Right from the Gecko Read Online Free

But when I found the job on Monster dot-com, I figured what the heck.”
    â€œHow long ago was that?”
    â€œTwo years.”
    â€œAnd how do your parents back in Ellensburg, Washington, feel about that?”
    She made a face. “Not exactly supportive. In fact, they haven’t talked to me since I left. Not even a birthday card. They’re, like, totally the opposite of me. They’ve never been anywhere, and they have no interest in going anywhere. I guess they figure they can change my mind by freezing me out. Heck, I bet they don’t even know my address. I keep writing to them, sending them long letters about how well I’m doing, but for all I know, they just throw them out without even opening them.”
    â€œYou must feel awful about that.”
    She shrugged. “I’m still hoping they’ll come around once they find out what a success I’ve become.” Grinning, she added, “That is, once I actually manage to
become
a success. In the meantime, at least I’ve got my boyfriend, Ace, to keep me from getting too lonely.”
    â€œ
Ace?
Are you serious?” I hadn’t meant to sound stuffy, but somehow the words just popped out that way.
    Fortunately, she laughed. “I get the same reaction from everybody. It’s not as if he’s some card shark or something. Actually, he has his own business. Bodywork. He’s really good at it. The best on Maui, in fact. And his real name is Ashton—Ashton Atwood. But when that actor got so famous, he couldn’t stand being teased anymore, so he started telling people his name was Ace. Of course, it turns out he gets teased just as much.”
    An expression of alarm suddenly crossed her face. “What time is it?”
    I glanced at my watch. “Almost six.”
    â€œOh, no! Ace is gonna kill me!” Quickly she added, “Not that he’s not absolutely crazy about me, but he’s got a bit of a temper. I’m supposed to meet him for dinner tonight, and he goes ballistic if I’m even, like, five minutes late.”
    I raised my eyebrows but kept my opinions to myself.
    â€œI’ve got to rush home to shower and change,” she went on. “Ace picked a really romantic restaurant, this quiet, out-of-the-way place in Kula he really likes. We go there all the time. He said he has something important to talk to me about tonight.” She grinned impishly. “I think I can guess what it might be.”
    If this boyfriend of yours pops the question, I thought, I hope you handle it a lot better than I did.
    She stood up, then grimaced and sat down again, as if she’d been hit with an unexpected jolt of pain. She reached up and gingerly touched the back of her head. “Ugh, my head feels like a volcano that’s about to erupt.”
    â€œCan I get you anything?” I asked anxiously.
    â€œI’ve got some Advil in my bag—if you don’t mind looking through all my stuff to find it. It’s in a little cosmetics bag with flowers on it.”
    I looked at her black canvas tote bag and grimaced. It was so big that finding anything in there was guaranteed to be a challenge. But I rummaged around until I found the small flowered bag, hidden beneath her tape recorder, cell phone, pens, makeup, notebooks, manila file folders, Band-Aids, and chewing-gum wrappers.
    â€œThanks.” Dutifully, she downed the two Advil I retrieved for her, gulping down the entire glass of water. “Boy, I can’t believe that idiot John Irwin actually decked me. Jeez, what a creep! You’d think a governor’s aide would be a little more civilized!”
    â€œI’m sure it was an accident,” I assured her.
    Marnie’s blue eyes widened. “I’m not.”
    I tried to hide my confusion. “Surely you don’t think someone from the governor’s office would do something like that on purpose!”
    â€œAre you kidding? One of the first