License to Dill by Mary Ellen Hughes Read Free Book Online

onions ready to pickle along with Gerald Standley’s fresh dill, when she heard her front door open. Wiping her hands on a towel, she went out to find Emma Leahy, who looked highly indignant.
    â€œDid you hear Chet Morgan’s show?” Emma asked. Her short salt-and-pepper hair looked to have been raked through with impatience.
    â€œI did, at least most of it. Did it get any worse after they went to commercial?”
    â€œThat horrible Italian! Suggesting Carlo’s had health code violations? Outrageous! Maybe one of Conti’s people called him during the commercial. Who knows? But he spent the rest of the interview trying to fix what he’d said about our pizzeria. To my mind he only made things worse. The man doesn’t seem capable of saying anything good without it being some kind of put-down.”
    â€œThat’s how he sounded when he talked about the Cloverdale team,” Piper agreed.
    Emma Leahy was about Aunt Judy’s age, so Piper asked if she remembered Conti from his time at the high school.
    â€œI didn’t at first. But then Joanie, my oldest, reminded me who he was when we spoke on the phone. Joanie lives in Pittsburgh now,” she explained. “She was at the school the year he was there, but she was pretty heavily involved in the drama club and didn’t mingle with the sports crowd all that much. Luckily for her, I’d say now, looking back. She’s a sensible girl, but who knows if at that age she might have been overly impressed by the boy.” She paused. “Like Denise Standley was.”
    â€œDenise?”
    Emma nodded. “She was young then, of course, and I’m sure Raffaele Conti must have seemed very exciting to her, you know, coming from another country and all, not to mention his good looks and all the attention he was getting as a soccer star. But she and Gerald had been an item for some time. Joanie said Gerald was crushed when that Italian stole her away. Obviously, they got back together, eventually, but it must have been hard for a while.”
    â€œI’m sure it was.” Gerald Standley’s attitude toward Raffaele Conti suddenly made a lot more sense to Piper. A rivalry over a major spot on the team could be intense but short-lived. But stealing away the love of one’s life? That would be much more difficult to forget, Piper guessed, much less forgive.
    Emma stepped over to Piper’s spice section, saying, “As long as I’m here . . .” and began browsing, eventually picking out a jar of cumin and one of turmeric. “I always seem to find something I need when I’m here,” she said. “Your spices are so much better than the supermarket’s.”
    â€œI’m glad you think so,” Piper said as she rang them up. “I go to some trouble to find the best for the price.”
    After Emma took off, Piper returned to her dilled-onion project. She had peeled about half of the onions when Amy showed up for her shift.
    â€œHey, I thought I was going to do that,” Amy protested cheerfully. She took off her light sweater and tossed it in a corner, replacing it with a clean apron.
    â€œThese lovely white things were calling to me,” Piper said. “Along with the aromatic dill heads over there.”
    Amy laughed. “That’s what you always say. If it’s not pearl onions, it’s cucumbers, or apples, or cranberries, or whatever you happen to have! How you manage to sleep at night I’ll never know, what with all the ‘calling’ that must be going on in here.” She got busy measuring the vinegar, sugar, salt, and water that Piper would soon simmer her onions in.
    â€œThat was a fun time last night, wasn’t it?” Amy said as she worked.
    â€œIt was.”
    â€œAnd interesting, watching Will watching Scott as he watched you,” Amy said with a grin.
    Piper rolled her eyes. “I wish the suggestion to head over to