“Better be careful or before you know it, you’ll be cooking.”

Kate snorted. “That’s one way to kill time on your hands.”

Dave leaned back in a kitchen chair. “You have time on your hands?”

“I’ve been given six weeks’ sick leave. I’m not to come back until my cast is off.”

“Does that have something to do with your foul mood?”

Kate’s shoulders sagged. She might as well tell him. He was going to pry it out of her sooner or later. “Things didn’t go as smoothly as I’d anticipated.”

“How rough was it?”

“I trashed the entire string section.”

“Didn’t mess with the brass, huh?”

“Well, yes, actually some of the brass went, too.”

Dave’s eyes were wide. “You did this on-stage?”

“Of course I did it onstage. What do you think, I ran over them with my car in the parking lot?”

He’d seen her drive. She could do it. “Anybody help you accomplish this feat?”

“Nope. Did it all by myself.”

“Don’t suppose you’d want to tell me the gory details?”

She took a bag of cookies from the small pantry and set it on the table. “We were filing in and I accidentally stomped on the bass player’s foot with the stump of my cast. He shouted out this really rude word and pulled his foot out from under me. I guess it was understandable. By the time I left, the guy’s toe looked like an eggplant. Anyway, I lost my balance and grabbed for his arm, but I only snagged his sleeve. The sleeve ripped clean off his tux, and I went face-first into the string section… in front of a sellout audience.” She grimaced. “It was awful. A whole row of music stands went down like dominoes with sheet music flying all over the place. It took a half hour to straighten out the music and restore order.”

Dave almost strangled on swallowed-back laughter. “Um, that doesn’t sound too bad.”

“That’s not all.”

“What else did you do?”

“It took three people to get me up on my feet. And it was all very confusing, what with the doctor onstage looking at the bass player’s toe, and people milling around, bending over to pick up music. And I… I accidentally goosed the first clarinetist with my bow.” She chewed on her lower lip. “They tell me I got more laughs than Jay Leno.”

“Hey, it could happen to anyone.”

“You think so?” That was a hopeful thought. She’d hang on to that.

“What happened after you goosed the clarinetist?”