Free The Guest List by Fern Michaels Page A

we’re going to miss the plane. Don’t tell me you’re bawling! You are,” Donovan groaned. “That’s great. Now you both have red, puffy eyes. How’s that going to look?”
    Carol latched her arm through Donovan’s. “It’s going to look like Abby has a family who’s going to miss her, and may I ask why your eyes are all bloodshot, Donovan Mitchell?”
    “Because I was cleaning out the fireplace and soot got in my eyes.”
    Abby wedged herself between them. “You two have given me such a good life. I want to say something special, something meaningful, but I don’t know what the words are.” She looked from one to the other. “You never let this thing on my face bother you. You were always there for me. I hope I haven’t disappointed you. I’ll do my best to make you proud of me.”
    Carol burst into tears.
    Donovan cleared his throat. “Get in the car, both of you. Bobby’s waiting. He’s liable to start up the car. That kid is so inquisitive. He’s worse than you ever were, Abby.”
    Abby linked her arms through Carol’s and Donovan’s. “I love you both so much.”
    Donovan’s shoulders started to shake.
    “Easy, big guy,” Carol hissed in his ear. “She’ll be home for Christmas.”
    “Yeah, probably with a boyfriend in tow. That’s how it usually works,” he said matter-of-factly as he went around the front of the car.
    Carol held back, stunned by his comment. She’d never given a single thought to Abby having a boyfriend. She’d had a date from time to time, but usually the boy had been a friend or one of Donovan’s employee’s sons. She’d never had a boyfriend, not in the true sense of the word.
    All these years Carol had had Abby to herself. She’d dried her tears, bandaged her knees and elbows, patched her dolls, and given her a shoulder to cry on. She’d made her into the little girl she’d never been able to have because of a botched abortion as a teenager. The thought of Abby having a real boyfriend, then maybe a fiancé, and eventually a husband … The thought of her not needing her anymore, leaving …
    A suffocating sensation tightened her throat.
    “I swear, Abby Mitchell, you must have been out of your mind to come out here to college when you could have stayed in South Carolina where it’s warm. It’s five degrees below zero with a windchill of twenty below. Look at you, you’re freezing. Here, borrow these long johns of mine,” Bunny Webster said, tossing a bundle of clothing toward Abby.
    “You want me to go on a date wearing long underwear? A first date, and a blind date as well? No thank you. I’d rather freeze.”
    “It’s part of the wardrobe. Everyone here wears long johns. You’re wearing slacks and boots. You aren’t planning on showing off what you have, are you? On top of that, Connor Bradford isn’t exactly a blind date. You already met him, he met you, we all ate lunch together. He wears long underwear and willtell you so. He is not put off by your birthmark, so what’s our problem here?”
    Abby headed for the bathroom. “You’re just like my Aunt Carol. I never won an argument with her either. Tell me more about Connor.”
    “He’s a what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of person. Kind of in-your-face, like me. He’s incredibly brainy, like you, but not a nerd, again, kinda like you. You two will have a lot in common. He wants to be a reporter for the New York Times. The investigative kind. He’s majoring in journalism just the way you want to. Third-year man and belongs to the best frat house on campus.”
    “If he’s that wonderful, what could he possibly see in me?”
    “He said,” Bunny said airily, “you tweaked his interest.”
    “These things itch,” Abby said as she tugged and pulled at the long johns.
    “That’s because they’re new. After a few washes they soften up. The makeup looks good, Abby.”
    “You can still see it, though, can’t you?”
    “A little.”
    “Most times it doesn’t bother me. Sometimes I