Diva Wraps It Up, The by Krista Davis Read Free Book Online Page B

people don’t go calling up old flames. That’s extremely poor form.” Nina grabbed my wrist. “Look! That’s her! How could we have been so blind?”
    Horace’s secretary, Phyllis, walked toward us. “Have you seen Horace? How’s he doing?”
    We filled her in, omitting the fact that his wife hadn’t paid him a visit yet.
    Nina widened her eyes and tilted her head toward Phyllis in little jolts. Phyllis definitely had brown eyes. She wore her hair yellow blond, but her dark eyebrows gave away her natural color.
    When I didn’t take Nina’s oh-so-obvious hint, she burbled, “Phyllis, do you know the song ‘Brown Eyed Girl’?”
    Phyllis smiled. “I do! It’s one of my favorites.”
    Nina turned a smug, satisfied face toward me.
    Nina was such a romantic. We couldn’t walk around questioning every woman in Horace’s general age range. I asked Phyllis to keep in touch and let us know if she heard about any changes in Horace’s condition.
    Nina didn’t say anything until we were out of earshot. “We found her! Right under our noses. Why didn’t you say something?”
    “First of all, everyone likes the song ‘Brown Eyed Girl.’ That doesn’t prove anything. Second, unless I’m mistaken, over half the population has brown eyes. Are you planning to ask every brown-eyed woman in Old Town if she likes that song?”
    “We’ll know soon enough anyway. I bet if she’s Brown-Eyed Girl, he’ll respond to her and get better right away.”
    We drove out of the parking lot, Nina still insisting that Phyllis had to be Horace’s long-lost love. “Horace is such a nice guy. I can’t imagine how he tolerated Edith all these years.”
    I couldn’t help thinking about Horace’s upset stomach the day before. “I don’t want to be swayed by the fact that Edith is such an unfriendly person, but the spouse is always the first suspect when something happens. It would be so easy for her to slip something into his food.”
    Nina dreamily said, “He and Phyllis worked next to each other all along, never able to share their true feelings.” She choked. “Is Phyllis married? Do you know?”
    “I have no idea.” I parked the car close enough to my house to have walked easily, but I needed my hybrid SUV to transport the pine roping and wreaths home. I thought I’d better get them up before Mars covered the house with lights.
    Old Town was beginning to put on its Christmas finery. Lush pine boughs surrounded store windows and cheerful wreaths seemed to have appeared overnight. Even though it was early afternoon, lights sparkled everywhere I looked. Nina and I peered into a paned store window. A silver and white winter wonderland glistened inside. Giant three-dimensional snowflakes hung from the ceiling, lights glinted off their fuzzy spokes and gleamed on little beads. Stunning silver pieces graced a table set as though for a holiday dinner. The centerpiece took my breath away. Two elegant silver reindeer pulled a foot-high silver sleigh filled with white blown-glass ornaments. On the buffet behind it, silver candleholders in the shapes of stag heads with antlers held white candles laced with tiny silver stars.
    “Ohh,” sighed Nina. “Do you think Jill could do my house in silver and white? There’s something so clean and wintery about it.”
    I understood completely. It sparkled in a crisp, elegant way, making me long to change my traditional red and green Christmas décor to silver and white. “Can’t hurt to ask.”
    We moved on to Rocking Horse Toys.
    Jonah and Twiggy Lawrence had outdone themselves decorating the window of their new toy store. Jonah had been a sales representative for a major toy company in Arizona. He’d bucked the corporate life to pursue his dream—a toy store of his own. He and his wife, Twiggy, opened it with great fanfare in June, but this was their big season. They had re-created Santa’s workshop. Two-foot-tall elves wearing red and green outfits wrapped packages. Dolls in lacy