Splendor in the Glass
Page 22
“They do not,” I said. “You look like James Brolin.”
He smiled. “I can live with that. And just so you know, Abby, you would have made one hell of a good-looking statue.”
Bob frowned. “I don’t think that’s really possible, is it? Making a glass statue out of a person, I mean.”
C.J., who’d been mercifully quiet—thanks to the scrumptious food—swallowed her last bite of cake. “Ooh, but it is! At least for fish. Granny Ledbetter bought a glass fish at an auction up in Shelby, and on the way home she dropped it and—”
Mama came to my rescue by patting the big gal’s arm. “Sweetie, this isn’t going to be indelicate, is it? Because I was thinking of having another piece of cake.”
C.J. nodded dolefully. “Actually, it was pretty gross. Granny said she couldn’t eat seafood for two weeks.”
“C. J!” we protested in unison.
She seemed surprised by our reaction. “Well, I didn’t give you any details.”
“Whatever are we going to do with you,” I groaned.
“You could hire me, Abby.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Well, now that Mr. Johnson—I mean Mr. Jackson—is behind bars, what are you going to do for an assistant?”
“But C.J., dear, you already have a shop up in Charlotte.”
“I know, but frankly, Abby, it hasn’t done as well as I expected. I’d be more than happy to sell it and come work for you.”
“As my assistant?”
“I could be your boss, if you insist. And anyway, I’ve always wanted to live in Charleston.”
“You have?”
“Yes. Ooh, Abby, please say yes. Pretty please with sugar on top.”
I sighed. “Okay. But C.J., you won’t be able to live here.”
“Ooh! Abby, you won’t be sorry!” C.J. squealed again and gave me a painful hug. If she ever tired of the antique business, there was a career waiting for her in professional wrestling. “And don’t worry, Abby, I wouldn’t live here if you paid me. No offense, but this place is haunted.”
The big galoot was right. Number 7 Squiggle Lane did seem to have its resident spirit. There was probably nothing I could do about that, but I could teach my friend proper etiquette.
“Use the term ‘inhabited,’” I said. “Apparition Americans prefer we not use the H word. And good luck finding some place south of Broad that isn’t inhabited.”
“There’s a house for sale practically across the street from us,” Mama said, butting in as usual. “You could come over all the time.”
“Maybe not all the time,” Greg said, and squeezed my knee under the starched tablecloth. “Maybe you could visit her sometimes, Mozella.”
“But—”
“Mama,” I said gently, “there are times a married couple needs to be alone.”
“TMI!” Mama cried. She was blushing.
C.J.’s joy warmed the cockles of my heart. “Just think, I’m going to be S.O.B. just like you all.”
“It’s not all it’s cracked up to be.” Mama sniffed.
“People are people,” I said. “There are dysfunctional families everywhere, even south of Broad.”
“That may be true, dear, but even if you hadn’t ruined our chances of being accepted into Charleston society—”
“I didn’t kill Mrs. Shadbark! Hobart Jackson did! And anyway, Mama, we never would have been totally accepted. Not by the old guard.”
“That’s exactly the point I was trying to make. We will always be—what is the expression, dear?”
“‘From off.’”
“That’s it. But I was thinking, dear. We don’t need the old guard. We’ve got each other. We can be our own little society. We can even have secret clubs, if that’s what you want.”
C.J. nearly bounced off her seat. “Ooh, I love secret clubs! Back home in Shelby…”
I looked at the faces around the table. Except for Wendy, the newcomer, each one was precious to me. With family and friends like these, I was home.
Acknowledgments
While some of the glass pieces in this book are figments of my imagination, others are described and pictured in Lalique, by Jessica Hodge, published by Thunder Bay Press.
About the Author
TAMAR MYERS is the author of eight previous Den of Antiquity mysteries: Larceny and Old Lace; Gilt by Association; The Ming and I; So Faux, So Good; Baroque and Desperate; and Estate of Mind; A Penny Urned; and Nightmare in Shining Armor. She is the author of the Magdalena Yoder series, is an avid antiques collector, and lives in the Carolinas.
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Other Den of Antiquity Mysteries by
Tamar Myers
from Avon Books
NIGHTMARE IN SHINING ARMOR
A PENNY URNED
BAROQUE AND DESPERATE
ESTATE OF MIND
GILT BY ASSOCIATION
LARCENY AND OLD LACE
THE MING AND I
SO FAUX, SO GOOD
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
SPLENDOR IN THE GLASS. Copyright © 2002 by Tamar Myers. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition JANUARY 2007 ISBN: 9780061870019
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