Page 98 of Holiday Home 3
Once she managed to twist the doorknob, she leaned back. The door swung open, and she went with it, clearing the way for them to see and then enter the makeshift prize room she’d put together.
When Liam envisioned a prize room, he saw one of those tucked-away corners on the way out of an arcade or gaming bar—situated on a garishly colored rug, with a glass counter whose insides were bulging with plastic knickknacks and the occasional intriguing find. On the other side, a bored employee chewed bubblegum while scrolling their phone, and behind them hung a wall of manageably entertaining boardgames, off-brand stuffed animals, and dozens of one-time-to-be-used-and-then-forgotten plastic toys.
That was a prize room, at least in Liam’s world. Avril clearly, not that he hadn’t already known this, lived in a very different world than he did. This had all started with her demand that they dress up like they were attending a real casino. As if to maintain the illusion that even once they were done playing cards, she’d put together an assortment of prizes that could have been viable for a high-stakes game.
The first prize that seized Liam’s attention stood among others like it on a wide entryway table directly in front of him. It wasn’t the type of item that would usually arrest his attention, but it did tonight. Because he recognized it. He’d first seen it the other day, adorning the shoulder of an elegantly dressed and altogether stunning woman. He’d mused over its price back then, too. Now, the same ludicrously expensive handbag that Evelyn Royce owned waited for anyone inclined to own this one to spend a measly ten points to do so.
Holy crap,Liam thought as he realized he could technically afford twenty-five such items. And there were far more than twenty-five options available within the spacious room. Blinkingas if blinded as the other options within the room filled his view, he took in the bulk of Avril’s setup time.
She’d organized the room like an exhibit at a museum. In order to support the myriad of prizes she’d gathered within, he suspected she’d grabbed all tables before them from the other rooms within the clubhouse. Right now, all so this room could present its dozens of expensive prizes, most of them probably looked barren.
Quickly noticed, there was a general theme to the sections of the room. The central area’s tables were covered in things like purses, designer jewelry, and other glittering accessories. There was a Rolex for fifteen points in a glass case among them, and so many more options for the women, which made sense given the present male-to-female ratio. Just six points, a pair of sapphire earrings attracted Tess’s eye, and she slightly dropped her jaw when she realized the brand. That soothed him a little; at least he wasn’t alone in being awed by the ridiculous prizes that Avril had gathered for them.
The west side of the room consisted of electronics and household items. One table carried kitchen-related appliances, blenders, espresso makers, a sparkling water machine. Another focused on bathroom appliances. Another was lined with new laptops, iPads, and other portable electronics. He hadn’t really thought about a towel warmer before, but he knew they existed now. It was right there by an undoubtedly high-end hair dryer, only five points if he wanted it.
There was also a table in that section that consisted solely of images. He and Anna approached it simultaneously, peering at what they might be. The images ranged from a new washer and dryer, which was twenty-five points, to a gas-powered pizza oven, only seven points. He and Anna traded a look.
“I guess these were the things that would have been too hard to get in here,” Liam noted.
“Or out,” Avril said, drifting toward them. “Anything that’s just an image was too much work to get transported here. If you get it, I’ll have it shipped and installed for you in a week or so.”
“Avril,” Tess said, having stopped examining the earrings. “I fear these go a bit beyond something like a Christmas gift. Some of these…mostof these are wildly expensive.”
But Avril wasn’t concerned in the slightest.
“If you’re worried about any trouble for accepting a gift from a student, I totally checked,” she said. “Bellmore doesn’t have any reporting requirements for gifts, no matter the monetary value, so long as they are given off-campus. How else could Professor Klein have afforded that nice new Corvette only a week before Finals were graded? Sure was lucky for Mindy; she was struggling the whole semester, but I hear she did just well enough to pass!”
Victoria, who was off in the eastern section of the room, which was filled with designer clothing hanging from six separate wheeled racks, frowned. “Please don’t compare us to that man.”
“I wasn’t, I wasn’t,” Avril said, holding her hands up. “I’m not thinking this will do anything for my grades; if I bomb out of your class, Tess, I bomb out. I do want you all to spend your hard-won points, though. I spent hours getting this room ready.”
Tess continued to waver for a bit longer, but Victoria eventually soothed her with a whisper. By then, Liam had gravitated toward the far side of the room, past the purses, sunglasses, and sapphire earrings. Avril made sure to join him.
The items in this area were also mostly made of paper, though some were laminated. And there were images on most of them, though they weren’t pictures of appliances or objects for sale. Most of them weren’t goods at all but services.
The first item he popped open was a brochure for a three-day spa retreat at the best resort in the city, which only cost fivepoints. There was a vacation package to Hawaii next to it and, humorously, another for Las Vegas. Such offerings continued all the way across the table. One of them was a couple’s skydiving package.
“It’s fun,” Avril said, grinning as he looked at it. “Thrilling.”
“I bet it is,” he said, meeting her brilliantly bright eyes, which had seemed more luminous than ever since they entered the room. “This might be the wildest room I’ve ever stood in.”
“It can still get wilder,” Avril whispered, winking. “In fact, I think it’sgoingto get wilder.”
Before he could respond, Victoria called out to Avril. “What is this, exactly?”
The entire room looked toward her. Standing just a table away from him and Avril, she looked at a whiteboard resting on it. Several different colored markers lay next to it.
“Ooo, someone finally got to it,” Avril said. As she glided toward Victoria and the whiteboard, she beckoned him—all of them—to do the same. Anna was the last to arrive, and Avril had taken the whiteboard, picked up a green marker, and shooed them all back a few steps by that time.
Wrapping her arm around the board, she showed off what she’d written before they arrived.
SPRING VACATION DESTINATION
VOTING OPEN
FIJI
---