Killer Getaway by Amy Korman Read Free Book Online

chic.
    Apparently, Gianni didn’t agree.
    â€œPoof!” said Gianni finally, kissing his fingers in what I took to be a dismissive gesture. “Channing, your place looks like something for the fast food! I mean, you got orange walls like a hamburger joint!”
    Just then, Chef Gianni noticed Holly. He loves Holly: Not only is she gorgeous but she always hires him to cater her parties at home, since Gianni is undeniably a fantastic talent in the kitchen. His mood improved immediately.
    â€œHolleeee Jones!” he screamed. “And Sophie Shields! Two of my favorite ladies!” Gianni paused to do some dramatic fawning over Sophie and Holly, while his dark-­haired new girlfriend found a seat at the bar and ordered what appeared to be a shot of Jägermeister. I felt for her—­it had to be embarrassing and uncomfortable to see her boyfriend scream at Jessica, whose exit to South Florida he clearly hadn’t gotten over.
    â€œAnd is perfect timing I see you two girls,” he told Holly and Sophie, rudely ignoring the rest of our table. “Because I got big news. Look through the window, right over there!”
    Gianni, heedless of the fact that he was impeding passing waiters, stood in the middle of the dining room and pointed dramatically through the open French doors toward a building situated directly across Ocean Boulevard.
    In the large front window, a huge white banner had been hung, with a spotlight illuminating words that proclaimed in navy script “Opening this Sunday: Ristorante Gianni Mare!”

 
    Chapter 5
    A T 8:30 A.M. the next morning, we convened a poolside meeting at the house on Bahama Lane to download and dissect the appearance of Chef Gianni in Magnolia Beach.
    The reaction among our group wasn’t too positive. Gianni’s a genius with seafood and pasta, but he wouldn’t receive four stars on a Yelp review as someone you wanted to spend your vacation with.
    â€œWhen did Gianni get here?” Bootsie asked, buttering a homemade carrot muffin. “Because if he’s been down for a few days, it was probably him behind the wheel of the Death Chevy the other night. He definitely hates Jessica enough to run her down in an alley.”
    â€œGianni loves me!” protested Holly, who was wearing yoga pants and a tank top, stretching in anticipation of a 10:00 a.m. workout class. “I spent seventeen thousand dollars on one dinner he catered last summer. He wouldn’t run me over with a Chevy.”
    She paused for a second. “Well, maybe he would.”
    â€œHe’d kill you in five seconds if you were standing in the way when he was going after Jessica,” Joe told her, forking into a fluffy spinach and Manchego omelette that Martha had customized for him. He’d arrived with Sophie ten minutes before, dressed in impeccable khakis and a crisp lavender shirt, but with slightly bloodshot eyes, courtesy of his Scotch-­and-­Xanax hangover. The omelette seemed to be having an invigorating effect, though, and his hands were no longer trembling as he forked in the awesome egg dish.
    â€œGianni told me last night that he only got to Magnolia Beach yesterday,” Holly shrugged. “So he couldn’t have been the one who almost ran us over. Though, obviously, he could be lying.”
    Holly took one for the team the night before when she invited Gianni and his dark-­haired companion to go out for drinks at Tiki Joe’s while the rest of us finished dinner at Vicino. This gave Holly time to pump the Italian chef for information about his new restaurant, and it also got Gianni out of Vicino before he caused even more of a scene.
    During the two-­block stroll to Tiki Joe’s, and, subsequently, over a ­couple of rums at its convivial bar, Gianni told Holly that he and his new girlfriend, whose name was Olivia and who was an aspiring model/actress/singer, were staying at The Breakers, along with a small