Permanently Booked by Lisa Q. Mathews

green beans almondine.
    “Awful, isn’t it?” Carrie said. “We just heard about the whole thing this afternoon when we got here. And it was especially sad because Lorella Caldwell was such a big fan of mine.”
    “You don’t say.” Georgiana gave Dash a nod and tapped her wineglass for another refill.
    No one, not even Carrie’s PR person, took the opportunity to ask Carrie anything about her killer fog book, Summer noticed. Well, she sure wasn’t going to bring it up.
    “It’s too bad I never got to meet Lorella in person,” Carrie added. “I got in touch with her a few weeks ago and she offered to introduce me to some important people at Santa Teresa.”
    Dorothy offered Juliette-Margot a pat of butter for her green bean fort. “Didn’t you mention you were an alumna there yourself, Carrie?”
    Nice, Summer thought. Dorothy was onto Carrie and her fibs, too.
    “There are so many literary influentials in Milano,” Carrie went on, as if she hadn’t heard the question. “That’s one of the reasons I decided to launch my author tour here.”
    Beside Summer, Parker gave an angry little snort over her mountain of rabbit food. Dorothy was rubbing her temples and Dash looked as if he had a really bad headache, too. But Georgiana was leaning toward Carrie again, like a cat sizing up a cockroach—probably gathering material for some clueless character in her next novel.
    “I just love to get out and meet people in person,” Carrie blabbed on. “I don’t really like to toot my own horn or deal with small stuff, though. That’s why I hired Parker.”
    Her assistant gave a particularly hard stab at her lettuce. She had to have a tough job, Summer told herself.
    “Well, I devote my energies to writing. At the end of the day, that’s what’s most important to my readers.” Georgiana sat back in her chair, and reached for the e-cigarette holder next to her dessert fork. Dash shook his head. Luckily, Julian had already escaped from the party to finish some pressing work in his study, or he probably would have blown a gasket.
    Dorothy put down her crystal water glass. “Speaking of readers,” she said, “Summer and I are carrying on Lorella’s plans to revive the Hibiscus Pointe Book Club. Our first meeting is this coming Friday, in fact.”
    “How very thoughtful,” Georgiana said. “Would you like me to make an appearance, to help kick things off? I happen to have some short speeches prepared, for these sorts of things.”
    Summer could have called that one. And an even more thrilling offer from Carrie in—wait for it—three, two—
    “I could make a presentation, also,” Carrie jumped in. “I’m sure Mrs. Caldwell would have wanted me to.”
    Right. Summer didn’t know about poor Lorella, who was probably silently screaming from wherever she was, but this pushy Carrie person was driving her crazy.
    “How very kind of you both to offer,” Dorothy said. “Our membership will be quite small to start, though, so it may not be worth your valuable time. We could do a larger, joint reception down the road, perhaps. With the first meeting set in two days, I don’t think we’d have enough time to publicize...”
    “Oh, that won’t be a problem, Ms. Westin.” Parker turned to Summer. “You could put some flyers up around the complex tomorrow, right? I would, but it’d be better if you did it, since you’re a resident. Some people don’t like outsiders posting notices.”
    No point in informing Parker that a lot of people around Hibiscus Pointe didn’t consider her a resident. Summer glanced at Dorothy. She wasn’t sure her friend wanted to host this author reception deal, either, but they were trapped. “Uh, sure.”
    “Jennifer did give me some flyers this afternoon,” Dorothy said. “And there’s the article Lorella wrote for the Hibiscus Pointe newsletter tomorrow. That’s all we have for promotion, I’m afraid.”
    “We can update the flyers,” Parker said. “And maybe you can