Free SPOTLIGHT by Dora Dresden Page A

though.”
     
                William laughed. “You are the only person who thinks so.”
     
                As they walked, William regaled her with tales of his adventures on London's Underground and the “mind the gap” signs. Abby told him about Noelle's big opportunity and how happy she'd been that morning.
     
                Before she knew it they'd arrived at a building at least three times taller than their own and at least that many times more fancy as well. They were greeted by a doorman who looked dapper in his suit despite the summer swelter and who ushered them into the gorgeous lobby with a gracious nod.
     
                Abby had not known what to expect when she'd been told that the July 4 th celebrations were being held at the apartment of one of William's friends. She'd had visions of a group of them huddled together on a balcony, storeys above the city, ordering hotdogs off a mini grill, but she thought it better not to ask for more details.
     
                To say that she was pleasantly surprised was a understatement. The BBQ was being held on the building's huge rooftop. It boasted of a small garden and a tent decorated with glimmering lights and even a little fire pit so the guests were made to feel like they were at a camp out. They had a panoramic view of the city that was absolutely breath-taking and nothing like the view she had from her own apartment - the brick wall of the next building over and the sordid alley below.
     
                “Do you like it?” William asked with a proud smile, and Abby knew she must have been standing there with her small-town girl expression firmly in place and her mouth all agape for the catching of flies.
     
                “I've never seen anything like it. I wasn't expecting this at all,” she said. That statement was true of the view but also of the sheer amount of people. William's demure explanations of the party had had her picturing a small group of ten or so but there had to be forty or so people milling about on that roof.
     
                And of course all of them were young and bright-looking professionals, the future movers and shakers of New York no doubt and Abby's stomach did a little flip flop as her nervousness rose.
     
                “They'll love you as much as I do,” William whispered close to her ear, as if he were reading her thoughts.
     
                He took her hand in his and led her in. Abby nearly stumbled as they started walking, so lost was she in thought. They'll love you as much as I do, kept replaying in her head and making her heart do exultant somersaults in her chest. Was that a mere turn of phrase? She hoped not, she realized all at once. She hoped he meant it.
     
                William was introducing her to a flurry of people each one more interesting than the next. This one was a doctor and this one studying politics and this one researching nuclear physics. She was introduced to a chisel-chinned man with a strong grip who was the son of a diplomat she'd heard of on the news but could not put a face to. Everyone she met was incredibly gracious and claimed to be just as thrilled to meet her as she was to meet them.
     
                “Ah!” They said to William clapping him on the back and smiling with all the glow of their impossibly white teeth. “So this is the mystery girl William can't stop talking about. She does exist!”
     
                Abby had never met so many people at once in her life and William promised he'd remind her of all of their names if she needed it. She definitely would need it she conceded, but there was one name she could not forget.
     
                “I'm Madeline Richards,” an impossibly beautiful woman told Abby, her manicured hand extended in greeting. “And you must be the notorious Abigail that's got our William looking like a smiling