Deadly Ever After by Eva Gates (smart books to read TXT) 📕

gotten around to sending us the map book I requested. They’re not being entirely helpful.”

“Imagine that,” I said. We’d had contact with the professors of North Carolina history at Blacklock College before. It had never gone well.

Charlene laughed. “Miserable lot, they are.” She gave James a warm smile, all dancing eyes, fluttering lashes, and dimples.

He grinned back at her. It was as though the rest of us had suddenly vanished into thin air. Oh dear, I thought.

Daisy hadn’t seemed to notice the interaction between James and Charlene. She spoke to Evangeline. “Nice meeting you.”

James and Daisy were both in their midthirties. He was tall and slim, with a large nose that didn’t do anything to spoil his good looks, skin indicating Greek or Italian forebears, and thick dark hair brushing his shoulders. She wasn’t much taller than me, softly rounded with sparkling blue eyes, chubby pink cheeks, and silky straight hair the color of the sand at Coquina Beach. Colored tattoos of intertwined branches, leaves, and flowers ran up her right arm to disappear into the sleeve of her T-shirt, and a silver ring pierced her right nostril. A thick gold wedding band carved with an intricate pattern of oak leaves surrounded the ring finger of her left hand.

Theodore gave Daisy a small bow. “I’ll keep an eye out for anything that might help you in your work coming onto the market.”

“We’d appreciate that,” she said. Her smile at him was nothing more than casually friendly.

“That’s a striking ring you’re wearing,” he said. “Most unusual.”

“Daisy,” James said, “doesn’t go for the usual.”

She gave him a fond smile. “And you love me for it.”

James and Charlene headed for the stairs. “Hey,” he said, “I forgot to mention. One of my mates back in the UK sent me a link to this hot new artist everyone’s saying is the next big thing.”

“I can’t wait to hear it,” Charlene said. “Why don’t you come up to my office before starting work and help me download it?”

The corners of Daisy’s mouth twisted in a grimace. “James and that awful stuff he calls music. Makes the man a nightmare to live and work with. I’m so glad they invented earphones.” She ran after them. “Don’t you dare play that racket around me, James Dalrymple.”

“I’m sure you’ll love it, Daisy,” Charlene called over her shoulder, “if it’s as good as James thinks.”

“That,” Daisy said, “is a matter of taste. I have good taste. James has none.”

Charlene laughed and led the way up the spiral iron stairs. Charlene loved rap and hip-hop music with a passion, and she firmly believed that if everyone else was only exposed to it enough, they’d also come to love it.

So far, that wasn’t happening to me.

“Lucy,” Theodore said, “you called me on Saturday to say my copy of the book club book is in?”

“It’s on the holds shelf.”

“I’m looking forward to diving in,” he said. “I haven’t read Sir Arthur for a long time. Are you a Holmes aficionado, Mrs. Lewiston?”

Evangeline started. “What? I mean, no. Sherlock Holmes? Not at all. Dreadfully pedestrian. All those ridiculous television shows. I’ll see you at dinner this evening, Lucy. I’ve made a reservation for seven o’clock at your cousin-in-law’s restaurant because your mother mentioned how marvelous the food was at your cousin’s wedding.” She practically ran out of the library, her heels tapping on the tiled floor.

“That was odd,” Theodore said.

“She is odd,” I said. Yes, Evangeline could be “odd,” but she was never rude. Seeing James had shaken her, but I didn’t bother to wonder why. He clearly didn’t know her. Maybe he reminded her of something or someone in her past. Did Evangeline have a secret past?

I chuckled to myself and answered the ringing desk phone.

Chapter Three

I told Connor I’d meet him at the restaurant at the assigned time of seven o’clock, and as soon as the library closed for the day, I ran upstairs to change into something suitable to wear for dinner with the family, and then I drove to Uncle Amos and Aunt Ellen’s house. Mom and Dad were staying there, which showed how things were changing between my mother and her sister. In the past Mom had always stayed at a hotel, saying she didn’t want to “inconvenience” her sister. Aunt Ellen had been more than happy not to have her, not wanting to wait on Mom hand and foot.

“Your father,” Mom said, giving Dad a poisonous glare, “told Rich about the engagement party.”

“I didn’t know it was a secret, Suzanne!” he protested.

“Not a secret, but you should have known he’d tell Evangeline.”

“What does it matter? I thought you and Evangeline were friends.”

“We have never been friends, Millar. We are wives of business partners. There is a considerable difference.”

My dad threw me a panicked look.

“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “I’m not going to dump Connor and run back to Boston with Ricky. Having him here is mildly embarrassing, that’s all.”

“I’m sure all they’re here for is to wish Lucy well,” Dad said. “After all, Evangeline’s known Lucy since she was a baby.”

“You can be so naïve,” Mom said. “It’s a good thing you never became a trial lawyer. You’d believe everything the witnesses told you.”

Dad wisely said nothing.

“Mom’s right,” I said. “Evangeline still wants me to marry Ricky. Ricky came right out and admitted it.”

“He did?” Mom said.

“Yes, he did. I have to ask: are you on my side in this, Mom?”

“Side in what?” Dad asked.

Mom ignored him. “I hope there aren’t going to be any sides, dear. I admit, I was disappointed when you and Ricky broke off your engagement—”

“We were never actually engaged. I ran out of the restaurant before he finished the proposal.”

“Creating quite the scene, which my friends dined out on for months after, to my intense embarrassment.” She patted her hair. “However, that’s in the past. I will admit, now and publicly, that I was wrong. You’re clearly so delightfully happy here in Nags Head, and Connor is head over heels in