Hard to Hold (True Romance) Read Online Free

interview.
    When she clipped her planner closed, she looked up to find Kate shaking her head in disbelief.
    “What?” She ran her tongue surreptitiously over her teeth in case a stray sesame seed had lodged itself in an embarrassing spot.
    “You,” Kate said, shaking her head. “You just don’t fit the image of the ‘crime reporter.’”
    She even added the little air quotes to get her point across.
    “Why do people keep saying that? Not that I care. I’ve never aspired to fit anyone’s image of anything.”
    “Still, I wonder how you pull it off. Maybe you can teach me. You write about ugly murders and violent mayhem every day, and yet you somehow manage to remain upbeat.”
    “Cookies help,” Anne said, choosing the almond biscotti from the last few on the plate and dipping it into the foamy, cinnamon-dusted top of her refreshed coffee.
    Kate nodded. “They certainly don’t hurt.”
    “Tell that to my thighs.”
    “I have no credibility with my own body parts, so I don’t know how I’d have any influence over yours.”
    “Tell me about it. I guess I try really hard to keep my job and my life separate. I’m only a reporter. I have that luxury. I don’t have to talk to scumbags or deal with their slimy lawyers every single day like you do. The safety of a community doesn’t rest on my shoulders.”
    Though the sentiment was sincere, Anne’s comment won her an additional bit of insider information regarding the much-anticipated arrest of the scamming businessman. The tidbit would give her a chance to do a little research before she headed to the courthouse at one o’clock and would likely result in her asking better questions. To repay the favor, Anne listened intently while Kate ruminated over her teenage daughter’s request to attend a rock concert in the middle of the week.
    “I just went to a show last night,” Anne confessed.
    “You’re not sixteen.”
    “Thank God,” Anne replied with a shiver. Her teenage years had not been traumatic, but she rather enjoyed adulthood and the freedom to go out on a Monday night without having to check with her parents first.
    “Who’d you see?”
    “Jeff Tweedy. He’s the front man for Wilco, one of my favorite bands.”
    “I feel very old when people talk about bands I’ve never heard of.”
    “I’m sure a lot of people younger than you haven’t heard of them, either. They’re not exactly mainstream. Tweedy’s show was all acoustic. Very low-key. It was at the Egg.”
    “I love that place. Show was good?”
    “Awesome,” Anne replied, though the lack of enthusiasm in her voice startled even her.
    “Doesn’t sound that way,” Kate said, her eyebrows high.
    “No, the show was really great. But afterward . . .”
    She waved her hand, indicating she really didn’t want to continue her explanation, but Kate only scooted closer and leaned in. The woman was, after all, a practiced interrogator. Anne wanted to resist talking about meeting Michael because the outcome had been both unexpected and mind-bogglingly disappointing.
    “So who was he?” Kate asked.
    Anne frowned. “Just some guy I met. We talked for a bit and then he took off. It’s no big deal.”
    “It’s a big enough deal that you’re still thinking about him.”
    Anne forced as much disinterest into her voice as she could manage—which wasn’t much. “He had really fabulous eyes.”
    “Then why did you let him leave?”
    “I had no choice,” she insisted. “Handcuffing a guy to me isn’t exactly my speed.”
    “Maybe it should be.” Kate batted her eyelashes dramatically while she sipped her coffee. “My ex-husband was a cop. I bet if I looked, I might find a spare pair of cuffs for you to borrow. You know, in case you and this guy meet up again.”
    Anne laughed. She was likely never going to meet Michael again—and if she did, she doubted she’d have any interest in securing him with hardware so that he couldn’t get away.
    Not unless he showed her a little