Not Suspicious in Hollywood: Not in Hollywood Book 5 by Leonie Gant Read Free Book Online Page B

the
covers and landed awkwardly on the floor. Crystal looked at me appraisingly.
    “That’s what you wear to bed?” she queried.
    I looked down at myself. My pajamas looked
fine to me and, more importantly, they were comfortable.
    “Yes, what’s wrong with them?”
    “Nothing,” Crystal said hurriedly. “I’m
just now beginning to appreciate that love is truly blind and how much Griffin
must really love you.”
    “I’d be a lot nicer to me if you want those
pancakes,” I grumbled.
    “If you add some ice cream to them I’ll say
whatever you want,” Crystal called out after me.
    In no time at all I was scooping ice cream
onto Crystal’s pancakes.
    “So,” I said with some trepidation, “how
did last night go?”
    “She didn’t even try to come on to Edwin,”
Crystal said morosely.
    I paused with the spoon going to my mouth.
“Isn’t that a good thing?”
    “Yes, but it isn’t the way we do things. My
mom comes into town, tries to seduce any guy I’m with, destroys my life, gets
her money, and then leaves. She does not try to be nice and then announce she
is marrying her soul mate who is a plumber.”
    “What’s wrong with a plumber?” I asked,
curious to see her answer.
    “There is nothing wrong with a plumber but
my mother does not marry plumbers. She marries investment bankers, mob guys,
rich men. She does not marry a plumber. She does not ask me to be her
bridesmaid at the wedding and she does not tell me that she loves me.”
    “So, you’re upset because your mother is
acting like a mother,” I said slowly.
    I understood where she was coming from.
After all I had heard about Crystal’s mother, these actions were not what I was
expecting.
    “Exactly,” said Crystal.
    “Wait a minute,” I said. “She said she
loved you?”
    Crystal nodded. “Well, it was more of a
‘love ya, babe,’ at the end of the night so I’m not entirely sure about the
feeling behind it but the words were definitely there.”
    “Is she dying?”
    “That was my first thought as well,”
Crystal exclaimed. “Edwin said I was just being morbid.”
    “Religious conversion?”
    “My mom getting religion?” Crystal chewed
her pancakes thoughtfully. “I don’t really see that happening.”
    “Then what do you think it is?”
    Crystal shrugged. “I don’t know and it’s
that not knowing that is freaking me out. I keep thinking that the other shoe
is going to drop and I’m worried that I’ll be taken by surprise. I don’t deal
well with being taken by surprise, Trudie.”
    “So, what are you going to do?” I asked.
    “I want you to come with me when we go
dress shopping.”
    Not what I was expecting but I could be
flexible.
    “When did you want to go?”
    Crystal looked at her watch. “Pretty much
now.”
    “Now?” I asked.
    “The wedding is in two days,” Crystal said
as she shoveled the last of the pancakes into her mouth.
    “Two days?”
    “Why do you keep repeating everything I’m
saying? The wedding is in two days. I’m a bridesmaid and I need a dress. My mom
is waiting for me to go shopping with her this morning. I figured that since
you haven’t left for work already that you’ve probably got the day off.”
    I was impressed with her deductive
reasoning.
    “I need you to act as a human shield if
this gets too weird with my mom.”
    “Exactly how am I supposed to act as a
human shield?”
    “I don’t know. Do whatever it is you do at
work. For goodness sake, you work with high maintenance people all the time. Do
what you do there. Distract, deflect, stop me from killing her.”
    It was good to know my skills had practical
applications that could be used in my personal life as well as my professional
one.

Chapter Nine
    Despite the many stories that Crystal had
told me about her mother, I had never had the pleasure of meeting the woman.
Due to my loyalty to Crystal though, I had already prejudged her and my opinion
wasn’t pretty. As we waited outside the dress store I noticed