My Jane Austen Summer Read Online Free

nonspeaking part?"
    "You don't understand." Vera shook her head and then revealed the major obstacle lurking beyond the range of my hope. "Visitors don't do the acting," she said. "Visitors watch productions and attend lectures."
    I bit my cuticle and blood gushed.
    "The festival hires professional actors who perform for the paying public." She tapped her pen on a pink message pad. "But, you know," she mused, pointing her pen at me, "I like your idea. Firing the salaried actors and replacing them with the paying public is an interesting approach." Vera pushed her chair back and offered me a tissue for my thumb. "Let's fire the actors. I wonder how that would work."
    I wrapped my thumb in the tissue. "I don't think you would fire all of them," I said, accepting credit for the business concept she'd converted from my misunderstanding. "You'd keep a couple of professionals to coach the amateurs."
    Vera's eyes grew wide. "We'd save money."
    We stared at each other, not blinking.
    "So, can I go?"
    "I'm thinking." Vera put the pen down. Something about firing the actors had changed the dynamics and she began to seem like her old self.
    "Do you have any other jobs?" I asked.
    "Like what?"
    "I have a business degree. I could help you in an administrative capacity."
    "We have Claire for that." Vera bit her pen.
    "I can take tickets."
    "You'd have to fight the volunteers for that job." Eventually, she folded her arms and spoke slowly. "We do have one sticky situation you might help with. Let me call my husband and see where he is with that. Hold on." Vera picked up her phone and dialed England, home of her husband, executive director of the lit fest. "Let's fire all the actors," she mused, punching numbers twice before getting an answer. "Nigel dear, any word from Her Ladyship?" Vera swept a few stray hairs off her forehead and I realized what a big adventure this would be, the very word Ladyship opening portals of newness for me.
    "I was hoping she'd have executed something by now," Vera continued. "No, I don't think it means anything other than she's busy and we're low priority." Her tone changed when she said, "Nigel, how's this for an idea?" Vera looked at me as she spoke. "Have you ever considered firing the actors and allowing visitors to perform the enactments?" The air-conditioning cycled on while we waited for Nigel's reaction. "Exactly," Vera said. "Not this year, of course." Then Vera smiled at me. "I'm sitting across from the breath of fresh air, even as we speak."
    I smiled my breeziest smile.
    "Listen, the main reason for the call is to ask where we are on the Miss Banks Situation." Vera wobbled the pen between her fingers. "I want to know if we have a Plan B in the likely event Elizabeth Banks no-shows, because the breath of fresh air sitting across from me is also a lovely young actress." Vera smiled at me. "Think of a young Anne Elliot, brunette, blue eyes, who could fill that opening and help us in the Randolph Department."
    The Randolph Department?
    Vera waited. "No, this is not another of my adoptions." She rolled her eyes. "Although she is a worthy candidate." Pause. "I know. Not only does she have a business degree but she's studied theater in college and performed musicals in Dallas."
    Whoa.
    Vera winked at me.
    I wondered. Was professional acting any harder than high school productions? Acting is acting.
    "She's prepared to devote all summer." Vera nodded.
    I nodded back.
    Chutney stuck her pierced head in the door and listened until Vera waved her out. "I'll discuss that with her. Yes. I'll take my chances with Magda."
    Magda?
    When Vera finally hung up, she looked at me.
    "So?" I asked.
    "Assuming Elizabeth Banks fails to show up," she said, "and assuming we get you past Magda, you are in." Vera took a deep breath. "You'll have to pay for your flight."
    "What's the Randolph Department?" I asked.
    "Randolph Lockwood, Eleventh Baron of Weston." Vera paused, perhaps considering how much to tell me. "He recently