To Have and to Kill Read Free Page B

old room indicated that they wanted to make her feel excited about coming home—and that they expected her to stay a long time. While Piper had repeatedly told them this was a short-term move, her parents had never been crazy about their only daughter residing in Manhattan. Since Piper had been jilted, they had been truly worried about her living alone in the Big City at such a vulnerable time in her life.
    She knew that her parents just wanted to take care of her. While Piper loved them for that, she didn’t need to be smothered. Piper had made them promise that they would chill out a bit and treat her like an adult. As long as they didn’t ask her too many personal questions and didn’t start tracking her comings and goings, this could work out.
    But she knew her parents. It would be next to impossible for them to keep those promises.
    I’m crazy to be doing this, aren’t I? Of course I am. But the die has been cast. I’ve given up my lease. It won’t be for long, it won’t be for long. It’s a vacation, really. A chance to relax and regroup. That’s all it is. It can’t be for long.
    Piper swiped the bread in the little dish of olive oil and popped it in her mouth as she listened to the next message.
    “Hi, Pipe, it’s Jack. Hope the audition went well. Don’t forget, dinner at my place tonight. I still refuse to believe it’s your farewell. See you about seven.”
    Piper had been trying not to dwell on all of the aspects of Manhattan life she would miss, but the thought of not having regular dinners with Jack Lombardi made her ache. They had become close friends and confidantes in the two years since they met at a karate class. Over many pasta dinners and countless bottles of wine, Jack had listened to Piper’s ramblings about life as an actor and her intense desire to find true and lasting love. Jack thought every guy who had treated Piper badly was a total loser and he had offered, more than once, to teach them a lesson. Piper was never quite sure if Jack actually meant it or not. He didn’t say much about his work with the FBI, but when he sheepishly shared details of the way he himself had sometimes treated some of the women he dated, Piper was glad that her relationship with Jack was a platonic one. She repeatedly told herself that Jack Lombardi was a friend, not a lover.
    The last message was from her agent, Gabe Leonard.
    “Listen, baby, I can get you in at the last minute to audition this afternoon for a cat food commercial. It’s local. The cat is the star and there are no lines for you, but I wanted to let you know about it. Call me if I should let them know you’re coming. Call me anyway. I want to hear how the audition went this morning.”
    You’ve got to be kidding me. Piper always felt extremely guilty on the rare occasions she turned down an audition. But, really, she’d been having a particularly rough couple of weeks, so the thought of rushing through a lunch that she’d been so looking forward to, to fawn over some lame brand of cat food, made her want to regurgitate her bread.
    She was allergic to cats, too.
    Piper used the last reason when she texted her answer to Gabe. She’d call him later. She was in no rush to discuss the morning’s audition. Piper was about to update her Facebook status when Glenna made her entrance.
    While not much more than five feet tall, Glenna had the presence of a supermodel—and the world was her runway. Smiling brightly, her head held high, Glenna wore her gorgeous fur coat with confidence, ignoring political correctness. Some of the diners recognized her, some did not, but all of them watched her as she strode to the table. Piper was mesmerized too, at first, not even noticing the man following behind Glenna.
    Piper stood up and the two women embraced in a flurry of “hello”s and “can you believe how long it’s been”s. Then, Glenna reached out, took the man’s arm, and steered him forward.
    “Piper, I want you to meet Casey