Read It and Weep (A Library Lover's Mystery) by Jenn McKinlay

“She’s retired from Broadway; she lives a quiet life here in Briar Creek. I just don’t see what he has to gain by antagonizing her.”
    “He doesn’t like to lose,” Charlene said.
    “But didn’t he lose when he chose not to be a part of your life?” Lindsey asked.
    Charlene gave her a warm smile. “Spoken like a true friend.”
    “No, I don’t have to be your friend to see what he lost,” Lindsey said. “Look at you. You’re a beautiful, charming, intelligent woman. You’re an excellent reporter, an amazing wife and mother and a fabulous friend. I pity your father.”
    “Well, I thank you,” Charlene said. “But I don’t think this is about me, and if it is, it is only in a peripheral way.”
    Lindsey gave her a questioning glance.
    “Mom’s birthday was back in July,” she said.
    “Yes, we had the luau.” Lindsey grinned. Then she frowned. Sully had been there, too, and they hadn’t spoken once all night. Very annoying.
    “Well, do you remember the flower delivery that she got?”
    “Oh yeah, the purple roses,” Lindsey said. “Kind of hard to forget a bouquet as big as a Buick.”
    “I think it was from my dad.”
    “No.”
    “Yes.”
    “Why?”
    Charlene just looked at her and Lindsey said, “Oh. Oh. Oh!”
    “I think he wants to get back together,” Charlene said. “There have been other things, too.”
    “Do you think she’s interested?”
    Charlene gave her a fretful look. “I don’t know. She hasn’t said anything.”
    “Have you asked her about this?” Lindsey pressed. She leaned forward, resting her arms on her desk. “You and your mother are so close. You know you can talk to her about anything.”
    “Except what if she wants to see him again?” Charlene asked. “I don’t think she’d tell me because she knows how I feel about him.”
    “She’d tell you,” Lindsey said. “Violet is the most honest person I know, and you are the most important person in the world to her. She’d tell you if she wanted to see your father.”
    Charlene was quiet for a minute. Then she nodded. “You’re right. I know you’re right. I did have one other theory. It’s in the exact opposite direction.”
    “What’s that?”
    “Well, if my mother rejected my father completely, do you think he might be out for revenge? And that he might sabotage the show to get even?”

10
    “W hoa,” Lindsey said. “You did say your father doesn’t like to lose. Is he vindictive like that?”
    Charlene shrugged. “I don’t know that I have the most objective opinion of him.”
    They were both quiet for a bit. Lindsey told herself she was just asking questions to be thorough, but she knew there was a silly part of her that was fishing. She chose to ignore it.
    “Have you talked to Robbie about all of this?” she asked. She was pleased that her voice sounded perfectly casual.
    “Actually, I stopped by because I heard he was here, but I must have missed him.”
    “Oh, is he already gone?” Lindsey asked. She refused to acknowledge even a flicker of disappointment that he hadn’t stopped by her office.
    “Beth said he was meeting his understudy on the pier to run over some lines,” Charlene said.
    Lindsey thought about how unhappy Dylan’s mother would be to hear this. She had made it very clear that she didn’t like Dylan spending time with the theater people. Then she realized that this was probably why Dylan and Robbie were meeting at the pier. It would be very hard to be seen out there, especially if they practiced on one of the lower docks.
    “Well, maybe you can catch him out there,” Lindsey said. “He and your mother seem close enough that she would tell him if she was worried about your father messing with the production.”
    “True,” Charlene said. “Mom and Robbie are very close.”
    “And if not Robbie, then maybe Nancy knows,” Lindsey said.
    “I thought of that, but since Nancy is Mom’s best friend, I didn’t want to put her in an awkward spot,”