READ IT AND WEEP.

Jenn McKinlay.

For my pop, Donald K. McKinlay, an artist who taught me by example to be tenacious about my craft. Thanks, Dad! Love you lots!.

Acknowledgments.

Knuckle bumps to my editor, Kate Seaver; her assistant, Katherine Pelz; and my agent, Jessica Faust. They make up the best team a writer could ever hope to have. Also, a special thank-you to my cover artist, Julia Green, whose gorgeous covers make me step up my writing game to make sure my words are worthy of her brilliance. Hopefully, I'm getting there.

As always, I have to give a shout-out to the Hub and the Hooligans, Chris, Wyatt and Beckett. Your patience, support and willingness to listen are invaluable and I can never thank you enough. I love you forever.

Finally, I have to thank my favorite librarian-my mom, Susan N. McKinlay, for instilling in me a love of books and reading. Second to loving me unconditionally, you gave me the greatest gift a child like me could ever have.

1.

"Of course you're all going to audition for the play," Violet La Rue said. "It's the kickoff to our community theater season."

Lindsey Norris put down her scissors and glanced across the table at Violet. Violet's warm-brown eyes sparkled and her brown skin glowed. She was flushed with excitement for the upcoming production, which would be her directorial debut.

Lindsey knew it was going to dampen Violet's enthusiasm to learn that the rest of the crafternooners, with the exception of her daughter, Charlene La Rue, and the children's librarian, Beth Stanley, were not as enamored with being on stage as she was. Violet was a former Broadway actress, and her daughter was a local news anchor. They lived for being in front of an audience. As for Beth, she had been instilling the love of reading in children for ten years with her dynamic story times. She lit up in front of an audience. The rest of the crafternooners, well, it wasn't really their thing.

This theory was confirmed when Lindsey glanced around the table and noted that both Mary Murphy and Nancy Peyton had their heads down, completely engrossed with their card-making project.

The group had decided to get a jump on the holidays by making greeting cards. It was only September but judging by the mess Lindsey was making, she was going to need the next three months just to crank out a few decent cards.

The crafternooners met every Thursday at the Briar Creek Public Library, of which Lindsey was the director, to work on a craft while they discussed the latest book that they had read.

This week they were discussing A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare. It wasn't their standard fare, but since Violet was directing the play in the Briar Creek Community Theater, they had all agreed to read it and give her their input as she was gearing up for auditions in the coming week.

"I think I have a crush on Puck. He's so charming. He carries the whole play," Beth Stanley said. Story time had just gotten out and she entered the room with a monkey puppet on one hand and wearing a banana suit.

It was no surprise that she liked Puck; with her diminutive stature and her black hair styled in a pixie cut, Beth reminded Lindsey of a sprite herself.

"Who in town would make a good Puck?" Nancy Peyton asked. Her blue eyes twinkled when her gaze met Lindsey's. "I'd offer up my nephew, Charlie, but he's too busy with the latest incarnation of his rock band."

Lindsey winced. Nancy wasn't kidding. Lindsey rented the third-floor apartment of Nancy's three-story captain's house, and her nephew, Charlie, lived on the floor between them. Usually, he only practiced once a week, but with the new band learning his material, practices had been more frequent, and both Lindsey and Nancy had taken to wearing earplugs while at home. The only one who didn't seem to mind the noise was Lindsey's dog, Heathcliff. As soon as he heard the bass beat of the drums, he began to wag and howl as if he were the lead singer.

"How about my brother, Sully?" Mary Murphy asked. She'd brought the food for today's crafternoon from her restaurant the Blue Anchor, so it was a feast of crab salad sandwiches and sweet tea. Lindsey turned and scowled at her. She knew Mary had been just looking for an opportunity to bring up Sully in the conversation. Lindsey had been dating Captain Mike Sullivan, known to his friends and family as Sully, up until a few months ago, when he'd decided to give her some space-space she had not requested. And so, they had spent the summer apart.

"Did you know the earliest reference to A Midsummer Night's Dream is from 1598?" she asked. "No one knows exactly when it was written."

"Nice segue . . . not," Charlene La Rue said. "Are you telling us you don't even want to picture Sully in tights?"

As soon as she said it, Lindsey's brain flashed on a mental picture of Sully in tights and tunic with a wreath of flowers on his mahogany curls. It did not help that the man had a sailor's muscular build and that tights on him would not be a hardship on the eyes.

"I am so not answering that question," she said, at which the others all laughed. When they quieted down, she couldn't help but ask, "How is he, anyway?"

"Pitiful," Mary said. "He worked like a dog all summer, almost as if he was trying to keep his mind off something or someone."

"Humph," Lindsey snorted. "Well, he wouldn't have had to if he hadn't dumped me just because he wrongly thought I still had feelings for my ex."

"Lindsey, I know I shouldn't butt in," Mary said. Her blue eyes, so like her brother Sully's, were full of anxiety. "But if you knew the things in Sully's past that make him-"

"No," Lindsey interrupted. "Don't tell me. If there is something Sully needs to share with me, he has to do it himself."

The crafternooners all made noises of agreement, but Mary looked as if she desperately wanted to say more. Lindsey shook her head.

"Don't worry," she said. "It's fine. I'm fine. Everything is fine."

"Fine? My experience with the fairer sex has proven that when a woman says she's fine, she is anything but," a male voice with a charming British accent said from the door.

The crafternooners all turned as one. Standing in the doorway was a man with reddish-blond hair, twinkling green eyes, a square jaw and a build that could easily carry off a pair of tights or anything else he wanted to dress it in.

"Robbie!" Violet leapt up from her seat and crossed the room to enfold the man in a warm embrace.

"Violet, my love," he said. "You're more beautiful than ever."

Charlene followed her mother and hugged the man, too.

Obviously he was a friend of the La Rue family. Beth, who was sitting beside Lindsey, nudged her arm repeatedly until Lindsey turned toward her.

"Do you know who that is?" she hissed.

"No, no idea."

"It's Robbie Vine," Nancy whispered from across the table. "The famous British actor."

"Oh my," Mary breathed.

Lindsey glanced at her friends. All three of them looked utterly starstruck. She glanced back at the man. He was incredibly handsome, and when he smiled at her, his mouth was bracketed by dimples that seemed to appear just for her, making it a very personal sort of smile.

He looked familiar, and then she remembered the movie she had just seen him in. There had been a shirtless scene that had been, for lack of a better word, revealing.

"Let me introduce you to my friends," Violet said and she tucked her hand around Robbie's elbow and brought him to the table. "Ladies, I'd like for you to meet-"

"Hello, Violet!" a voice interrupted her and they all turned to the door. "Oh, and Robbie's here, too. How perfect."

"Harvey?" Violet asked as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing. "Harvey Wargus?"

She looked down her elegant nose at the stubby little man who entered the room. His dark-brown hair was parted in the middle and flopped down over the sides of his head in a sag that was repeated by the brown mustache over his upper lip. He had a long torso and short legs and a large bottom, which added to his overall droopy appearance.

"Well, if I didn't know better, I'd think we were having a reunion," Robbie said. Then he turned and glared at the little man. "But of course I do know better because there is no way in hell you'd ever be invited to any reunion of ours."

"What are you doing here, Harvey?" Violet asked.

Lindsey glanced at the man. Now she remembered him. He had, at one time, been a theater critic in New York City. He'd been on staff at one of the larger entertainment papers when word got out that he was bribable, particularly by up-and-coming young actresses looking for some positive ink. His career was ruined when the boyfriend of a fourteen-year-old actress, who had been set up with Wargus by her very own mother, turned him in to the police.

Harvey pushed up his glasses with the ring finger of his right hand and fixed a perturbed gaze on Violet and Robbie.

"When I heard through the grapevine that Violet La Rue and Robbie Vine were teaming up again, I got myself assigned to review the show. I must say I am really looking forward to it."

"Who on earth would hire a pervert like you?" Violet demanded.

"Oh, haven't you heard?" he asked. "I'm working for Sterling Buchanan-you know, the multimedia mogul? I believe you know him quite well, Violet."

Violet reared back as if he'd slapped her, and Charlene gasped. She took her mother's hand in hers and squeezed it tight.

Beth looked confused, and asked, "Who is Sterling Buchanan?"

Violet closed her eyes, and Charlene and Robbie exchanged a glance over her head. He glared at Harvey and then gave Charlene a small nod.

"He's my father," Charlene said.

2.

Stunned silence greeted this announcement, and then Violet let out a sob and dashed from the room. Nancy hopped up from her seat immediately.

"You should be ashamed of yourself," she snapped at Harvey and then she kicked him in the shin. She dashed after Violet.

Harvey let out a yelp and began to hop on one foot while cradling his shin with the other.

"She kicked me!" he cried. "That's assault! I'm going to sue."

"Really?" Robbie asked. "It looked to me like she tripped when she tried to get around your big fat ar-"

"Agreed!" Charlene interrupted. "And if I were you, I'd leave before the rest of us trip over you as well."

She stomped her foot on the ground right in front of his toes, and Harvey scampered away from her.

"You can't intimidate me!" he cried right before he fled from the room, with the tail of his suit coat flapping behind him.

"What a baboon!" Mary Murphy cried, looking like she'd like to take her paper scissors to Harvey's unfortunate mustache.

"Now, don't be insulting our primate brethren," Beth said. "I think he's quite a bit lower on the food chain than them."

"You're right, what was I thinking?" Mary said. "Charlene, are you all right?"

"I'm fine," she said.

"Didn't we just have that conversation?" Robbie asked with a smile. "It's okay not to be fine, you know."

Charlene heaved a sigh and leaned against him as he wrapped an arm around her.

"You're right," she said. "I'm not fine. What the heck is my father thinking, turning Harvey loose on Mom like that?"

"Maybe you should ask him," Lindsey suggested.

"I would," Charlene said. "But I've never actually met him."

"Oh," Lindsey said. She felt like an idiot, but in her usual generous way, Charlene smiled at her friend and shook her head.

"No, don't feel bad, you couldn't have known," Charlene said.

"Still, I feel like a dork," Lindsey said. "I just can't imagine having a daughter as fabulous as you and never knowing you. It's tragic-for him."

"Thank you," Charlene said. "But I don't suppose you miss what you've never had."

"Well, then he's an even bigger moron than we supposed," Beth said.

"Isn't he like one of the richest men in the world?" Mary asked.

"I don't know," Charlene said. "I don't pay any attention to him."

"Well, I do," Robbie said. "The bastard is one of the top ten most disgustingly wealthy people in the world-if you count wealth only in a dollar sum. If, however, you count it by having a daughter who is as intelligent as she is beautiful, who has gorgeous children of her own and is one of the most respected news anchors in the country, well, then sadly, he is the poorest bugger I know because he never claimed such a prize as his own."

Charlene beamed at Robbie and hugged him tight. "And that is why I love you. You've always been the big brother I never had. I bet that's better than a father. Honestly, I think I traded up."

Robbie planted a kiss on Charlene's head. "It was a lucky day for me when your mum came to be a guest teacher at my acting school. You girls are my family."

Lindsey glanced at Mary and Beth. They looked as choked up as she felt, and she wondered if they should leave Robbie and Charlene alone to catch up.

Beth must have been thinking the same thing, because she half rose out of her seat and said, "I'll just go check on Violet."

"Me, too," Mary said.

"Me, three," Lindsey agreed.

"Was it something I said?" Robbie asked, and gave them his charmingly dimpled smile.

The three of them glanced at one another.