Dying for Mercy with Bonus Material

by Mary Jane Clark

  Secretly, Piper worried that this was becoming a most unfortunate pattern. During high school and college, she had lived for each new episode of Sex and the City and eagerly awaited her time to pursue love in Carrie Bradshaw’s magical metropolis. Now, Piper had plenty of material for a season’s worth of episodes.

  Before her ex-fiancé, Gordon, there was Bill, the guy she’d gone out with for over a year only to find out that he was engaged to somebody else; and Jeffrey, the one who watched and commented on everything she ate, reminding her in no uncertain terms that, if they were to marry, weight gain would be grounds for divorce; and Tom, the one who was happiest when his mother accompanied them to dinner. Piper had tried to ignore it for a few months, but when she caught Tom taking his mother’s hand one night while the three of them sat together in a movie theater, she knew she had to end it.

  Despite all the false starts, Piper believed in love, in following dreams, and in happy endings. But with her acting career stalled and her bank account running on empty, she needed some time to take a step away and, hopefully, breathe. She wondered what Glenna would say when she told her that she was giving up her apartment at the end of the month, eliminating the rent-check panic, and moving back to her parents’ house in the New Jersey suburbs.

  Going home to live with Mommy and Daddy for a while.

  She was pretty sure Carrie Bradshaw had never done that.

  WHILE SHE WAITED AT THE restaurant, Piper ordered a glass of the cheapest merlot on the menu, picked out a piece of Italian bread from the basket on the table, and took out her BlackBerry. She had several messages on her voice mail. The first was from Glenna Brooks.

  “I’m going to be a little late, Piper, but I have a big surprise. Big and great. Can’t wait to tell you. See you soon.”

  Piper guessed that Glenna had gotten the part in that film she wanted or that the soap’s writers were creating an even more outrageous storyline for her. Viewers loved the Maggie Lane character. They were excessively blogging about everything, from what she was wearing to whom she was dating. Glenna received more fan mail than any actor on the show. It was common on the soaps to replace an actor for the same character when necessary, but, for the A Little Rain Must Fall audience, Glenna Brooks was Maggie Lane. Glenna’s agent had deftly used that popularity when negotiating her last contract.

  Piper resolved that, whatever Glenna’s news was, she was going to be stoked for her friend even though there was a lull in her own acting career.

  Everyone has highs and lows. I’m just in a little down period. Eventually, things are going to get better.

  Piper knew that Glenna had had her own down times, particularly in her personal life. She had gone through a miserable divorce while she and Piper worked together. That’s when they had become friends.

  Even though Piper was brand-new to the show, she and Glenna had connected immediately. Piper was younger and far more green than Glenna, but the star treated Piper as an equal. She ended up confiding in Piper about the challenges of divorce, especially when the gossip columnists were paying attention. Despite Piper’s insistence that she’d feel different eventually, Glenna vowed that she would never marry again.

  These conversations had helped them bond. Glenna became a Piper Donovan champion, sharing theatrical contacts and praising her acting talent to various people in the industry.

  Since Piper left the show, they hadn’t seen each other as much. In fact, Piper realized that they hadn’t really talked in several months. They’d scheduled this holiday lunch to catch up. Piper was especially curious about the recent announcement that A Little Rain Must Fall, in an effort to cut production costs, was leaving New York and following so many of the other soaps out to Los Angeles.

  The waiter placed the glass of wine on the table. Piper took a sip as she listened to the next message.

  “Piper, it’s me. Thanks again for doing those roses for me yesterday, honey. We can’t wait for you to get out here. Daddy is almost finished painting your room. I think you’re going to like it, sweetheart. Got to go, the brownies need to be iced. Call me when you can. Love, Mom.”

  Piper smiled to herself. Her mother always signed off on voice messages as if she were dictating the close to a letter. Once, when she had been really annoyed at Piper, she closed a terse voice-mail message with “Sincerely, Mom.” But Piper’s brow knit in concern as she thought about the “painting your room” thing. It made her nervous. Painting her old room indicated that they wanted to make her feel excited about coming home—and that they expected her to stay a long time. While Piper had repeatedly told them this was a short-term move, her parents had never been crazy about their only daughter residing in Manhattan. Since Piper had been jilted, they had been truly worried about her living alone in the Big City at such a vulnerable time in her life.

  She knew that her parents just wanted to take care of her. While Piper loved them for that, she didn’t need to be smothered. Piper had made them promise that they would chill out a bit and treat her like an adult. As long as they didn’t ask her too many personal questions and didn’t start tracking her comings and goings, this could work out.

  But she knew her parents. It would be next to impossible for them to keep those promises.

  I’m crazy to be doing this, aren’t I? Of course I am. But the die has been cast. I’ve given up my lease. It won’t be for long, it won’t be for long. It’s a vacation, really. A chance to relax and regroup. That’s all it is. It can’t be for long.

  Piper swiped the bread in the little dish of olive oil and popped it in her mouth as she listened to the next message.

  “Hi, Pipe, it’s Jack. Hope the audition went well. Don’t forget, dinner at my place tonight. I still refuse to believe it’s your farewell. See you about seven.”

  Piper had been trying not to dwell on all of the aspects of Manhattan life she would miss, but the thought of not having regular dinners with Jack Lombardi made her ache. They had become close friends and confidantes in the two years since they met at a karate class. Over many pasta dinners and countless bottles of wine, Jack had listened to Piper’s ramblings about life as an actor and her intense desire to find true and lasting love. Jack thought every guy who had treated Piper badly was a total loser and he had offered, more than once, to teach them a lesson. Piper was never quite sure if Jack actually meant it or not. He didn’t say much about his work with the FBI, but when he sheepishly shared details of the way he himself had sometimes treated some of the women he dated, Piper was glad that her relationship with Jack was a platonic one. She repeatedly told herself that Jack Lombardi was a friend, not a lover.

  The last message was from her agent, Gabe Leonard.

  “Listen, baby, I can get you in at the last minute to audition this afternoon for a cat food commercial. It’s local. The cat is the star and there are no lines for you, but I wanted to let you know about it. Call me if I should let them know you’re coming. Call me anyway. I want to hear how the audition went this morning.”

  You’ve got to be kidding me. Piper always felt extremely guilty on the rare occasions she turned down an audition. But, really, she’d been having a particularly rough couple of weeks, so the thought of rushing through a lunch that she’d been so looking forward to, to fawn over some lame brand of cat food, made her want to regurgitate her bread.

  She was allergic to cats, too.

  Piper used the last reason when she texted her answer to Gabe. She’d call him later. She was in no rush to discuss the morning’s audition. Piper was about to update her Facebook status when Glenna made her entrance.

  While not much more than five feet tall, Glenna had the presence of a supermodel—and the world was her runway. Smiling brightly, her head held high, Glenna wore her gorgeous fur coat with confidence, ignoring political correctness. Some of the diners recognized her, some did not, but all of them watched her as she strode to the table. Piper was mesmerized too, at first, not even noticing the man following behind Glenna.


  Piper stood up and the two women embraced in a flurry of “hello”s and “can you believe how long it’s been”s. Then, Glenna reached out, took the man’s arm, and steered him forward.

  “Piper, I want you to meet Casey Walden.”

  She shook the man’s warm, strong hand. “Nice to meet you,” she said.

  He was tall, fair-skinned, fair-haired, and wore a well-tailored camel’s-hair overcoat with a red cashmere scarf. As he put his arm around Glenna’s shoulder, Piper immediately recognized the watch that peeked from beneath his shirt cuff. She had seen one like it on eBay when she had been trying to figure out a way to swing a used Cartier tank watch. The quest had proved fruitless. The timepiece was definitely not in her immediate future, but she had spent over an hour scrolling around to see what the options were. So she knew that the watch Casey Walden wore was worth well over $10,000. As the three stood, the waiter came over to them. “Should I set another place?” he asked.

  “No,” said Glenna. “That won’t be necessary. Casey can only stay for a little while. Just bring another chair and a bottle of your best champagne, please.”

  Piper was relieved. She wasn’t in the mood to make polite conversation with someone she didn’t know. She had been planning to have a private chat with Glenna, and Casey would be an obstacle to that.

  The waiter uncorked the bottle with an understated pop and poured a little of the sparkling liquid into Casey’s glass. As he reached for the stem of the glass, Piper noticed that Casey’s nails were bitten to the quick.

  Glenna took hold of Casey’s hand. “We have some wonderful news, Piper. I know it’ll sound crazy, since you’ve never even met Casey before, but we’re getting married on Christmas Eve. Get your dress and line up a date!”

  “What? No! That’s so exciting!” She reached over the table to pull Glenna close. “Congratulations,” she whispered. “I’m so happy for both of you.”

  “IT’S ALL HAPPENED SO FAST, but Casey is the most incredible guy,” said Glenna after her fiancé had said good-bye and left the restaurant. “I guess I can thank Susannah and her academic struggles for all this. Who knew the science teacher at her school would end up being so terrific? We met at a parent-teacher conference at the end of September, he proposed last weekend, and now, here we are getting married. It’s been such a whirlwind, Piper.”

  “He’s a teacher?” asked Piper. “Man, that school must pay really well. He seemed so, I don’t know, well groomed, I guess.”

  Glenna laughed. “Inherited. His brother runs the family jewelry business.”

  “Wait! Not Walden’s on Madison Avenue?” asked Piper, making the connection.

  “That’s the one,” said Glenna. “Casey hasn’t paid much attention to the business. But that’s starting to change.”

  “And is that one of the ‘family jewels’?” Piper asked, pointing to the large diamond on Glenna’s left ring finger. “That’s not a rock. It’s a boulder! I’m surprised you can still lift your hand!”

  “It’s beautiful, isn’t it? I’m so happy, Piper—the last two months have been like a dream.”

  “Well, you hear about it,” said Piper, “but I never really knew anyone who met and decided to get married that quickly.” She couldn’t help but think to herself, I hope you’re doing the right thing.

  “I know,” said Glenna. “How lucky am I?”

  “And you said you’d never get married again.”

  “I lied.” Glenna smirked.

  “So how will you do the show?” asked Piper. “Are you going to commute or is Casey going to give up his job and move out to L.A. with you?”

  “Neither,” said Glenna.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m leaving the show.”

  “No!” exclaimed Piper. “Really?”

  Glenna nodded. “I’m ready, Piper. I want to stay here in New York. I don’t want to uproot Susannah, and flying back and forth between coasts all the time is no way to start a marriage. I want to get it right this time.”

  It was hard for Piper to imagine anyone giving up a starring role like Glenna’s.

  “How’s everyone taking it?” asked Piper.

  “Everyone’s been great about it, except Quent, of course. He wasn’t exactly thrilled.” Glenna frowned. “I guess I understand. When I suggested that my leaving would shake things up and be a good thing for the show, he growled that he was worried enough about shooting with a new crew in L.A., and didn’t need to be dealing with a new star as well.”

  “How ’bout Susannah? What does she think?”

  “She’s conflicted. She likes Casey well enough, but her loyalty is to her father.”

  “Are you inviting Phillip to the wedding?” Piper asked.

  “I doubt it, unless Susannah insists,” Glenna answered. “As far as I’m concerned, it would be absolutely fine if I never saw Phillip again. When I think about the crap I put up with from him . . .” Glenna let out a deep sigh. “Calling me at work twenty times a day to make sure I was there, drilling me with questions about who I was spending my time with. So suspicious and jealous. It’s a wonder the marriage lasted as long as it did. I was a fool to hang on so long.”

  “Don’t dwell on that, Glenna. This time will be different.”

  “I hope so.” Glenna traced the rim of her wineglass and grew quiet.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Piper.

  “It’s probably nothing,” said Glenna.

  “What?”

  “Well, maybe it’s somebody’s idea of a joke, but I received an anonymous letter in the mail. It said terrible things about Casey. It made it seem like I would be making a big mistake by marrying him.”

  “That’s weird. Who would send something like that?” asked Piper.

  Glenna shook her head. “I have no idea, but I have the letter with me. Want to see it?”

  “Give it here,” said Piper.

  Glenna fished through her oversized Chanel bag, pulled the letter out, and handed it across the table.

  Piper examined the letter and its envelope.

  It was unsigned. And the text was printed in capital letters.

  Not All Lovers Are Tried and True

  And the One You’ve Found

  Is Worse Than Most. a Clue:

  What Goes around Comes Around.

  So Watch Yourself—He’s Such a Rat.

  Stay Clear When It’s Casey at the Bat.

  “Why would someone send something like that, Piper?”

  “Beats me.” Piper shrugged. “Do you want me to show it to my FBI friend?” she offered. “I don’t know what he’ll say but it’s worth a shot.”

  “Would you?” asked Glenna, looking relieved. “That would be great, Piper. I don’t really want to go to the police with it. That would end up being such a hassle.”

  “Sure,” said Piper. “I’m having dinner with Jack tonight.”

  “Thanks. I so appreciate it,” said Glenna. “And on a happier note, I have another favor to ask.”

  “Shoot.”

  “Remember how you used to bring in those cupcakes from your mother’s bakery to the set?”

  Piper nodded.

  “I loved those things. Everybody did. They were so beautifully decorated and absolutely delicious.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Well, I was wondering if your mother would make my wedding cake. It’s my second marriage and we’re definitely keeping it low-key. It will be a relatively small and intimate reception and having the wedding cake come from your family’s bakery would mean a lot to me.”

  “Of course she will. Anything for the bride,” said Piper as the waiter arrived with their food. Her mother’s remark about turning down wedding cake orders crossed Piper’s mind, but she was confident her mother wouldn’t say no to Glenna. “But what about your party planner? Won’t she want to take care of the cake?”

  “I’ve already told her I have a sentimental reason for having the cake made by my own person,” said Glenna. “She didn’t
fight me on it.”

  “LET ME,” said Glenna, reaching for the check at the end of the meal.

  “I should be treating you to celebrate your happy news,” protested Piper.

  “Knowing your mother will do the cake is a big enough treat,” said Glenna, taking her credit card out of her wallet. “But you know what else you could do for me?”

  “Name it.”

  “There’s a charity auction next Thursday at Susannah’s school. I’m on the organizing committee and Casey is the faculty adviser. Why don’t you come and see the space where we’ll be having our reception? And some of the Little Rain cast and crew will be there, too. It’ll be good for them to see your face again. You never know . . .”

  Chapter 5

  THE TAXI DROVE THROUGH CENTRAL Park. Casey Walden sat in the backseat, looking out the window at the leafless trees. His brow was furrowed and his mouth was set in a deep frown.

  How was he going to be able to hold his own financially in his relationship with Glenna?

  Their romance had been a wonderful, unexpected gift. The past few months had brought him more pleasure than he had ever thought possible. He loved Glenna, loved everything about her.

  She was nothing at all like the image he’d had about beautiful-but-difficult actresses. As they spent a fabulous autumn together, Casey had learned that Glenna preferred a picnic in the park in jeans over a formal dinner—though they had gone to several of those, charity events where Glenna lent her name and donated her time to make sure the evenings were successful.

  He knew that Glenna was self-made, having been brought up in a family where money was tight. She had moved to New York all alone and put herself through acting school. There had been some very lean years, living with three other young women in a one-bedroom apartment, subsisting on whatever was on sale in the grocery store, scraping together enough to continue her acting classes.