Adelie scorned the temptation spurring inside of her. She loved her quiet life. But that was just it, if they lost their grandparents’ house, it wouldn’t be the life she loved. Quiet, solitude, in a place she’d lived her whole life, a place she longed to return to any time she left it.
This was her way to save it. With the money Mr. Hatter was offering, she and Suzie could buy it outright. They’d never get evicted again, and all that history, the memories of childhood, canning beans and picking raspberries, would be a daily walk-through instead of a distant thought.
Just a few pictures. A few billboards—which were always up so high; who really looked at those anyway? It wasn’t like this was anything salacious. She wasn’t posing for Victoria’s Secret, selling her soul or her body. Just her face.
Ugh. She couldn’t do this. But how could she turn down a quarter of a million dollars?
Suzie’s eyes were as wide as saucers. Her lower lip pouted. She’d mastered the pleading look, that was for sure.
“It’s too bad they’re not asking you.” Adelie knuckled her sister’s shoulder. Why couldn’t they? Then again, Suzie was four years older. Not only that, Adelie couldn’t ignore the compliments Mr. Hatter had paid her. Her, not Suzie. The withdrawn innocence, the sweetness yet standoffishness from that image. Suzie was so bubbly she’d just grin the entire time.
They needed someone pensive, someone absorbed and withdrawn. An unwanted confirmation nudged her at the thought. Much as she wanted to ignore it, something deep inside told her she could do it.
“But they’re not asking me,” Suzie said. “They want you. You can do this, Addy.”
She closed her eyes. One slide at a time, she pictured their house being repainted, refurbished, fixed up and made their own. The decades-old plumbing that needed repairs, the cool air leaking through the antique windows. Both needed to be replaced, and neither of which could they even dream of affording, not while they were both in school. This way, they could be repaired, without Adelie or Suzie having to quit school or go into any more debt.
What if it turned out she was terrible at modeling? What if she ended up being exactly the opposite of what they thought they wanted?
The idea wedged in her chest like a fist. It pressed against her lungs, robbing their ability to draw in a full breath.
Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, she told herself. Just focus on that.
“Okay,” Adelie said, releasing the breath. “I’ll do it.”
Suzie fisted her hands and strangled a squeal halfway out of her throat, getting a grip on herself as Adelie gave her a pointed get-it-together glare. Adelie lifted her chin and strolled back to where Mr. Hatter and Mr. Hawthorne stood.
Adelie’s palms were sweating like she was in the middle of summer. “Thanks for the offer, Mr. Hatter. If it’s still on the table, I’d love to take you up on it.”
There it was again. That zap-her-kneecap smile. This time it added an admiring glint in his green eyes that did strange things to her lower belly.
“Awesome,” Mr. Hatter said. “I have some papers here for you to sign.” He pulled them from atop his desk as well.
Adelie stiffened. Her head lightened; her thoughts went fuzzy. She forced herself not to glance at Suzie. “Right now?”
“Contracts, right?” Suzie asked, unfazed.
Trembling overtook Adelie as her brain slowly began to unplug. Why had she agreed? She was entirely not okay with this. It was too fast. She didn’t have time to think things through, and she wasn’t sure she wanted it anyway, not really.
A signature on a contract was final. Adelie’s knees buckled. Suzie hurried to guide her to the nearest seat. She lowered her head and focused on breathing.
Mr. Hatter and Mr. Hawthorne exchanged a look before Mr. Hatter knelt before her. He rested a hand on her knee. The touch was a little forward, but nothing about him seemed to be conventional.
“I know this is a lot,” he said, his tone gentle. “Why don’t you take some time to think it through?”
Adelie didn’t realize how much she was quivering until she pushed his hand from her knee. “How much time?”
Mr. Hatter sank onto his heels. “Two days?”
She laughed until she realized he was serious. She wiped her clammy palms on her thighs.
“I’d like to keep the momentum triggered by today’s scavenger hunt going,” he said. “If you don’t want to be a part of that, I understand, but this could be the opportunity of a lifetime.”
For me or for you? she wondered. Still, she couldn’t deny the lure of the phrase he’d used. Be a part of that. Of this. Of Wonderland. She could be a part of something incredible, a living fairy tale, a live-action novel. She would be Alice.
The appearance of this entire offer turned on its head. Despite her anxieties, the glass was gradually becoming half full rather than half empty.
“Tell you what,” Mr. Hatter said, standing to his full height and straightening his shirt. “Why don’t you meet me here in Wonderland on Sunday? You can take this contract home and look it over. Will that give you enough time to think this over? The park will be closed. I’ll give you a personal tour. Show you the areas I’ll be updating and exactly where your images will go. Then, at that time, you can give me your decision. Does that sound reasonable?”
Suzie chewed her lip and practically leaped in place.
“That I can do,” Adelie said. Some of the pressure the sight of the contract gave her released, and she took it from him.
Two days. She’d be touring Wonderland with its mouthwatering owner, and then she’d have to decide if she was ready to be in the public eye.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Adelie drummed her fingers on the dining table and stared. All those words. Usually, she loved reading, but that was fiction. Escape. This was more like a thesis paper on the benefits of filing a tax return. She had zero desire to read it, and once she signed, once she dotted every I and crossed every T, there would be no going back.
Seated on the chair beside her, Suzie passed her a mug of warm cider and gave her shoulder an encouraging squeeze. “It’s okay,” she said with the same tone she always used when something seemed too big to tackle. “You don’t have to do this.”
“Really?” It was exactly what Adelie wanted. An opening to back out.
“Sure,” Suzie went on, relaxing in her chair and throwing an arm across the back. “It’s only a quarter of a million dollars you’re skipping out on. He’ll just find some other girl who’s more willing.”
Adelie tugged on the sleeves of her sweater. She didn’t like the words some other girl.
“You’ll see someone else’s face on the news or in the theme park every time you pass it. And every time you pass it, you’ll think: Hmm. That could have been me. Right, Fletch?”
Suzie rotated as her boyfriend, Fletcher, entered the kitchen with a newspaper tucked under his arm. His orange hair curled like a sponge. He was tall and gangly in a completely adorable way that made Suzie squirm.
“Huh?” Fletcher said, clueless.
Adelie rolled her eyes. “I get it. We need the money.”
“Yes, we do.” Suzie patted the contract like she would an obedient dog. Fletcher settled himself into the open seat beside her, and she slid him the remaining mug of cider.