The Wizard of Seattle Read Online Free PDF Page A

self-discovery, not her vanity,” Jane advised. “Tell her you can show her something about herself she can’t see in a mirror, and I’d bet she wouldn’t hesitate to sit for you.”
    Seth nodded slightly and rose to hold Serena’s chair for her, but when he spoke, it wasn’t to entice her to pose for him. “It would serve you right if he drooled all down your neck,” he said severely.
    With a low laugh Serena said, “Well, he didn’t. I’ll have a slight bruise on the rear where he pinched me, but otherwise he was almost a perfect gentleman.” Then she lifted an eyebrow at Jane. “You owe me ten bucks.”
    “What did he say?” Jane asked, forgetting everything but her eagerness to know about the grant.
    Serena looked at Seth with a smile. “Congratulations.”
    His thin face lit up, but he shook his head. “How much faith should you place in the word of a drunk?”
    “Very little,” Serena agreed. “Which is why I’m glad he has the rough draft of the announcement in his pocket. The grant’s yours, kiddo.”
    “I’m gonna go find some champagne,” Seth said delightedly. He kissed Serena’s cheek, then strode off in search of a bottle to celebrate his good fortune.
    Jane had a streak of uncompromising logic in her nature, and that made itself apparent when she asked, “Why would he have a draft of the announcement in his pocket? It won’t be made until next week.”
    “I don’t know,” Serena said, totally unconcerned. “But he has.”
    “And how did you find it, pull it out, and read it while you were dancing without making Kane just a tad suspicious?” Jane wanted to know.
    Serena widened her eyes innocently. “Isn’t it a good thing he’s so drunk, he never even noticed?”
    Jane didn’t completely buy the answer, but as with so many of Serena’s answers, she found herself accepting it against her better judgment. She did want to ask if Serena was sure Kane wouldn’t figure out what she’d been after once he eventually sobered up, but Seth came bounding back to their table just then with champagne, and she let the subject drop.
    Serena didn’t drink often, so perhaps the champagne went to her head. At least, that was her defense later.
    It had all started innocently enough with the bet. Kane had been ridiculously simple to manage while they were dancing, drunkenly talking about how he’d written the draft of the announcement awarding the grant. It had been easy—once she’d gotten the address of his apartment out of him—to send for the paper and have it appear in Kane’s pocket.
    That trick was so elementary, she’d been able to do it before she hit her teens.
    Having brought the announcement to Kane, she’d had only to put her hand over his breast pocket to know what it said. And once she’d poured Kane back into his chair, it had seemed only humane to put him to sleep so he wouldn’t spend the rest of the evening offending people and pickling his liver.
    She should have stopped there. Actually, what she should have done was skip the champagne, because it always made her reckless. But she had to toast Seth’s good fortune and share Jane’s happiness, and one thing led to another….
    It was nothing
major
, she assured herself at various points throughout the evening. Just simple little things that hardly mattered. Besides that, a lot of these people were her friends, and friends helped each other.
    So when one friend, while dancing with her, complained of having lost a treasured heirloom ring the daybefore, she sort of found it for him and placed it in his pocket—and hoped he’d check the pockets before he took the tuxedo to be cleaned. And when another friend talked to her about a very important business meeting she dreaded attending on Monday, Serena gave her a small gift of confidence.
    Several other friends received modest gifts, as well, ranging from a boost of willpower to help a smoker kick the habit to the deft manipulation of a virus to keep another friend