Girl in the Spotlight by Virginia McCullough

Author:Virginia McCullough
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2017-08-31T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

THE NEXT MORNING, Lark and Miles slid into a booth tucked behind an oversize banquette, where three couples sat with giant plates of pancakes and omelets in front of them. Even with the high leather seatback, she didn’t need to purposely eavesdrop to catch their conversation. Lark expected talk about Leeza and Molly, but the name that came up again and again was Perrie Lynn. The group had been at the competition and were chewing it over like she and Miles had in the bar the previous night. Catching her eye, he nodded to the banquette, silently letting her know he’d also caught some of the conversation.

“Seems they like—and genuinely respect—all the skaters,” Miles observed, keeping his voice barely above a whisper. “Just by observing and watching the reactions of the audience, I’ve already learned skating fans are a breed unto themselves. Not quite as partisan as the Green Bay Packer enthusiasts—or should I call us zealots?”

“If you’re like Evan and Lyle the word fanatic fits.” Feeling buoyant and carefree, she studied the busy restaurant filling up with a breakfast crowd. A skating crowd. “Isn’t this wonderful?”

Miles flushed, as if embarrassed, but he nodded.

“A delicious secret.” The remark just slipped out, along with the flirtatious tone. She cleared her throat. “I’ll bet Brooke would love to be here.”

Miles frowned. “I’d have imagined her wanting to be like these princess skaters one day, but she’s happy being a spectator, playing soccer and waiting until she’s twelve and gets a horse.”

“I understand,” Lark said. “For me, the thrill of skating didn’t come in the form of costumes and glamour. It was about how fast I could pick up speed and race on the frozen river—the next best thing to flying. Maybe that’s the way Brooke feels about riding a horse.”

He rolled his eyes. “Thanks a lot. My daughter on a horse cantering across Wisconsin fields at breakneck speed. Great image. What could possibly go wrong?”

“Don’t worry before the time comes,” she said with a laugh.

As they fell silent and studied the menu, the mix of voices coming from behind distracted Lark again. Lowered voices. That made her more curious. She leaned to the side and tried to subtly turn her head to catch words and phrases.

“She looks better than she did at the beginning of the season,” a woman said.

A male voice responded with something about it, whatever that was, being only a matter of time before something happened, but the sentence trailed off.

“Do you mean they expect it to come back?” a third voice whispered.

It? Come back? In Lark’s experience, words like that usually meant an illness, often cancer. Miles opened his mouth to speak, but she raised her index finger in the air to stop him, so she could brazenly eavesdrop.

One more person spoke up in a louder voice. “Her mother wanted to do as much as she could for Perrie Lynn. Just in case she doesn’t make it.”

“It paid off, too. Look at the success she’s had,” a woman replied.

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