Fairground, or prison…?
“So, where are we going?” Amanda yawned as Ginny steered her forest green Subaru off River Highway onto Interstate 77 South, heading for Charlotte.
“It’s a surprise. Relax and enjoy the view.”
View? Amanda’s idea of a view consisted of royal palms marching along a grand avenue lined with highrise condos and exclusive boutiques, like back home in Sarasota. Here the rural, sparsely forested fields were carelessly punctuated by new suburban shopping centers that had sprung up at each exit.
Ginny shrugged, noticing Amanda’s skepticism. “Yeah, I know I felt the same way when I got here from Vegas. But the lake’s pretty cool, right?” She nodded at the wide expanse of water opening to the right of the highway.
Amanda was forced to agree. “Sure, the lake is nice.” Lake Norman had over five hundred miles of shoreline and stretched about forty miles north to south west of the interstate. Her mother the real estate broker said the lake was responsible for the area’s recent prosperity, as well as the out-of-control growth. Thousands of newcomers from all over the country had arrived, like her mother, to cash in on the potential.
“Did you enjoy the boat ride yesterday?” Ginny asked.
“Yeah, it was fun.” Her mother’s new husband had bought a pontoon boat as a wedding present to them both. Its maiden voyage the day before had been a long tour from the top of the lake around Statesville, all the way down to Huntersville, where a nuclear plant employed the cascading water to power all the surrounding communities. “I got sunburned though,” Amanda added. She didn’t want Ginny to misinterpret her enthusiasm.
Ginny laughed. “Yeah, you and your mother both. Did you see her nose at breakfast? God, you two are just alike with that fair skin. You burn if you get near a lightbulb.”
“We are nothing alike,” Amanda objected.
Her stepsister frowned and glanced at her from the corner of an eye. “Okay. Do you wanna tell me why you’re so hard on Diana?”
A big cloud passed over the sun and long, finger-like shadows stretched across the road. Amanda stared at the stick-like trees making the shadows. “Hey, you didn’t grow up with Diana.”
“Hey, I wish I had a mother.”
Ashamed, Amanda clamped her jaw shut so she wouldn’t say something hurtful. She knew Ginny’s mom had died of cancer, and Trout had admitted that he’d been so devastated by her death that he’d ignored Ginny, shut her out. He blamed himself for her running away from home at age eighteen, just like Amanda had done.
“Well, I love Diana,” Ginny continued. “She’s fun and funny. She’s been great to Lissa and me, and terrific for Dad.”
“I’m happy for you all.” Amanda hadn’t meant to sound so snide, but the past week in close proximity to her mother brought out the worst in her. All anyone talked about was Diana’s witty sense of humor and her uncanny ability to solve murder mysteries, of all things. The brave, adventurous woman they described was no one Amanda recognized.
“I don’t get your attitude,” Ginny said. “Robby adores Diana. Did you see him this morning?”
Yeah, she’d seen her brother blubbering like a baby when the taxi came to take him to the airport. He didn’t want to return to Philly and the law practice he shared with their father. Indeed, all Robby talked about was how he wanted to quit law and become a teacher, and Diana had encouraged him in his silly dream. But Robby had always been Mama’s Boy, and Amanda had been Daddy’s Girl. Always a tomboy, she’d played golf and tennis with her father. She’d gone fishing, hunting, even fixed cars with the man. When Diana divorced him, claiming Daddy had been violent and abusive, she didn’t believe it, not for one minute.
“Mandy, I think you’d change your mind about Diana if you stayed a little longer. You should give her a chance.”
Ginny wasn’t going to let this go. Suddenly Amanda regretted delaying her departure by even one day. Also, she strongly suspected this mission they were currently undertaking was part of a giant plot to keep her here.
“So please tell me, where are we going?” she demanded.
“Like I said, it’s a surprise. But since we’re almost there, I’ll give you a hint…”
Amanda noticed they had exited the highway onto Harris Boulevard. “So what’s the hint?”
Ginny’s dark eyes sparkled with mischief. “Well, you make sculpture, right? And you said you needed workspace and a place to exhibit, so I had this brilliant idea…”
“Not here in North Carolina!” Amanda snapped. Why on earth had she opened her big mouth and confided in Ginny? In a weak moment, just because they’d both been runaways and seemed to share a wild gene, she had let her guard down and confessed her passion for metal welding. Big mistake.
“Hey, maybe it’s a silly idea,” Ginny assured her. “Let me show you the place and if you don’t like it, just say no. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”
Ginny slowed the car and drove into a large expanse of acreage surrounded by a tall chain-link fence. In the distance, Amanda saw two huge steel buildings that could have been armories or airplane hangars. These buildings were connected by a roofed, open-air pavilion with picnic tables. Beyond them, four tiers of smaller steel buildings, like enormous garages, marched into the barren fields.
They continued through muddy blocks of land devoted to parking for hundreds of cars, then up to a guard station, where a sleepy attendant glanced at Ginny’s pass then waved them through.
The whole complex seemed deserted under the mid-May sun. Amanda blinked in confusion. “Is this a fairground, or a prison?”
“Neither.” Ginny grinned broadly. “Welcome to Carolina’s Metrolina Tradeshow Expo, one of the largest arts and antique shows in the country!”