Cougar Christmas Catastrophe

Chapter 1

Florence Fitzgerald was busy making Christmas-decorated scones and pastries in the kitchen of her Fitz’s Bakery and Coffee Shop while her employee, Ava Kensington, was making chicken soup on this wintry day in Yuma Town, Colorado. Florence had expanded her menu at her patrons' request.

“You’re going to get an odd appeal this morning.” Ava added carrots to the soup.

“Oh?” Florence wondered what that was all about, since Ava sometimes had visions of things to come. She started a fresh pot of coffee.

“Yeah. I just had a premonition that when it’s time to open up the shop, you’ll have an unexpected visitor.”

“Who requests something of me?” Otherwise, it could be a customer.

“A young woman dressed in a knit hat, coat, and boots. I don’t know what she asks about.”

Florence checked the kitchen clock. “Well, it’s that time.” She knew Ava’s premonitions would come true, just like those of Nina, her twin sister.

The shop was filled with Christmas decorations—a Christmas tree in the window, garlands dripping with candy canes hung from shelves, cans of coffee and tea topped with red or green bows, and twinkling, colorful lights filling the windows, welcoming everyone in for treats, soups, and sandwiches. Florence loved this time of year.

The sweetness of peppermint and marshmallow, mixed with the pleasant aroma of coffee, hot chocolate, and tea, brown sugar, maple syrup, and cinnamon, drifted from behind the counter, mixing with the citrusy scent of dried orange slices strung as ornaments.

Every time she entered the shop, she was overwhelmed, in a good way, by the delightful aroma of Christmas.

Florence loved the Christmas holidays and decorated to the max. The windows glimmered with rows of tiny colored bulbs, each reflecting in the glass jars lining the shelves. The wooden door framing the glass was trimmed in lights, showcasing the entryway.

She went to the door. Snow was falling, making it look magical outside. She could imagine Santa’s reindeer standing on the sidewalk, peering into her shop through the big windows.

As soon as she unlocked the door and flipped the Closed sign to Open, a young woman walked up to it, dressed like Ava had said she would be. Someone Florence didn’t know.

“Welcome,” Florence said as she opened the door for her. “You can have a seat anywhere.”

The woman was a cougar also, and she stammered, “You’re a cougar…shifter.”

“Yep. Ava, my assistant, is also.” Florence motioned to the kitchen. “Yuma Town is cougar run.”

“Oh, wow, how neat. I’m…I’m looking to get a job here. I’ve worked in cafés before.” She pulled a resume out of her bag and handed it to Florence.

Florence closed the door to keep the cold wind out.

She read over the resume. Lacy Everest. Twenty-three.

She’d completed Culinary School and a Baking and Pastry School.

She had worked at two different cafés, one in Orlando, Florida, and the other, a more recent one, in New Orleans, which made Florence wonder why she kept moving every few months.

Just then, three of the ranch hands working for rancher Hal Havertson, also a local part-time deputy sheriff, walked into the shop for coffee and pastries to go.

They were buying for everyone out at the horse ranch, their weekly stopover when they came in for groceries and assorted other supplies for the bunkhouse.

“Welcome, boys,” Florence said. “We’ll have your order right up. Lacy, if you want to come with me, I’ll get you started. You can hang your coat up over there on the coat rack.”

“Thanks so much. You won’t regret it.”

Florence smiled. She would give her a chance and see how it worked out.

But if Lacy’s past history of employment was anything like her current, Florence suspected she wouldn’t last long.

Then she escorted Lacy toward the kitchen, while the guys smiled at her and tipped their cowboy hats in greeting, clearly interested in the young woman.

Florence was amused and thought they might get even more business from Hal’s ranch hands now!

Lacy was a whirlwind of activity as she helped Ava and Florence package the order for the guys.

Florence introduced Ava to Lacy. When Florence and Lacy carried the large order out to the ranch hands, Rory began introducing all of them to Lacy, each of the guys falling all over each other to shake her hand, smiling brightly.

“I’m Rory Baker,” Rory said. “And this is Wyatt Taylor and Blaze Walker.”

“I’m Lacy.” She didn’t offer a last name, but she appeared to be instantly attracted to Rory. Something about him seemed to draw her in, making her want to keep eye contact and challenge him.

When the guys didn’t leave the shop with their fulfilled order, Lacy’s cheeks reddened.

Florence said to her, “Why don’t you help Ava with some of the baking?”

“Sure.” Lacy looked relieved and hurried back into the kitchen.

The guys finally left, shaking their heads at each other, all of them interested in the new single cougar in town, if she were even single.

Ava was married to Chet Kensington, a Cougar Special Forces special agent who dealt with people either targeting cougars or cougar shifters, so the ranch hands had no chance with her.

“Why did you leave your other jobs?” Florence asked Lacy as she began making a peppermint-decorated cheesecake.

Lacy was making croissants and didn’t say anything for a while.

Ava was finishing up an apple pie and glanced at Lacy.

“I was in an abusive relationship. I thought I had gotten away from him in Orlando, until he showed up at the café and began harassing me again. I moved to New Orleans in the middle of the night. When I finally arrived there, I got a job and thought I was safe. Then, a few weeks later, here comes Timothy. I left the job the same way I did in Orlando, slipping away from the apartment I was renting in the middle of the night. I was on my way to Denver when I saw this quaint town and your adorable coffee shop. I thought maybe a smaller town that wasn’t close to any bigger city might be the way to go. ”

“Well, if we all get along, and you want to stay here, we’ll make sure he doesn’t harass you,” Florence said.

“Not only will all the cougars stand up for you in Yuma Town, but we have a good-sized sheriff’s department and the CSF, Cougar Special Forces, special agents who live in the area and whose mission is to safeguard both cougar shifters and cougars.

Ava’s husband, Chet, is a CSF agent even. Is your ex-boyfriend a cougar?”

“Yeah. Timothy Wrangler is. He’s a private investigator, which is how I suspect he keeps finding me. I’ve changed phones, not given my new address to anyone, but he always locates me.”

Having a hunch it wasn’t all luck, Florence called Sheriff Dan Steinacker. “I have a new employee, who just came to town, and she has a stalker ex-boyfriend. Timothy Wrangler is a private investigator. He keeps tracking her down. Can you see if she has a tracker on her car or her personal items?”

“Yeah, sure. We’ll sweep all her things and see if she does.”

“Okay, her name is Lacy Everest, and she’s at my shop right now if you would like to talk to her.”

“We’ll be right over,” Dan said, and then they ended the call.

“The sheriff is on his way to see if you have any tracking devices on your property.”

“Oh, good, I never thought of that.” Lacy sounded relieved.

“Do you have any family?”

“My parents were killed in a home invasion when I was three. My grandparents raised me, but my grandmother was shot by hunters while running with my grandfather as cougars.”

“Does he know where you are?” As a retired FBI agent, Florence was used to asking lots of questions and needed to know all she could about Lacy if she was going to continue working for her and to solve the situation with Lacy’s stalker.

“Uh, no. My grandfather and I are estranged.”

“Oh?” Now Florence’s curiosity piqued.

“Long story.” Lacy didn’t say anything else, and Florence, who was dying to know the truth, dropped it for now.

But she was an excellent investigator, and she would investigate it on her own if Lacy didn’t tell her about it.

The door opened, and Dan, Deputy Sheriff Ricky Jones, his part-time deputy, Chase Buchanan, and Ava’s husband, Chet, walked into the shop.

Florence immediately introduced Lacy to Dan and the others. Then they started sweeping her clothes and purse for trackers, found none, and went outside with her to check over her car.

Florence worried that if they did find any tracking devices, Lacy’s ex-boyfriend might already know she was here. Florence needed to learn where she was staying too, probably at one of the motels in the area for now.

She was thinking of offering Lacy a guest room in her three-bedroom home. She could stay there until she found a place. And if her ex-boyfriend came sniffing around, Florence could protect her.

“Wow,” Ava said to Florence, while Lacy was outside with the officers. “That’s awful about her stalker. Do you think it’s true?”

“Yeah. I don’t think she wanted to tell me what was going on.”

“Well, this is a great place for her. Everyone will watch out for her.”

Then guys and Lacy returned to the shop. “We’re going to the motel where Lacy is staying and checking the rest of her clothes for bugs. She had a tracker on her car. We’ll take care of it. But he might already know where she is now,” Dan said.

“Once you check the rest of her property to make sure she doesn’t have anything else he’s tracking, she can stay with me at my house, if she wants,” Florence offered. “He could know she was staying at the motel.”

“Or she could stay at one of our cabins. They’re closed for the winter, but since Shannon and I live right next door, I could protect her there, and it’s farther from town, so he might not make the connection,” Chase said.

“I’m a retired FBI agent,” Florence said to Lacy. “So I’m qualified to protect you.”