Death of A High Maintenance Blonde (Jubilant Falls Series Book 5)

Death of A High Maintenance Blonde (Jubilant Falls Series Book 5) Read Online Free PDF Page B

Book: Death of A High Maintenance Blonde (Jubilant Falls Series Book 5) Read Online Free PDF
Author: Debra Gaskill
be neat if it was told from a unique perspective? You know, something different?”
    “Like what?” I tried to sound neutral as my stomach churned.
    “From the viewpoint of one of the mice that I happened to see down in the press room.”
    My reporter’s heads snapped up and their eyes got big, but no one spoke.
    I swallowed. “Earlene, I think—”
    “I knew you’d love it! I’ve got some ideas for photos. Let’s talk about it later this afternoon, OK?” She stood up, smoothed her skirt, and left, not quite closing the door as she exited.
    I waited to speak until I heard her stilettos no longer clicking down the stairs.
    “Close the door,” I said softly. Dennis leaned over and pushed it closed. The questions—and the outrage—came all at once.
    “Is she out of her mind?” Marcus asked. “And then let people think we do all this in a rat-infested building? She’s nuts!”
    “She’s turning us into a joke!” Graham said. “ Again .”
    “People are still laughing about that stupid left-handed edition,” Dennis said.
    Only Charisma was silent; whether she was thinking about what an idiot publisher she had or how far she’d sunk following her accident, I couldn’t tell. I didn’t want to ask.
    “I think the photo should be of Addison screaming at someone on the phone—I mean if we’re going to paint a realistic picture,” Marcus teased, diffusing the frustration. Everyone laughed.
    “You all need to get back to work,” I answered, smiling as I reached for my cigarettes. “I’m going to have a smoke and then see how far my dignity can sink after I meet with her.”
    In half an hour, I was downstairs, knocking on the door of Earlene’s baby-chick yellow office.
    “C’mon in, Addison! Perfect timing!” Earlene’s adopted Texas drawl stretched each vowel to its breaking point. A woman in a blue suit sat in one of the frou-frou yellow chairs in front of my boss’s Queen Anne writing desk, with her back to the door. She didn’t turn around as Earlene waved me into her office. “I want you to meet an old friend of mine from back in high school. She’s come to town for a little visit.”
    The woman stood and turned to face me, extending her hand. The wide, even smile on her face froze as she recognized me.
    After nearly forty years, she hadn’t changed all that much. She was still in great cheerleading shape; I could see the muscles in her long, lean calves. Her pinned-up hair was tinted fashionably golden; her face was smooth and her jewelry tasteful. Her eyes were still hard and feral behind her stylish bifocals.
    As she stood next to Earlene, all I could see were two high maintenance blondes, two women used to getting what they wanted from everyone else around them, regardless of who they stepped on or how badly they botched it.
    “Hello, Eve,” I said. “Welcome back to Jubilant Falls.”

 
     
     
    Chapter 5: Leland
     
    I took a few steps toward Noah’s grave before I saw her. Her presence halted me in my tracks.
    I hadn’t planned to stop—it had been an unspoken agreement in the divorce that even in death, visitation would be limited to one parent at a time. Through the low-hanging branches of a nearby willow and the cold, white, upright granite markers, I could see Bitch Goddess sitting cross-legged in front of Noah, brushing the tears from her eyes.
    Five years after our divorce, she still looked magnificent. Ever thin and perfectly fit, I wondered if she still ran five miles every morning; even in the worst stages of our mutual family illness, she could get up and push through the hangover by pounding through the streets of our suburban Philadelphia neighborhood. It was an act of supreme fortitude—and denial: A drunk couldn’t do this every morning so therefore I’m not a drunk.
    With her long, perfectly manicured fingers, I watched her brush the curly black hair from her face and gaze upward, her lips moving. I understood: I, too, had long, one-sided conversations
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