One Sweet Taste Read Online Free PDF Page B

into
Marnie around town, and the older woman was so engaging that Linzee had found
herself volunteering to help at the animal shelter Marnie owned.
    “Linzee!”
Marnie came over and wrapped her in a hug. “I’m so glad I ran into you. I just
got the most wonderful news. My daughter is moving back to town.”
    Linzee
smiled, but she couldn’t help feel a small pang of jealousy. She’d give
anything if her own daughter lived closer. “That’s wonderful, Marnie.”
    “You’re
just going to love her. She was friends with Becca in school. Those girls sure
knew how to have fun, let me tell you.”
    Linzee
couldn’t stop herself from smiling. “I have no doubt.”
    Marnie
chatted for a few more minutes before she said, “Well, I’d better get. I’ll see
you Friday at Becca’s little soiree.”
    Before
Linzee could answer that she might not be going, Marnie was already making her
way over to the front counter to place her order.
    Turning
back to the window, Linzee took a sip of her coffee and watched a couple of
twenty-something women breeze through, deep in conversation. She wouldn’t have
given them a second glance until she heard Foster’s name.
    “So
let me get this straight,” the young brunette was saying. “You made an
appointment for Foster Price to take a Christmas card picture of you with your
dog just so you could spend some time alone with him?”
    Linzee
glanced at the blonde, who flipped her hair back as she giggled. Not only was
the blonde way younger than her, but Linzee would bet the girl still had a
warranty on the double-D breasts she sported on her tiny body. Why did men like
women who displayed two massive water balloons on their chests?
    “I
know Foster is into me,” the blonde was saying. “He flirts with me all the
time.”
    Her
friend rolled her eyes. “Foster Price flirts with everyone. Duh, Heather.”
    The
woman named Heather planted perfectly manicured hands on her hips and glared at
her friend. “Not like this. I know what I’m talking about. Foster is into me.
He just needs a little push. So when I go in with Princess, I’m going to make
my move.”
    “I
wouldn’t get your hopes up. I hear he has a thing for Ethan’s new chef. Some
gal from Chicago.”
    Linzee’s
ears perked up, but the women paused their conversation as they placed their
order. When they sat at a table behind her, they picked up where they’d left
off.
    “So
have you seen this woman?” Heather asked her friend. “The one Foster supposedly
likes?”
    “Nope,
but I heard she’s pretty,” the brunette said.
    Linzee
heard a harrumphing sound that she assumed came from Heather. “Well, I heard
she’s old. People can talk all they want, but it’s not like Foster would ever
choose some cougar when he could have this.”
    Cougar.
She’d always hated that term. But that was what she was, wasn’t she? Since
she’d struck up a friendship with Rebecca Price, Linzee had learned a lot about
the Price clan, including their ages. Foster was thirty-two, eight years
younger than she was.
    Linzee
had heard enough. The air seemed to close in on her as the women continued to
speculate about all of her faults.
    Then
she heard Marnie’s voice and whipped her head around. The older woman was
standing at the two younger women’s table, holding her coffee as she gave them
a withering stare. “You sure do have a lot to learn, Heather. Even if your fake
nails and even faker boobs were Foster’s style, which they’re not, I can tell
you for certain that he doesn’t go for your particular type of mean girl.”
    Heather’s
jaw dropped open in surprise that anyone would talk to her that way. Before she
could gather herself to respond, Marnie was already heading for the door. She
turned to offer Linzee a wink on the way out.
    The
two women were staring at her then, and she was sure it wouldn’t take them long
to put two and two together. After standing up and gathering her purse, Linzee all
but ran out of the coffee