six
    Daniella loved Shirley, her pink Vespa, for many reasons. First was the freedom she provided. Parking was never an issue, which in a big city like Chicago was a huge plus. Second was the sheer exhilaration of riding the scooter, zipping from one place to another. Third was the incredible gas mileage, especially given the price of gasoline these days.
    Yes, she loved Shirley, which was why she took special care of her when not using the scooter. She didn’t leave her parked at the curb overnight. Instead she carefully sheltered her in the funeral home’s large garage. Sure, the perky pink Vespa did look out of place next to the solemn black hearse. After all, they did represent opposing ends of the vehicle spectrum. The Vespa was full of life and the hearse … well, it wasn’t.
    The 2010 Cadillac Medalist, with its shiny yet somber black exterior and blue interior, was her brother Gordon’s pride and joy. He’d handpicked the hearse from the Internet, bragging about the great deal he’d gotten on it. The last time her brother had bragged about a hearse was back in high school when he’d taken their old discontinued hearse and had it custom-painted with red flames on an orange background. He’d been a big hit with his buddies, since Gordon had transformed the back of the vehicle into a plush bed for makeout sessions.
    Their father had not been equally enthusiastic about the old hearse’s transformation, saying it looked like Hell on Wheels.
    Now that their dad was almost sixty, he’d shifted a lot more responsibility onto Gordon’s shoulders. The cruise their dad was currently taking had been a surprise he’d sprung on them at the last minute.
    “My friend Franny was going to go with someone else,” her dad had told Daniella, “but they canceled so she suggested I go instead. Franny and I knew each other in college but we lost touch after that. We reconnected on Facebook about a year ago and we’ve met a few times since then.”
    She wondered if Franny was his girlfriend. Since Daniella’s mother’s death thirteen years ago, her dad had been 110 percent focused on the business. Independent funeral homes like theirs were finding it harder and harder to stay afloat. The death care industry was