Free Viola in the Spotlight by Adriana Trigiani

Skype.
    “This camp is the best. I got selected for the first team. I’m a guard.”
    “All those hours of practice at Prefect paid off,” I tell her.
    “How’s it going there?” Romy asks me.
    “Too much to tell you.”
    “I like the face painting,” Romy says.
    I touch my face unconsciously, already forgetting that I had a seashell painted on my cheek and across my chin. “Big news. Tag Nachmanoff showed up.”
    “Did he notice you?” Romy asks.
    “Hey, everybody!” Marisol waves from a square beneath Romy.
    “Good, you’re here. I don’t have to repeat the big story of the day.”
    “Tell all.” Marisol leans in.
    “Tag Nachmanoff is still the most gorgeous guy ever. Remember Olivia, Andrew’s girlfriend? Well, it turns out after she dumped Andrew, she went for Tag.”
    “Poor Andrew,” Marisol says.
    “No, he’s totally cool. And he looks cute without his braces. No worries. He’s fine.”
    “I knew Andrew would blossom into a hottie,” Marisol says.
    “Insane. Isn’t it? How about you?”
    “No summer crush for me. I’m working at Target. I’m in the home and garden section, but I have to help out front. I walk, like, a billion miles a day. And I hate the apron. But I get a discount! I got the entire mini eye-shadow collection from Boots.”
    “I had a date,” Suzanne announces. “But there will not be a second one.”
    “What happened?” Romy asks.
    “It was weird. I knew Lucas through my brother Kevin….”
    “Update, please!” Romy begs. “I’m fifteen now. Tell him!” Romy still has a crush on the totally unattainable Kevin Santry—he’s twenty, but he’s as handsome as Tag N., Midwest version.
    “My brother is still dating Maeve from Ireland. Sorry, Romy.”
    “Ah well.” Romy sighs.
    “Go back to your date, Suz,” Marisol says.
    “Well, we go out to eat at the food court at Fenway Mall. Normal. He is nice, cute. I like him a lot so far. And then, he started talking about his ex-girlfriend. She sounds really great and I said, you should call her.”
    “You told your date to go back to his ex?” Marisol marvels.
    “He still likes her. So why not?”
    This is one of the things I love about Suzanne. She’s nonchalant about her studies, her looks, and boys. It’s really something to aspire to—and it makes me miss her more. “So what’s the word in NYC?” Suzanne asks.
    “Well, Grand is going to be in a Broadway show. Arsenic and Old Lace is moving. And they got a big director from England. It opens in six weeks.”
    “That’s so exciting!” Marisol says.
    “How cool,” Romy says.
    “Your grand must be stoked,” Suzanne says.
    “Totally. This is really big. She hasn’t been on Broadway for years. And her boyfriend, George, is in it too.”
    “He’s my ideal man,” Marisol says wistfully.
    “I’ve never seen a Broadway show,” Romy says.
    “Bus-and-truck at the Goodman—that’s all I’ve seen,” Suzanne says.
    “We could never afford it,” Marisol says.
    “Hey, why don’t you guys come for opening night? Grand gets some free tickets—and you could stay here. I could show you New York.”
    “But how would we get there?” Marisol says.
    “You could take the train from Charlottesville,” I suggest. Marisol and I Googled the distance between Richmond, Virginia, and New York City at Prefect before school ended, because we could not bear the thought that we would never see each other again. We checked out the Amtrak schedule. And we figured, maybe Marisol could visit, in case by some miracle, the Carreras family hit the lottery and Marisol could afford to come to New York.
    “I could save up,” Marisol says. “I do have a job.”
    “Guys, I don’t mean to be a downer, but I really don’t want to leave Chicago this summer.”
    “Your dad?” Marisol asks.
    “Yeah, he’s not doing so great,” Suzanne says sadly. “I just want to spend every moment with him.”
    “Maybe he’ll get a little better and we can revisit the