Gabby Duran and the Unsittables by Elise Allen Read Free Book Online

‘keep your secrets’…”
    “From everyone,” Edwina stated. “That’s nonnegotiable.”
    Gabby flopped back in her seat and thought.
Unsittable
was a terrible thing to call a kid, especially a kid as great as Philip. And she’d made John and Lisa so happy just by
spending ten minutes with him. There must be all kinds of families just like them, and Gabby could make them just as happy. Lying to her own family would be awful, but Edwina had already promised
four times her hourly rate. With that kind of money coming in on a regular basis, Gabby could do more than just help out at home, she could…
    She almost couldn’t think it out loud. It seemed so selfish, especially when she and Alice and Carmen had to consider car payments and school clothes and college funds….
    But with the kind of money Edwina was talking about, Gabby could afford to be a little selfish. No, not selfish. Aspirational. She could give her family everything they needed and still have
enough to pursue a dream she’d held close since Maestro Jenkins first heard her play and suggested it.
    R.A.M.A. The Royal Academy for the Musical Arts, in London. The finest college for anyone wanting a career in music. Ninety percent of its graduates moved immediately to careers in professional
orchestras, and every major philharmonic looked to R.A.M.A. to fill their ranks. Maestro Jenkins said that as a female French horn player Gabby was so unique that if she graduated from R.A.M.A. she
could have her choice of the best orchestras in the world. The Berlin Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, the London Symphony Orchestra, the New York
Philharmonic…Maestro Jenkins said they’d all fight for the honor of having her on their stage.
    It sounded like a dream, and Gabby had immediately looked up the school online and discovered it could
only
be a dream. R.A.M.A.’s tuition was more than Alice made in a year. Even
with aid and scholarships, Gabby would have to find money for travel and expenses and textbooks. There was just no way.
    But college was six years from now. If she started working for Edwina today and set aside a little each month, she could have enough for R.A.M.A. She could take care of Alice and Carmen and
still make her dreams come true. Plus, she’d be there for families like Philip’s, who needed her desperately.
    All that good had to outweigh the bad of keeping secrets, right?
    Gabby put her business face on and leaned forward in her seat. “Here’s the deal,” she said. “My sister handles my books, so you’ll need to set up a payment plan
with her. And if you’re really paying me four times my rate, we’ll have to give her some kind of reason why.”
    “Unnecessary,” Edwina said. “A.L.I.E.N. will deposit your fees in a special account to which you’ll have easy access. When it grows to a tidy enough sum, we’ll
create a very old and very dead long-lost relative who left the family an annuity in his will. Checks will come to your house, at which point your sister can deal with them as she sees
fit.”
    “Okay, good, good.” Gabby chewed on her lip as her mind danced through all the other complications. “That leaves scheduling. I do that through Carmen, too, but it’s not
like you can call and say, ‘It’s Edwina from A.L.I.E.N.’ So here’s what I’m thinking—how about we set up a secret code, so when she tells me about the job I know
it’s actually you? Like you could use the word ‘vanilla.’ Or ‘salamander.’ Or always use a last name with an umlaut—”
    “We know where to find you,” Edwina cut her off, “and we’re well aware of your schedule. When we need you, we’ll be in touch. That is, if you’re saying
yes.”
    Gabby imagined her mom throwing flour in the air and dancing in the flurries when she heard about the long-lost relative’s will. She imagined Carmen raising her eyebrow in a grand show of
amazement at their new, full bank account. She imagined