A Cut Above by Ginny Aiken Read Free Book Online Page B

studying to do. That GIA Graduate Gemologist certificate isn’t a piece of cake to get. I should know.
    When faced by that reality, he concocted some lame line about needing to come with me because he needs my help studying. What’s up with that? Mr. College Scholarship needs my help with schoolwork?
    Humph!
    In spite of all the pheromonal appeal Max put out, and all the grandmotherly oohing, aahing, and invoking of scary scenarios (which, of course, require Max’s heroic intervention) the Daunting Duo deluged on me, I stand firm—I am woman, hear me bleat. In the end, I make it clear I’ll only be gone for a measly three days, will meet Mr. Cruz, pick up faboo emeralds for our fans, and return refreshed and revived by virtue of time spent in proximity to the spectacular grass-green gems. What girl wouldn’t perk up after handling bling-bling like that?
    I’m glad I’m going alone. Max is way distracting.
    So here I am on Avianca’s flight 605 for the last leg of my multi-stop trip to Bogotá, buckled in and ready to indulge in some heavy-duty nail biting. Although I’d never confess it to another living, breathing being, takeoffs and landings tend to make me just a teensy-weensy bit anxious. All right, all right. So I’m petrified. Goes with the chicken part.
    When the roar of the airliner’s engines erupts, I clutch the armrests, close my eyes, and start to pray. By the time we reach cruising altitude, though, I’m calmer and manage to relax enough to drift off to sleep. After a while, the clatter of the service cart jars me awake.
    A cranberry juice cocktail and a chicken-flavored sawdust something-or-other later, I draw out my laptop and figure it’s as good a time as any to catch up on research I’ve downloaded over the last few super-busy months. An article on the ongoing controversy over finds of yellow labradorite— or is it simply bytownite?—and its kissing cousin andesine/ labradorite—had caught my attention, but I hadn’t had a chance to read it yet. Now that material’s singing my song. Once I start reading, the article holds my attention as it goes into great detail about the recent discovery of a previously unknown treatment that seems to have turned lesser quality yellow stones into magnificent fiery scarlet or bluish green ones with intriguing color-shift tendencies in different light. The most interesting part of the article is the implication of a very large retail organization that invested heavily into the red and green material and sold it as untreated, natural-colored pieces . . .
    Uh-oh.
    You got it. This is a legal no-no.
    I dive back in to read more. The FTC and the FCC have gotten into the mix now, and the dollars invested and then lost on the scam perpetrated by unscrupulous gemstone vendors have reached astronomical heights.
    I drop the magazine onto my lap and sigh. Dishonesty runs rampant in my business.
    But all that doesn’t take anything away from the original stones. I still love the gorgeous yellow feldspar stones found in Mexico when mining for Mexican fire opal. I’d offered some for sale on a show a few weeks ago.
    “I bought one of those yellow labradorites from you, and I love it,” my elderly seatmate murmurs when I look away from the screen to glance out the window. She adds, “To be honest, I love everything I’ve bought from the S.T.U.D.”
    I’m still not ready for how chummy my viewers feel through just watching my shows. It catches me unaware at the most unexpected moments. Like now.
    “Have you been a member of the S.T.U.D. family for a long time?” I ask.
    “Oh, I’d bought a set of pans and an outfit here and there since the channel launched, but it wasn’t until you and your boyfriend came on that I . . .”
    Your boyfriend . . . your boyfriend . . . your boyfriend . . . And here I’d hoped to gain some distance from Max during this trip. I need to put it all in perspective, something I’m not good at doing on a regular basis. Constant