The Readaholics and the Gothic Gala Read Online Free PDF Page A

profitable nursery. She supported her grandma and her much younger sister, Axie, who worked for me a few hours a week; in fact, she was scheduled to help with the auction setup. It had been a couple of years, at least, since I’d seen Lola show interest in a guy. She always said she was too busy.
    â€œYeah, it looked like they were having a real heart-to-heart.”
    â€œWell, good for her,” I said, “although if he’s only here for a week . . .”
    I pulled into the Heaven High School lot, beneath a sign proclaiming that the Heaven Avengers were the 3A state champs in track and field. There were a smattering of cars in the lot, and I remembered the assistant principal telling me we wouldn’t be the only ones using thehigh school on a Saturday. The basketball team had a practice scheduled in the gym, a robotics group was using a lab to build their entry for a contest, and a Destination Imagination team was rehearsing in a classroom.
    â€œGrab a box,” I told Brooke, opening the van’s back doors. I had parked up against the door closest to the auditorium, where we were holding the auction. The sounds of bouncing basketballs greeted us when we entered, even though the gym was two halls over. The auditorium was a chilly, cavernous space, dark until I located a switch that turned on one tiny light, with a stage at the front, sloping aisles, and seats for about four hundred. I noted with approval that the tables and the podium I’d asked for were on the stage.
    As we tramped back and forth, carting in the boxes of merchandise for the auction, the decorations for the tables the items would be displayed on, and my other paraphernalia, Brooke said, “Troy and I are meeting another mom-to-be on Tuesday evening.”
    Her voice was carefully neutral, the product of two other attempts to arrange a private adoption that had fallen through. She and Troy Widefield Jr., heir to a local auto dealership, and scion of the richest family in Heaven, had married straight out of college. They’d been trying to have a baby for more than five years now, and had recently decided to try to adopt one, much against the wishes of her in-laws, who wanted only blue Widefield blood flowing through the veins of their grandchildren.
    â€œI’ll keep my fingers crossed,” I told her. “Is she another teenager?”
    Brooke shook her head. “No, she’s married with a couple of toddlers. Her husband ran out on her, though, and she can’t afford another baby, so she’s giving this one up for adoption.”
    â€œHow sad.”
    â€œYeah, it weighs on me some that our joy might come from someone else’s misfortune. Anyway,” she continued, in the voice of someone who wants to change the subject, “I told Troy I’m planning to buy something at the auction, something expensive. I think the scholarship is a great cause.”
    â€œWhat are you going to bid on?”
    â€œI don’t know what all’s up for sale. That’s why I wanted to ride along with you—so I could get a sneak preview.” She grinned.
    Light footsteps jogged down the aisle and I looked down from the stage to see a figure trotting toward us. It was too dark to make out who it was until she spoke.
    â€œHi, Miss Amy-Faye!”
    â€œAm I glad to see you, Axie,” I greeted the girl, Lola’s much younger sister. Her real name was Violet, but she professed to hate that and prefer Axie, which was short for “the accident.” She had Lola’s features, but none of Lola’s solemnity. Her cocoa-colored skin was a couple of shades lighter than Lola’s, and her hair corkscrewed to jaw-length, where Lola kept hers shorter. They had the same smile, though, and the dark auditorium felt brighter when Axie beamed at me. “I don’t suppose you know how to work the lighting in this place?” I pointed vaguely upward to where I figured the