Calendar Girl 12 - December Read Online Free

interview?
    “I requested you, yes, but not the way you’re saying.”
    Wes held his hand out to me when I opened my mouth to argue with him. Nothing was making sense, and he was talking in circles. I hated when people did that. It made me feel like an idiot.
    “Mr. Banks, what my fiancée and I are trying to get to the bottom of is why you asked her here. Specifically her.”
    Kent played with the cardboard coaster sitting on the table. “Thought it would be good exposure for my wife. Her work is really good, and you do pieces on people who create beauty. Probably because you’re so beautiful, it comes easy to you. My wife, uh, saw your show and became…excited.” He glanced around the room. There was something he was holding back. In Vegas, you learned to read people’s facial expressions or their “tells” as they say in gambling. Kent Banks was definitely not telling the full truth.
    “Excited?” I asked.
    “Yeah. She’s not the type of woman who is easily tamed. When she saw you on the screen, I…uh… knew I had to get you to come out.”
    I shook my head. “Why me?”
    His eyes once again seemed to catalogue everything about me. It was unsettling. Made me feel uncertain, made me want to know if what he saw was lacking. I didn’t care for it. Usually I was confident, but under this mountain man’s scrutiny, I felt…small.
    “Didn’t have to be you. Could have been anyone.”
    He was trying to sound nonchalant, but I could read through the bullshit. I’d been told a lot of whoppers in my day from men like my Dad, Blaine, and others. This guy was being deliberately vague, and I didn’t know why.
    “Tell me about yourself.” I needed to know more about the person who’d gotten me all the way out here before I called up Shandi and reamed her ass.
    It was looking more and more like the bitch had set me up. Probably wanted me off the show for a while so she could have Dr. Hoffman all to herself. Weird chick. He was crazy in love with his Hollywood starlet wife, yet his assistant was doing everything she could to keep me away from him. She knew I was head over heels in love with Wes, but still made a point to separate me from the studio as much as possible.
    Then there was a random mountain man and a story he spewed. It didn’t add up. None of it did. When things didn’t add up, my dad always told me…dig deeper. Since Kent brought me out here, there had to be more. Something I was missing.
    Kent waved over the waitress and ordered a Coors. Once she left, he sighed. “Retired vet. Served four terms in the military. Got my degree in architecture later in life and used my contacts in the government to score some bigger jobs. Been doin’ this fifteen years, which has given me the life I’ve wanted. One filled with a good woman, money in the bank, a great home, and land to enjoy. Living the American Dream. It’s all I ever wanted.”
    “Any kids?” I asked.
    His eyes narrowed. “Nope. Always wanted them. Didn’t have ’em.”
    “Why not?”
    “Never the right time. I served until I was thirty-five. Met my woman when I was forty. She didn’t want kids.”
    I took a large swallow of cider. “Your wife is an artist here?”
    He nodded. “Has a gallery on Main called 4M.”
    “Four M, the number and letter?” I confirmed, so I’d know where to go tomorrow.
    “Yep.”
    “What’s it mean? The four and the M, I mean?”
    He shook his head, a somber expression coming over his face. “Not sure. She said a while ago, it represented something important she’d left behind.”
    Wes tipped back his Guinness and finished the rest of the dark coffee-colored liquid and set his glass back on the table. “Whelp, it’s been not exactly fun. Look, Mr. Banks. I’m sure you’re a nice guy. You seem like one. But Mia shouldn’t be here under suspicious circumstances.”
    “What does that mean?” Kent’s tone turned rough, almost harsh.
    “Means I’m not going to let my future wife get taken for