The Mezzo Wore Mink Read Online Free

back over my shoulder and smiled at Meg. “It’s the hat.”
    “ I can tell,” she said, lifting the newly acquired prize off my head for a moment, and kissing me on the cheek before dropping it back into position. “It certainly has taken your writing to a new level.”
    “ I can sense your sarcasm, Madam. I’ll have you know that the choir has been virtually clamoring for a new story. Virtually clamoring , I tell you.”
    “ Virtually?”
    “ Yep.” I took off the hat, placed it on the desk by the typewriter, then stood and greeted her correctly and profoundly, but not exactly according to the Amy Vanderbilt etiquette book. “Welcome home,” I growled.
    “ Mmm, glad to be back.”
    “ Let’s rustle up some supper,” I suggested. “How was the seminar?”
    “ Awful.” Meg frowned. She was beautiful when she frowned. And she was beautiful when she didn’t frown. “Well, actually, the seminar was okay, but we were through every afternoon at three o’clock. There wasn’t anything to do.”
    We walked into the kitchen and I started rummaging around the fridge. “You didn’t go lie out on the beach?”
    “ Sure. From four to six, then back to the hotel room. The rest of the group stayed out partying till two or three a.m.”
    “ May I see your tan lines?”
    She giggled. “I haven’t decided. Maybe later. What’s the news around here?”
    I came out of the refrigerator with a couple of old potatoes—old enough to have three inch sprouts shooting from their wrinkled hides. “How about a baked potato?” I asked, handing over one of the spiky spuds.
    Meg shuddered and tossed it into the sink. “No thanks.”
    “ Not much news since you’ve been gone. Cynthia has accused Pete publicly of not wearing underwear. It was in the Tattler .”
    “ That’s news.”
    “ And we have four new businesses coming into town. Two are moving in this week. It’s part of Pete’s revitalization plan to keep the press out of his pants.”
    “ That’s news.”
    “ And Gaylen Weatherall is probably being elected Bishop of Colorado tomorrow.”
    Silence.
    “ I said…”
    “ I heard! When did this happen?”
    “ Well, as I said, the election is tomorrow…”
    “ Perhaps you didn’t hear me correctly,” Meg said slowly, carefully enunciating every word.
    “ Umm,” I started. “You see…Gaylen’s gone out a couple of times this month to talk to the churches. But I didn’t even really know she was seriously in the running until a few days ago.”
    “ And you didn’t tell me?”
    “ She asked me not to.”
    “ Let’s get one thing straight, Mister. Whenever anyone tells you not to tell anyone, that does not include me.” Sparks flashed from her gray eyes.
    I shrugged helplessly.
    “ Well,” Meg admitted, “on second thought, maybe you shouldn’t tell me everything . But you should have told me about this.” She ran her hands through her black hair and leaned against the counter, absently scratching a now-contented Burmese Mountain Dog behind his ears. If Baxter felt his tail smack repeatedly against the table leg, it didn’t stop him from enjoying the attention.
    “ Oh, fine,” she huffed. “I guess you’re right. You shouldn’t have told me if she told you not to.”
    I walked over and gave her a kiss.
    “ Don’t try to make it up to me,” she said, kissing me back. “I’m the one who’s right most of the time.”
    “ You are right most of the time.”
    “ So, if Gaylen is elected, when would she leave?”
    “ I don’t really know. Maybe a couple of weeks from now?”
    Meg sighed. “Oh well. It was too good to last, I suppose. At least she finished putting all the church’s money into a trust.” She frowned again. “Have you found anything to eat yet? I am rather peckish.”
    I went back to rummaging. “How about a bologna and strawberry pop-tart sandwich?”
    “ Nope.”
    I looked deep into the refrigerator. “I’ve got a piece of pizza left over from our Fourth of July