Divas Do Tell Read Online Free

just for money reeks of desperation.”
    “Desperation? Cady Lee has more money than she’ll be able to spend. Her parents left all their kids well off, and she’s married to a man who owns a chain of department stores.”
    “Okay, if not selling out for the money, then selling out for the notoriety.”
    “You mean the chance to rub elbows with the famous,” I pointed out. “I hope you get over this bitterness and blame before we get to Cindy’s house. Diva Day could get a little uncomfortable if you’re not your normal charming self.”
    “I’m not bitter. And since we’re only ten miles from Snow Lake that would be an impossibility anyway. Of course, I’ll be as sweet and courteous as always.”
    “Oh my,” I said, thinking of past events. I looked out the window at the passing scenery. Kudzu draped telephone poles and trees in brown, leathery vines that would be bright green and smothering in the summer. Red, raw earth swathed recently cleared hillsides in places, and the land dipped and rose in gentle swells. Sunlight flirted with towering clouds as we rushed toward the small incorporated town on the banks of a huge lake. We reached it in a much shorter time than slower-moving cars and construction equipment.
    “I can never remember,” said Bitty as we cruised down the last hill before reaching the dam, “is it the first or second entrance?”
    “The second,” I said. “East side. They’ve remodeled the house since last time we were here.”
    The red BMW breezed across the wide dam silvered by water and sunshine and turned left into the residential area. A volunteer fire station sits on the right side, and the community center is on the left in a bend of the road. The sandy beach is fringed by a roped-off swimming area, and tennis courts have been built in the next bend of the road beyond a tree-shaded gazebo. Farther down the road we turned into Cindy’s long, sloped driveway. Tall trees shaded the yard, and a boathouse nudged up against the shore at the back of the house. Or the front, depending on whether you were in a car or a boat.
    “Remodeling can be horrible,” said Bitty. “That’s why I can’t believe Cady Lee is allowing that movie company to do all that ugly work to her house.”
    I rolled my eyes. Apparently everything said today was going to somehow be turned back into the movie company’s real and assumed depredations. There was no point in continued resistance. I pretended not to hear and remarked instead on the cars already in the driveway as we slowed to a halt.
    Bitty parked next to Gaynelle Bishop’s sedan. Gaynelle usually rode with us but had come earlier to help Cindy with the preparations for a Diva invasion.
    “It seems we’re early,” said Bitty. “Only Carolann, Sandra, and Rayna are here so far.”
    I knew what she meant. Cady Lee hadn’t arrived yet. I made a show out of unfastening my seatbelt, more to delay my response than because I’m safety-minded.
    “Deelight is going to be late,” I offered. “When she came into the shop yesterday she said she had to get fitted for her pilgrimage costume.”
    “You’ve already had your fitting, haven’t you?” asked Bitty as we got out of the car to unload our culinary offerings for the day.
    Since my personal nightmare involves standing in front of Bitty’s house wearing a dress down to my ankles with a dozen petticoats underneath, I’d resisted until the last moment agreeing to participate in this year’s pilgrimage. So I mumbled, “Not yet” as I reached into the car to lift my chocolate cake from the floorboard.
    Fortunately, Bitty was getting a case of wine out of the trunk and didn’t hear my response. I knew I was only postponing the inevitable. Every April Holly Springs conducts a revenue-raising Civil War era pilgrimage based on the events before, during, and after General Grant’s stay in the town. Actually, it’s more of a homage to the past graciousness of homes and life in the nineteenth