Kiss and Tell (15 page)

Authors: Carolyn Keene

“I don't think she cared,” Sam put in.

Giancarlo took Nancy aside for a moment. “I want you to know,” he said in his softly accented voice, “that after all this has quieted down, I plan to leave Esme.”

Nancy pretended to be surprised. “But you love each other so much.”

Giancarlo put his finger to his mouth. “That is how it appears. In truth, Kim and I love each other. That note was meant for her, and I have been trying to find a way to tell Esme. Now, I think I will be able.”

“Esme will miss you very much,” Nancy said. She and Giancarlo looked back to the group and saw that Todd had his arm around Esme's shoulders.

“Perhaps,” said Giancarlo. “Perhaps she has found that she, too, loves someone else.”

“You may be right,” said Nancy, returning to the group.

Esme put her hand on Todd's arm. “I'd appreciate it if you'd come with me to the police station,” she told him. “This won't be very pleasant, and it would feel good to have an old friend there.”

Bess shot Nancy a meaningful look. Somehow, it all made sense. Nancy had seen firsthand that Esme still had a soft spot in her heart for Todd. Maybe the fact that she and Sam had found out about Giancarlo had made Esme think twice about her arrangement with her Italian leading man. Or maybe it was the clear evidence, so
obvious to all by now, that Giancarlo really did like Kim and was trying his best to find a way to tell Esme.

“Romance is most definitely in the air,” Nancy said to Bess.

The strains of music came drifting over. On the floor, carefree couples danced. Sam came to stand by Nancy and Bess and put his hand on Nancy's arm. “You're telling me,” Bess said, edging away.

“That was great teamwork,” Sam said, staring deeply into Nancy's eyes.

“You're right,” said Nancy, returning his gaze. Suddenly it was as if they were completely alone, even though Esme was still there, along with Janine, Todd, Bess, Kim, and Giancarlo. All Nancy could hear was the music coming from the end of the ballroom, and all she could see were Sam's chocolate brown eyes, focused on her.

“So what do you think?” Sam asked.

“About what?” Nancy returned.

“About working together in the future?”

“I'm going to have to ask my heart,” Nancy replied. “Right now, it's telling me not to decide, just to let everything take care of itself.”

Sam smiled gently. “I was hoping for something more definitive, but I guess I can live with that for now.” He gave Nancy's hand a squeeze. Nancy thought this might be the start of another kiss, but Bess came over before anything could happen.

“Boy, have you missed some fireworks,” she
announced breathlessly. “Janine just admitted that she was the one to tip off Brenda to the spider incident.”

“She did?” Nancy asked, surprised.

Bess nodded. “She only admitted it because Kim kept insisting Janine was Brenda's anonymous source. You should have seen Janine explode! She claims that she didn't call Brenda that first day, and she wasn't the one to warn her about what would happen at Esme's reading. But she did reveal the news about the spider. I guess she thought it would keep the PR train going. Esme got pretty mad, but I don't think she's going to fire her.”

Nancy laughed. “Bess, what will you do when you don't have an inside track on all this gossip?”

At first Bess looked perplexed, then her face brightened. “Oh, I'll be plenty busy,” she said. “I plan to write my own romance novel, remember? After everything that's happened, I figure I have enough material for years to come!”

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.