Apple Pies and Poisoned Lies at the Cider Falls Festival Release date 8/25/26
Excerpt: APPLE PIES AND POISONED LIES AT THE CIDER FALLS FESTIVAL
Second week of September
Cider Falls, WA
“Is that you, Macki Smith?” Lisha Felling beelined to the booth in the diner Macki shared with her sisters, Jazz and Ambrosia.
Macki had nobody to blame but herself for being in this predicament. Her sweet tooth, and the temptation of Hunter Phipps’s apple-blueberry crepe with homemade whipped cream, had lured her from the family farmhouse where she’d been serving self-imposed penance.
“You know it is,” Jazz replied in a dry tone as Lisha reached them.
“Hi.” Macki inwardly braced for the confrontation sure to follow.
Macki’s once-upon-a-time best friend wore a pretty, floral sundress that brought out the gold in her hazel eyes. Her light brown hair hung in two long braids over her shoulders, making her look like a teenager instead of a twenty-eight-year-old woman.
Though they were the same age, Macki immediately felt frumpy and wished she’d done more than splash water on her makeup-free face. Her thick hair, escaping its messy bun, tickled her cheek.
Hunter, stationed behind the café’s counter, picked up a pitcher of iced tea and walked toward their table. “Hey, Lisha.”
Lisha blushed and lowered her lashes, giving him a shy smile. “Morning.”
Hunter owned Cosmic Café in quaint downtown Cider Falls, population 1000. The sandy-blond boy Macki had gone to high school with had filled out in all the right places—not that she had any business noticing. After the worst breakup in history, she’d crawled home to her family, wanting to hide away until she was a hundred.
“More tea?” Hunter topped off their glasses.
“Thanks!” Baby sister Jazz, a put-together twenty-two, took a dainty sip. They were having a late breakfast and Macki had prayed she’d squeeze in between the omelet dawdlers and the lunch crowd without bumping into anyone she knew. Best laid plans.
She’d been in Seattle for the last three years and things around Cider Falls had changed a lot. What hadn’t changed? Hunter’s crepes. The man had a gift that had been worth the risk. There was a teensy hint of cinnamon in the fruit filling. Putting her fork down with reluctance, she tilted her head toward Lisha.
“Hi, Lisha!” Ambrosia enthused.
Her sisters, brunette and green-eyed just like Macki, were polar opposites when it came to their personalities. Jazz, a champion horsewoman, was ultra-reserved and managed the stables at the orchard. Ambrosia, twenty-four, was their marketing guru and exuded positive energy like lethal rays of sunshine. Macki supposed she was the middle in temperament, despite being the oldest of the five Smith siblings.
Lisha pulled a chair from a vacant oval dining table and placed it at the edge of the booth before sitting down. “I’m so excited to see you.” She dimpled at Macki. “It’s been forever, and we used to be so close.”
It had been ten years this September, during the annual Cider Falls Festival. Macki remembered exactly why they were no longer friends. The memory of Lisha kissing Macki’s boyfriend because Macki had won the apple pie contest and Lisha had wanted revenge still stung. It was Lisha’s betrayal that had hurt the most.
Hunter’s eyes widened at Lisha joining the sisters uninvited. He’d perceived that Macki wasn’t into catching up and had given them space to converse. No doubt gossip about Macki’s shameful return at the end of May had already made the rounds.
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