Battered to Death (Daphne Martin Cake Mysteries) Read Online Free PDF

Kaitlyn’s appearance, Ben reached across the table and took both my hands. “You know how special you are to me, don’t you?” he asked.
We hadn’t yet got to the L -word stage of our relationship . . . not this time, anyway. When we were dating in high school, we threw the L word around like it was confetti. And we made promises we’d been unable to keep. This time we were much more mature . . . and cautious. We’d both been hurt in the past, and neither of us wanted to go through that again.
    The seriousness of Ben’s expression made my heart flutter. He was about to make a major revelation. Either he was going to dump me . . . or he was going to tell me he loved me. I leaned forward, desperately hoping for the latter.
    “Hi there, I’m Kaitlyn, and I’ll be taking care of you this evening. What can I get you to drink?”
    I looked at the perky, ponytailed waitress and thought, You can get me a big old glass of Give Us a Minute, Kaitlyn. “I’d like a sweet tea,” I said.
    “And for you, sir?”
    “I’ll have the same,” Ben said.
    Kaitlyn said she’d be right back with our drinks. Since Ben had only let go of one of my hands when Kaitlyn had approached, I hoped the moment had not been lost.
    “You were about to tell me something,” I prompted.
    “Let’s order first.” He let go of my other hand and picked up his menu. “That way, maybe we’ll have a better chance of not being interrupted midway through our conversation.”
It was definitely something big that he wanted to talk with me about . . . relationship-changing if not life-changing.
    When Kaitlyn returned with our drinks and a basket of warm breadsticks and asked if we were ready to order, I jumped right in with my request for chicken Parmesan. Ben mulled over the menu for what seemed like two days and then said he too would like the chicken Parmesan.
    This time, I took Ben’s hands. “Alone at last. Now tell me what’s on your mind.”
    He took a deep breath. “I got a call today from somebody I went to college with. Nickie Zane . . . she’s, um . . . she’s heading up a new, fairly large business magazine called All Up in Your Business .” He extracted one of his hands and took a drink of his tea. “She’s offered me a lucrative position with the magazine.”
    “That’s great . . . isn’t it? Are you considering taking the job?”
    “I am,” he said. “It would be more money and less responsibility than what I have at the Chronicle . . . . The only drawback is that I’d have to move to Kentucky.”
    “Oh.” I guessed it was the dump speech instead of the love speech. My heart sank into the pit of my stomach.
    “That’s it?” he asked, studying my face. “Oh?”
    “What am I supposed to say?” In my mind, I followed up with I don’t want you to leave Brea Ridge and move to Kentucky. I thought we were building something wonderful here . . . together. . . .
“I don’t know,” Ben said. “I thought you’d have something a bit more substantive to say than ‘oh.’ ”
    “Um . . . congratulations?” I pressed my lips together. “Ben, I honestly don’t know what to say. I don’t want you to leave Brea Ridge, but you have to do what’s best for you. If this job is it, then I wish you all the best.”
    He released my other hand. “Okay. Thanks.”
    Wonderful. I’d said the wrong thing, and he was annoyed with me. I tried to make amends by further talking about the job. “Isn’t that awfully far away from your parents?”
    “Not really. Now that they’re living in the condo in Tennessee, they don’t need me as much as they once did.” He leveled his gaze into my eyes. “I guess I don’t really have anything holding me here in Brea Ridge. Do I?”
    “That’s not fair,” I said. “What kind of person would I be if I tried to convince you to stay? You’d end up resenting me. Maybe not today . . . maybe not tomorrow . . . but soon, and for the rest of your life.” It dawned on me that I was