Last Bite – Amy S Peele (1)

“Hey, Ralph, let’s go for a walk.” As they were leaving the office, he glanced down the hall to see Angie briskly pushing her cart, her shoulders hunched and head down, and his heart sank. OceanofPDF.com Chapter 17 ngie’s heart raced as she pushed her cart down the hall as fast as she could, holding back tears. I am so humiliated that Ralph saw me.

She parked the cart outside the women’s restroom, then took the yellow plastic CLOSED TEMPORARILY FOR CLEANING sign and put it in the doorway. She checked to make sure no one was in there and closed the door. Sobs trapped in her throat, she found the closest stall, locked the door, sat down, and started to cry. “I’m exactly the kind of loser my father and my first husband said I was. I was just fooling myself when I was with Vinnie.” She allowed herself to let it all out, and then a switch clicked in her head.

“No, no. I am not that old Angie! I am not!” she said, fighting the sobs that persisted. She blew her nose, wiped her tears, splashed cold water on her face, and cleaned the bathroom with newfound energy. I’ll show them. Angie was determined to get what was due to her, one way or another. She checked her watch; it was close to quitting time, but she needed to finish her last office. She wheeled Hazel—as she now endearingly called her cart—to the HR department; Bud was gone and the door was locked.

She unlocked the door with her master key and started cleaning the reception area, then moved to the offices behind closed doors. Angie headed straight to Cookie’s office, dusted off the plants, then the perimeter of the desk, and came to a halt when she saw a thick file with Vinnie’s name on it.

Her eyes darting around, her heart racing, she frantically took it to the copy area and made copies of everything. She put them under the paper towels lying atop Hazel and returned the original to Cookie’s desk. Her palms were sweating as she quickly finished cleaning the rest of the areas in HR and took Hazel down to the basement. On the way out, she decided she would hail a cab. It wasn’t in her budget, but she had to get that file home and read what was inside as soon as possible.

Fortunately, Thad and Gina weren’t home when Angie locked herself in her bedroom and started to read Vinnie’s file.

Praise for Last Bite “Peele writes with warmth and sharp comic timing.… In tone and spirit, the novel recalls Fannie Flagg’s Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (1987) with its bittersweet mix of mystery and humor.… A hearty novel layering grief and humor in a flavorful Chicago-style slice.” —Kirkus Reviews “In Last Bite, Peele has created a cast of characters and a fast -moving plot worthy of the Windy City, her beloved hometown.” —Stan Bunger, author of Mornings with Madden “You can almost hear the L rumbling in the distance as the smell of garlic bread wafts from a cozy kitchen window.”

—Jane Ubell-Meyer, founder of Bedside Reading “Last Bite is a delectable page-turner that left me hungry for more.” —Michelle Cox, author of The Fallen Woman’s Daughter “Last Bite delivers the transformative power of hope while proving laughter is indeed good medicine.” —Sara Connell, author of Bringing in Finn OceanofPDF.com OceanofPDF.com Copyright © 2026 Amy S. Peele All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for brief quotations in reviews, educational works, or other uses permitted by copyright law.

Published in 2026 by She Writes Press, an imprint of The Stable Book Group 32 Court Street, Suite 2109 Brooklyn, NY 11201 https://shewritespress.com The Library of Congress Control Number is available upon request. ISBN: 979-8-89636-084-1 eISBN: 979-8-89636-085-8 Interior designer: Katherine Lloyd, The DESK Printed in the United States This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. No part of this publication may be used to train generative artificial intelligence (AI) models.

The publisher and author reserve all rights related to the use of this content in machine learning. All company and product names mentioned in this book may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. They are used for identification purposes only and do not imply endorsement or affiliation. OceanofPDF.com This book is dedicated to the vibrant city of Chicago in all her glory.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: 0d526cced106252e
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 3,681,583 bytes (3.511 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• ISBN: 9798896360841, 9798896360858
• Pages: 294
• Language: English (en)

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 440.94 minutes
• Total Words: 88,189
• Total Characters: 475,891
• Average Words per Page: 299.96
• Average Characters per Page: 1618.68

Most Frequent Words

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