Free Reap What You Sew by Elizabeth Lynn Casey Page A

the gazebo, the anger in Glenda’s voice pulling her away from her own conversation. “Can you believe that witch’s nerve? It’s not bad enough that she sees me as her personal gofer-girl—demanding coffee, insisting on the day’s paper, sending me out for a better shade of eyeliner, making sure I’ve briefed everyone on exactly where she keeps her EpiPen in the event of a nut invasion, and expecting me to stand by ready to fan her in the event the South Carolina sun gets too strong for her—but now I’m supposed to be a magician , too? Capable of making a person disappear into thin air never to be seen or heard from ever again?” Glenda whacked her head against the clipboard in her hands. “I don’t know about you, but I missed the vanishing bunny class when I went to film school.”
    “Victoria? Are you still there?”
    She swatted at the air, Margaret Louise’s words barely registering as she strained to hear the identity of the person responsible for Glenda’s ire.
    Todd stopped, swooped to the ground, and retrieved a napkin from the grass. Crumbling it in his left hand, he looked around for a trash can. “You think you’re the only one who’s had enough of Anita the Great? Hell, I was barely through the gate this morning and she was yanking me by the arm, threatening to have my job if I didn’t find out who let Pooky in yesterday.”
    “Did you tell her?”
    He tossed the napkin into a trash can beside a tree some ten yards from where Tori sat, eavesdropping. “Of course I told her. It was Kelly or me. Though, cluing her in didn’t make her disappear. Rather, she started running through a list of everything I’ve done wrong since we got here—not the least of which was leaving the extras in Margot’s complete control.” Todd looked to his left and then his right before reengaging Glenda. “My God, what did Margot do to Anita? She’s virtually out for that girl’s blood.”
    “What hasn’t she done? What haven’t any of us done to make that woman hate us?”
    “I haven’t done anything,” Todd protested. “I do my job just like I’m supposed to.”
    “And so does everyone else.” Glenda tucked her clipboard under her arm and headed toward the food tent, Todd at her heels. “The problem is this: Anita Belise hates anyone who isn’t her .”
    “Or Warren. You definitely can’t forget Warren.”
    “True. Though that’s a sentiment that’s beginning to look mighty one-sided, don’t you think? I mean, did you see the way he looked at her this morning when she berated him in front of the whole crew for not returning her calls last night? I thought he was going to reach across the conference table and”—Glenda stopped mid-step and released a sneeze. “Ooh. Excuse me. Anyway, what was I saying? Oh, yeah. Trouble in paradise…”
    If Glenda elaborated any further on the trouble, Tori couldn’t make it out, the twosome’s footsteps taking them out of her hearing range once and for all. But really, what did it matter? The only trouble in paradise Glenda could have been referring to where Anita and Warren were concerned bore the signature of one person and one person only.
    Leona Elkin.
    “Oh, Mamma, I think Victoria and I got disconnected.”
    The sound of her name in her ear brought her back to the present. “Margaret Louise, I’m so sorry. I—I was distracted for a moment.”
    “A moment?” Margaret Louise chided playfully. “Why, Victoria, a moment like that could see a rocket ship take off and land on the moon.”
    Her guilt at an all-time high, she searched for a way to make amends. Margaret Louise deserved better. “How’s Annabelle doing?”
    A hesitation made her sit up tall on the bench. “Margaret Louise? Is everything okay with your mom?”
    “She was better yesterday.”
    “What happened?” she asked.
    “I didn’t get picked as an extra.” Margaret Louise lowered her voice. “I don’t know what it was, Victoria, but there was somethin’ about being