By
Sara Bourgeois

When a diner at Bella Vita nearly drops dead during dinner service, nobody believes it was an attempted murder. Kinsley has to go out on a limb to find the answers before the would-be killer strikes again.

At the end of the last book, Thorn is making Kinsley a grilled cheese and then he asks her to marry him. His timing wasn’t the best on this as Kinsley had to run to the bathroom because of her stomach.

When Kinsley returned, she sat on the couch until she felt better and then ate the sandwich, neither of them brought up the subject again and that’s how it stands right now.

Viv then turns the conversation to the missing money that Liberty supposedly left somewhere around Coventry. Kinsley thinks people believe it’s cursed so they are just forgetting about it, or someone found it and hasn’t told anyone.

Viv has to intervene when Hollie a regular customer gets irate with her employee Jack for making her sandwich wrong. After that they broke up their coffee date only to see smoke coming from the apartment over Kinsley’s shop. It seems the shop ghost is escalating and while there’s no fire it was a heck of an illusion to get attention.

Thorn shows up and while he was gentle about it, berated her for taking such a chance with herself and the baby. He also tells her to dress nice for dinner cause he’s taking her out.

They have a nice table at Bella Vita, but the peace was disturbed by a man and woman seated near them. Something about analyzing and fixing their marriage. The couple whose names are Paul and Rebecca continue to argue until their dinner arrives. This is only made worse when Hollie their waitress practically drops his dinner in front of him although she had placed his wife’s dish perfectly. Paul complains the pasta is overcooked and practically has a tug of war with Hollie for the plate. She also calls him Paul, which sets off Rebecca again, and she leaves. Paul stays and Wylie Romano the owner brings his new plate of pasta to him, and he settles in to eat.

It’s then that Thorn does his proposal the right way.

This is a favorite scene.

I looked over and saw Reggie and Viv in a booth. They’d been scooted over close enough to the wall that I hadn’t noticed them before. They pulled out their phones and aimed them at us.

“Way to play it cool, guys,” Thorn groused, but then he turned back to me and smiled.

And then he dropped to one knee. “I should have done this right before,” he said.

That was when I noticed what he’d reached into his pocket for moments ago. It was a small, black velvet box.

“What is going on?” I asked.

“Kinsley Skeenbauer, you are the light and love of my life. You are the sun, moon, and stars in my sky. I hope you don’t mind that I don’t have many more flowery words for you. I just can’t think of too many that are good enough to describe the way I feel about you. I try, but they are inadequate. Nothing in this world compares to you. I’m hoping that you will do me the honor of becoming my wife,” he said and opened the little box. “Will you marry me, Kinsley?”

The ring inside was a blue diamond solitaire. I didn’t know much about diamonds, but I knew blue was one of the rarest colors. It was an unusual and amazing ring. Something he had picked out because he knew I’d love an unconventional ring.

For a moment, I was speechless.

“Kinsley?” Thorn sounded concerned. He probably thought I was going to be sick again or perhaps turn him down. The truth was that I was just overwhelmed.

Slowly, I began to nod my head yes.

“Yes, you’re okay?” he asked, still on his knee with the ring held out hopefully in front of him.

“Yes, I’ll marry you,” I said. And the restaurant erupted into thunderous applause. Viv and Reggie rushed over to the table. Both of them gave me a quick hug and a peck on the cheek.

“We’ll be leaving you guys to it,” Viv said. “Thorn just wanted us to get the proposal on video.”

“Call me,” Reggie said.

Thorn slipped the ring on my finger and pulled me into his arms. “I’m so glad you said yes,” he said before kissing me.

The applause died down, and people quickly went back to their meals again. I bet no one who came to Bella Vita that evening knew they were going to get dinner and two shows.

Thorn and I both sat back down at the table, and I couldn’t stop staring at the ring. I’d never seen a blue diamond in person before. It was like looking into the depths of the ocean on a cloudy day. When I did peel my eyes away from it to look at Thorn, he beamed with happiness and pride.

“It’s a blue diamond,” he confirmed. “It’s not a sapphire.”

“I can tell,” I said. “It’s beautiful, Thorn. It’s amazing. You didn’t have to get something so… expensive?”

“Don’t worry about that,” Thorn said. “And yes, I did have to get something so… rare and unique. It had to be the best for you, and for our baby. I will always provide the very best for you and our baby.”

“I can help with that,” I said.

“Let me at least have the illusion I can take care of you, Kinsley,” Thorn said with a good-natured chuckle.

“You can,” I said. “And you do. I love you for it.”

Thorn didn’t get the chance to respond. All of a sudden, Paul at the next table practically jumped out of his chair. He looked red-faced and angry as he stormed off to the restroom. I figured after the fight with his wife, Thorn’s proposal had annoyed him.

I didn’t pay much attention after his retreat to the restrooms because our food came. I’d ordered linguine with olive oil, garlic, and a heavy sprinkle of parmesan cheese. Thorn had opted for a New York strip steak and a side of spaghetti with pesto. Our waitress brought out a little dish of sundried tomatoes for me to add to my pasta if I wanted them. I didn’t think I did until I tasted one. After that, I dumped them all on my plate.

We were nearly done with our meal when I felt nature’s call. “I’m going to use the lady’s room before we go,” I said.

“Okay, I’ll flag down the waitress and pay the check,” Thorn said as I stood up.

I gave him a smile and then bolted for the restrooms. As I walked into the women’s room, I noticed that the door to the men’s restroom was slightly ajar, but I had to go too bad to stop and think about it. The little peanut must have liked dinner because they were doing the trampoline on my bladder.

Once I was done and washed my hands, I hurried back out of the bathroom. When I did, I ran right into a tall, older gentleman who didn’t appear to have seen me.

“Sorry,” I mumbled even though I was pretty sure he’d run into me.

“Oh, my gosh. I’m so sorry, ma’am. I’ve got to call for help,” he said with a dazed, far-off expression.

“Are you okay, sir?” I asked, hoping that he wasn’t having a heart attack. “Do you need medical help?”

“Not me…”

“Who then? What’s going on? My boy… my fiancé is the sheriff. He’s out there. How can we help?”

“There’s a man in the restroom. He’s dead.”
Bourgeois, Sara. A Taste for Magic (Familiar Kitten Mysteries Book 5). Kindle Locations (342-382). Kindle Edition.

Their night ends with Kinsley saving the Paul’s life and meeting the new owner/reporter of the Coventry Gazette Dorian Black.

Meri is hysterical with his snark when he sees Kinsley’s ring. Not enough to go into the shop with her though. Once in the shop she can’t help but think about Cody Black, the man who died in the apartment and who she believes is the ghost. She goes upstairs to check out the apartment and is interrupted by Dorian Black. Apparently, he’s rented the apartment.

So now she has something to investigate, Cody’s death and what happened to Paul. Reggie will be unable to help because Jeremy is finally coming home, and they are going to spend as much time as possible together before he goes back to work.

She runs into Dorian when she’s leaving the hospital and he entices her to tell him about Paul Fraser’s condition in exchange for him telling her what he knows about his father, Cody Black.

There are plenty of twists and turns as Dorian keeps following her and Paul Fraser dies.

I am loving these books, they are short and satisfying reads, with humor, snark, intrigue and romance.

5 Contented Purrs for Sara!

Sara Bourgeois

Sara Bourgeois is a Midwesterner through and through. She spends her time writing, reading, herding cats, and standing in her driveway during tornado warnings. (You can’t see them from the basement.)