Flipped Out by Jennie Bentley Read Free Book Online

effort to gather herself. She smiled, and it looked pretty good, but only until you noticed the strain showing in the tiny lines around her eyes. “Some friends of Derek and Avery’s stopped by to say hello. This is Melissa James, their Realtor, and Tony Micelli. What are you doing these days, Tony?”
    “Reporting the news for Portland’s channel eight,” Tony said, eyeing Adam while Adam eyed him.
    “Adam is the interim host of our show,” Nina explained, which made Tony stare all the harder. By now, Adam had noticed Melissa and was giving her a thorough inspection, while Ted was scowling at Tony. Wilson and Fae were doing some sort of silent communication across the room.
    “I guess you know each other,” I said, more to drop words into the uncomfortable silence than because I needed confirmation. It was obvious that Nina and Tony knew each other, and it looked as if Ted at least knew who Tony was, although Tony didn’t seem to have recognized Ted. “Tony owns this house.”
    “No kidding?” Ted said. Tony shook his head, looking around.
    “I grew up here. Haven’t lived here for years, though.”
    “Tony and I worked together once,” Nina said to the group at large. “More than twenty years ago now. My first assignment.”
    Tony nodded. “Mine, too.”
    “It was at one of those small Midwestern stations, the ones you use as a stepping-stone to bigger and better. He moved on, and so did I.” She shrugged.
    “You look good, Neen,” Tony said, his dark eyes appreciative. “And you’re a director now. Congratulations. Of course, I always knew you’d go on to do great things.”
    Nina smiled back, and this time it looked more natural. “You don’t look so bad yourself. Success must agree with you.”
    Tony preened, smoothing a hand over that slick, black hair, and then he must have noticed the way Melissa looked at him, because he reined himself in. “We don’t want to interrupt anything. I’m sure you’re going to be busy, since you’re here just for a week. Maybe we can grab dinner one night?”
    Nina’s eyes flicked around the circle again, but when not even Melissa objected, she gave in to the inevitable. “That’d be nice,” she said, while next to her, Adam scowled, and Ted tried to stare a hole in Tony, and Fae looked from Tony to Nina curiously.
    Melissa, never one to be outdone, flashed Adam a brilliant smile. “You know, if you need someone to show you around town, I’d be happy to help. I know this place like my own backyard.”
    Adam smiled, obviously flattered by the attention, but it was Nina who said, “That’d be wonderful, actually. We’ll be shooting some footage around town this afternoon, and if you wanted to show us some of the highlights, we wouldn’t say no.” She turned. “You, too, Tony. It’ll be good to have someone with us who’s used to camera work.”
    Melissa smiled, pleased. This must be exactly what she’d wanted: a chance to get her face on camera and the opportunity to hawk the benefits of living in Waterfield. Melissa won’t be happy until she has turned our pretty, picturesque little town into a big city with lots of people who need the help of a Realtor.
    “We just have a few more minutes here,” Nina added. “You ready to do this, Adam?”
    Adam nodded, determination in the line of his jaw. And whether it was because he didn’t want to look like an idiot in front of Melissa, or maybe in front of Tony, or whether the walk in the garden had flipped some switch in his head, he got every word right on the first try.
    “That’s a wrap,” Nina said, pleased, while Wilson wandered off to pan the remaining rooms with his camera, collecting “before” footage, and Ted started rolling up cables. She turned to Derek and me. “We’re done here for now. We’ll spend the rest of the afternoon shooting around town. Tomorrow morning, we’ll be back here to film the two of you in action. Make sure you’ve demoed whatever you need to, and