“The set of two wave riders,” Wills adds with a grin. He reaches into his back pocket for his wallet and mimes pulling out a black card. “How much d’you think those’ll go for?”
“Oh yes. The wave riders. I forgot about those.” I give her an insincere half-smile. “I’d love to stay and chat, but we’ve got to get all of this set up. It’s a big night tonight, you know. Bye.”
I wave my fingers at her to shoo her away from the massive collection. She leaves in a furious huff and goes to the tables where she’s setting up her own donated items, and Astor stares at me intensely for a long moment before turning reluctantly to join her.
My friends and I spend the morning into the middle of the day setting up. When we’re finally done, it looks like a maze of wonder. There are beautiful antique pieces of furniture, paintings, sculptures, jewelry locked in glass cases, and crates of fine wines and champagnes that are older than our grandparents. All that and more. It’s quite a sight to see.
When it’s all done, we stand back and look at it, and it’s magnificent.
People have been coming in throughout the day to take a peek. As the day progresses the rumors take off and more and more people have been coming in just to see. All of them are amazed, including Dr. Baxter, who’s grinning like a kid in a candy store as he walks through all of it. Even the principal is already swearing he’ll win some of it and scrawling his name down on the auction lists.
I can’t help but look over at Victoria, who has long since finished setting up her table of donated items. Compared to mine, however, it’s underwhelming. She has things like box seats to a ballet, which I also have, though mine come with a backstage tour and dinner with the principal dancers. She also has a trip to the Bahamas, which I have as well, though mine is a month-long cruise that starts in the Bahamas, goes through the Mediterranean, and then ends in Australia and New Zealand.
Any other auction at any other school would be impressed with Victoria’s donations—but not this auction, and not this school. Not today. It’s as though everything she did comes up embarrassingly short compared to mine, and it’s obvious that it’s eating away at her.
We’re just about to leave when she marches up to me with her arms crossed over her chest.
“You know, the auction items only count if you got them yourself,” she snaps at me coldly, as she walks by. “I know you have some money now, and I’d be willing to bet that you paid someone to get all this for you. That doesn’t count.”
I laugh at her and shake my head. “Oh no, Victoria. I got all of this by asking people for it, but really, I have you to thank for that.”
Her eyebrow arches, but I continue.
“You see, when you murdered my father, I inherited all of his businesses. He’s got several of them, so while I was making the necessary rounds, meeting all the new boards and employees, and being introduced to all of the companies I now run, I asked for donations to this auction.”
I shrug and motion to the impressive turnout. “Everyone was basically falling all over themselves to donate to my charity. You know, get in good with the new boss. None of that would have happened if you hadn’t killed my father, so really … I have you to thank.”
“You’re unbelievable!” Victoria growls loudly at me. “You have no idea what you’re doing, do you?”
“Oh, I do. Did you see the Rembrandt over there? It’s next to the Chagall. Yeah. Right there. Don’t mind the three armed guards who are watching over all of this today. They’ll let you look at it, but just don’t touch.”
I purse my lips at her. “They’re under special orders to keep an eye on you … specifically.”
“I hate you!” she screams at me and stomps off out of the room.
Dana watches her go and slides her hand into my arm. “That may have been the most beautiful moment of my life.”
“It was certainly one of mine.” I answer her. “It’s not my fault that she didn’t read the fine print and see there wasn’t a cap on how much we could bring. Everyone just assumes it’s one table.” I turn to watch her go, and happen to see Astor out of the corner of my eye. He’s watching me again, and it tugs hard at my heart.
The way he looks at me has changed. He used to watch me with a hatred, then a hunger … now, it?
??s just sad.
I miss him so much, and I find myself wishing for the millionth time that he had chosen me over her. His eyes are locked on mine for a long moment, and then he sighs and his shoulders slump. Sliding one hand into his pocket, he looks away and walks from the room.
Blair leans in close to my ear and speaks in a soft voice. “He’s not over you, Teddy. He’s never gotten over you.”
I blink back a few tears and swallow the emotion that swells in my heart. How I wish that he’d been able to lay his prejudices aside when it really mattered.
With the auction ready to go, we all get lunch together and then head off on our separate ways to get ready for dinner. It’s going to be a big night, and we all want to look our best.
Going with the Valentine goddess theme, I wear a pretty, pink dress that flows around me like it’s moving on air. I don’t usually go for pink, but it was something Ellen picked out for me during the whole girl’s day out debacle.
It has spaghetti straps and a V-neckline, and I wear the new diamond necklace that Wills bought for me, along with the matching bracelet and earrings. The dress sculpts itself to my curves, but at mid-hip it swirls loose and light, almost like a cloud, to my calves. Even Dana tells me, when I turn around and show off the dress, that I look amazing.
The boys and Laura are at the door at half-past five, and we all walk over to the event together.
The way the school has it set up is that each item has a form before it, and anyone wishing to make a bid writes their name on a line and the amount they’re bidding on the piece. If anyone wants to increase the bid, they write their name on the next line, and the increased bid amount they’re willing to pay.