Deadly Décor (A Caprice De Luca Mystery) Read Free Page B

Camaro into her driveway, and the garage door slid up with creaks and groans. The paint had started to peel again. She really had to get a new one, or paint it once more before winter set in. From the garage, she stepped up onto a covered back porch and let herself in her back door. She had barely had time to set her purse on the counter and turn around when she heard a thud. Her cat had jumped from a perch on the turquoise-carpeted, floor-to-ceiling cat tree in the living room. Seconds later, Sophia, a strikingly colored calico with long hair and a huge fluffy tail, strolled through the dining room into Caprice’s retro-style kitchen. The appliances, all in a warm buttercup color, harkened back to the fifties, as did the antique maple table and the chairs with yellow-braided seat pads.
    After a long, soulful meow, Sophia hopped up onto one of those pads and stared up at Caprice, her golden eyes accusing her mistress of being gone too long.
    “I’m not late,” Caprice protested, crossing to Sophia and stroking the white ruff around her neck.
    Sophia lifted her chin for an underside rub.
    Caprice laughed. “You’re not spoiled. Not much.”
    Sophia had been a stray when Caprice found her shortly after she’d moved in. She’d considered the cat a welcome-to-the-neighborhood present, and they’d been best buddies ever since. Caprice had named her for her Nana’s favorite actress, Sophia Loren. “I know you miss Dylan, but he’s happy with Roz.”
    For a few weeks in May, Caprice had also taken in two kittens, but her brother Vince’s law partner had found them a home. She hadn’t seen Grant for a few weeks. She quickly reminded herself there was no reason to see Grant. Really.
    After dishing out some of Sophia’s favorite canned cat food, she bent down to place it on the mat on the floor. She was straightening up when the cell phone in her purse began playing the Beatles “A Hard Day’s Night.” She opened the black-patent-leather vintage handbag and fished out her phone. She smiled when she glimpsed the caller ID. It was Seth.
    “Home yet?” he asked.
    His voice, which held just a hint of his Virginia roots, fired up hopes and dreams she’d thought she’d put permanently on hold after her last serious relationship.
    “Just got in.”
    “I know this is last minute,” he said, “but our coffee date seems like years ago.”
    “It was Monday,” she teased.
    “Yeah, seems like years ago,” he repeated. “I’m almost finished here. The doc for the evening shift arrived, so how about ice cream at Cherry on the Top?”
    “Ice cream for supper. Now that’s an idea.”
    “I’ll buy you a banana split with plenty of walnuts—protein, fruit, and dairy. What more could you ask for?”
    She could ask for a lot more, but maybe she was afraid to. In the past, she’d been hurt by wearing her heart on her sleeve. Her high school sweetheart had broken off their relationship through e-mail. He’d had bigger ambitions than what Kismet offered. And then there had been Travis and his adorable daughter. After Caprice had fallen in love with them both, Travis had reunited with his ex-wife. She thought about the banana split Seth had suggested but, more important, the time with him. “Could be just what the doctor ordered.”
    “Rough day?”
    “I’m sure not any rougher than yours.”
    “Meet you there in fifteen minutes?”
    “Fifteen it is.”
    In fifteen minutes, she’d stare again into Seth’s blue eyes and wonder if a thirty-two-year-old’s dreams could actually come true.

    “You’re smiling,” Seth said on Sunday as he wound his arm around Caprice’s waist and led her up the porch steps to her parents’ home.
    Whenever Caprice walked into her childhood home, memories came rushing back. She had so many good reminiscences of delicious smells, of chasing Bella up the stairs, sneaking out onto her parents’ balcony with Nikki, snitching Vince’s favorite baseball so he had to track her down and