Map to the Stars by Jen Malone

Author:Jen Malone [Malone, Jen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780062398635
Google: R0dIBQAAQBAJ
Amazon: B00PFXLEU2
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2015-07-13T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

“I don’t trust him,” my mom said, five minutes later. “Well, I trust him but I don’t trust the scenario. Too many things could go wrong.”

“Mom, he said he does this all the time.” I couldn’t help the desperate pleading note that crept into my voice. How could she ruin this for me?

“Ans, you remember how crazy it got inside Harrods? It may have ended up fine but it could have gone very differently. Those girls are pretty harmless one-on-one, but there must be over a hundred out there. And even if you manage to slip past them, what happens if you’re far away from here and Graham gets recognized? Are you telling me Kylie has signed off on this?” Kylie! That was her name. Mom picked up the phone next to her bed and punched in some buttons, I assumed to call Melba. I snatched the phone from her and slammed it back in its cradle.

“Mom, please. Please! I need this. Graham does too. We just want an afternoon to sightsee. Imagine what it must be like for him to be totally trapped inside a hotel. He’s just a kid. How is that fair? Plus, he told me he’s done this a bunch of times before and it’s been fine. He said Roddy loves this kind of mission.”

“Roddy’s going too?” Mom asked.

Oh. Maybe I should have led with that. Mom visibly relaxed. “Okay, but I want you checking in with me so I’m not stuck here worrying.”

“I promise,” I sang, grabbing a jacket and tossing it into my backpack in case the rain started back up. “Thanks, Mom!”

“Just make sure to save some of Paris to explore with me. Girl time tomorrow morning, before the event?”

“Sounds great,” I assured her, and hurried from the room before she had time to change her mind.

She called after me, “Do you even want to hear how Dad is?”

“Not really,” I replied, turning the hallway corner.

I sought out the same chair in the lobby and played a game on my phone while I waited for Graham and Roddy. I’d looked around the lobby for them when I got there, but it was empty except for an old guy standing off to the side of the front desk and a little girl and her dad across the lobby. The little girl was dressing a doll in her Sunday best. I didn’t let myself linger on the happy father/daughter scene.

When I looked up again, Roddy was crossing the lobby alone. As he reached me, I whispered, “Where’s Graham?”

Roddy chuckled under his breath and stage-whispered back, “He’s already here.”

What?

I twisted in my chair to take in the whole room again. Father, daughter, old guy. Wait. Did Gramps just wiggle his fingers at me?

No. Way.

“How did . . . what . . . HOW?” I asked once we were in earshot of Graham.

“Super sexy, right? Don’t tell your mom, but I’m actually kind of a whiz at makeup myself. Lots of free time on a film set.

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