Page 124 of For the Sub

After the dance ended, Mame joined them.

“Having fun, kids?” she asked.

“Absolutely,” Brandy replied enthusiastically. “But I’m having tons of anxiety about that basketball jersey.”

“Oh?” She glanced at the wall where it was hanging in a frame. “The one that Lawrence Minton has his eye on?”

Niles followed her gaze.

The older, distinguished gentleman was standing in front of the table, pen in hand.

“The thing is too large for him,” Mame said. “He’d look like a clown in it.”

And it wouldn’t drown Brandy? She’d need a belt so it didn’t fall straight off her body.

“Go save him from himself, Niles,” Mame implored.

Before Brandy could add her two cents, he dropped a kiss on her forehead. “I know better than to argue with the two most important ladies in my life.”

He ended up engaged in conversation with several associates, but he kept an eye on the sheet and added his name to the bottom of the list whenever anyone else dared to outbid him.

Since the ladies were deep in conversation, he made his way around the room, checking the items that Brandy had indicated an interest in.

His name was at the bottom of at least six bid sheets.

With luck, he wouldn’t win them all. But if he did, Brandy would be happy, and so would Aunt Mame’s charity.

That made it a no-lose situation, he supposed.

When he rejoined Brandy and Mame, his aunt smiled.

“Brandy’s going to take a look at one of my websites,” Mame said.

“Is she?”

Mame held up her smart phone and showed him that her home page was displayed on the screen.

There were some funky words and symbols in the image.

“I thought I knew how to do all that myself, but I obviously did some things wrong. This dear girl said she will have them all fixed by Monday, and she had the idea to acknowledge tonight’s winners and thank all the donors, linking to each person’s site as a way to draw more traffic.”

“All that happened in the last five minutes?” he asked, dumbfounded, looking from one to the other.

“No. All that happened in less than one minute,” Mame corrected. “She’s really something. Smart. Socially astute.” She patted his cheek. “Hold on to her, Niles, my boy.”

Then, with an air kiss, she moved off to speak with new arrivals.

“Whew,” Brandy said. “She has more energy than I’ve had in my entire life.”

Another couple that he knew casually stopped to say hello, and in less time than it took him to blink, Brandy had the man talking about his business, and she asked how he might be able to do business with Niles.

Mame was right. Brandy was a powerhouse.

After they’d spoken to almost everyone he had any interest in meeting, his aunt took the stage and accepted the microphone.

She thanked everyone for coming, then turned over the event to the people she’d hired to hype the silent auction.

Over the next thirty minutes, some door prizes were given away, donors were acknowledged and asked to take a bow, and items were described with Hollywood flair.

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