Falling Stars (Shooting Stars 5)

participant at such dinners.

Edmond Senetsky apparently knew something

about everyone anyone mentioned and had stories of

his own, name-dropping his clients at every

opportunity. Since Howard had made his accusation

earlier. I couldn't help but watch the way Edmond

glanced at Rose from time to time. It was probably my

imagination. but I did think he was trying to catch her

eye more than he was trying to catch anyone else's attention. Howard looked directly at me when Edmond described Rose's dance performance for Mr. Demetrius, using superlative after superlative. Then Howard looked at Cinnamon, who was glaring not daggers but spikes back at him. He quickly turned

away.

The dinner itself was as elegant and rich as any

I had ever seen or read about, much less experienced.

We did have the roast duck we saw Mrs. Churchwell

preparing earlier, but it was nothing like any duck

Mommy had made back on the farm; it had an orange

flavor. We were served wine, which started a

discussion about the quality of California wines

compared with French and Italian. From the

comments Mr. Littleton made, it appeared he had

tasted wine all over the world. I had no idea if what I

was drinking was good; great, or otherwise. Wine was

still just wine to me. I was familiar only with

Mommy's elderberry.

In fact. I was eating things I had never seen

before. but I was afraid to ask what they were. The

vegetables looked and tasted different from any I had

eaten, and between courses, we were served sherbet! I

thought it was odd to have dessert before the meal

ended, but soon learned it was served as a device to clear the palate, so we could fully enjoy what was yet to come. There was so much to learn above and beyond my music. I really wondered if it was possible

to do so in so short a time.