Money, Guns, and a Merry Christmas novel · Chapter 17 of 24
Chapter 17: Top Seller
My grandmother wouldn't come.
She stood in her kitchen doorway Tuesday afternoon in her cardigan and said she'd had enough of ballrooms for one Christmas.
"Celine," she said. "You film it for me. The whole thing. Don't you dare put that phone down."
Celine went pink to the roots of her platinum hair.
"I'll hold it the whole time, Grandma."
"I know you will. It's the one thing you're good at." My grandmother patted her cheek. "So be good at it tonight."
The Ironvale banquet filled the biggest ballroom in Pittsburgh.
Two thousand people in suits and gowns under chandeliers the size of cars, a stage hung with gold lights, a wall of Christmas trees down one side.
At every place setting there was a little brass rifle cartridge with the guest's name engraved on it.
Table nine was ten feet from the stage.
My foreman was there in a suit that fit him, with his wife.
The store owner from Main Street had come with his wife too, and he'd shaken my hand for a full minute at the door.
Deena arrived last.
She was in silver sequins that were a size too small, and I recognized the dress.
It was Celine's prom dress, let out.
Celine was in black, with her phone up and Grandma on the other end of a video call.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of Money, Guns, and a Merry Christmas are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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