“So why did you get so upset you quit?”

Erin really didn’t want to talk about that. “I’ll fill you in another time. My lunch break is almost over. Enough about me. How are you doing?”

Julie sighed. “I’ve been doing okay until today. I felt a little off all morning, and now my stomach is rolling. I thought I was hungry and ate some soup, but that just made it worse.”

“Uh-oh. Is there a virus going around?”

“Not that I know of. But I’m exposed to dozens of people a day.”

Erin frowned. “Maybe you should close up early and go home. Drink fluids, rest, take some aspirin. Now that you mention it, you don’t sound like your usual self.”

“And I’m going downhill by the moment. Maybe I will go home. It isn’t that busy today.”

“Do it. Text me so I don’t worry. If you’re sicker, I can come into town tonight. Make you some soup or go shopping for things you think sound appealing. I always crave different stuff when I’m feeling icky.”

After Erin ended the call with Julie, she stood, brushed the dirt off her jeans, and turned to go back in the paddock with the horse. She found Wyatt standing directly in her path. He smiled and swept off his Stetson to blot sweat from his brow with his shirtsleeve.

“Didn’t mean to startle you. Just thought I’d see how the morning went.”

“At first, we were back to square one, but she remembered the apples and carrots from yesterday. It wasn’t long before she wanted a treat worse than she wanted to keep me from touching her.” Erin gave him a questioning look. “How many apples and carrots can she safely have?”

He frowned thoughtfully. “I wouldn’t worry too much about that. She’s a big girl. You cut everything up in chunks. Right? She could probably eat all you have with you and not get sick. If you’re worried about it, though, you could go with some grain as well. Change it up each time so she doesn’t get too much of the same thing. She might like the variety.”

Before Erin could say anything more, he walked away.

* * *

Blackie stood in the mall area of the Mystic Creek Menagerie and stared in bewilderment at the CLOSED sign on the front door of the Morning Grind. In his recollection, Julie had never closed her coffee shop prior to five o’clock without first posting a warning to her customers. It worried him that she had left today without giving her patrons a heads-up. He always stopped in during his afternoon walk around three, when she had very few customers trailing in. Their visits had become something he looked forward to.

Blackie closed his own shop a couple of times a day. He just slapped a note on the door saying when he’d be back. But he owned the only pawnshop in town. He didn’t need to worry about competition or losing business. When people wanted to hock something, they needed money fast, and he knew they would return to strike a bargain with him later. Julie didn’t have that luxury. She was up against every eatery on Main. Why had she left unexpectedly in the middle of the day? Something must have happened.