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CHAPTER ONE
“AND WITH THAT, the six Holy Rollers—Golly, Polly and Molly, Ike, Mike and Spike—took off their ical roller skates for the last time Their job on earth was done They’d earned their beautiful, sparkly angel wings and could stay in heaven forever…and ever…and ever The end”
Parker Harrington Welles suppressed a dry heave, closed the book and tried not to envision sels, no matter how much she would’ve enjoyed it
Don’t kill us, Parker! squeaked the iinary voices in her head, their voices helium-shrill
I can’t kill you You’re i the series—the little pains in the butt talked to her Another downside—Parker talked back
Seven or eight little hands shot up in the air
“Please write more Holy Rollers books, Miss Welles”
I’d rather bathe in ht Parker “No, sweetie, the Holy Rollers are in heaven now,” she answered “This is the last book in the series But you can see theet”
Today at her son’s preschool, the Holy Rollers, a book series so sickeningly precious it made The Velveteen Rabbit look like a chapter out of Sin City, was officially done Though they had made Parker moderately famous in the world of kiddie lit, had been translated into sixteen languages and had print runs in the gazillions, there was no getting around the fact that their author hated them
Hate is such an angry word! chorused the child angels We love you, Parker! Honestly, they were a Cartoon Network version of a Greek chorus, always popping into her head with unwanted advice
“Did you write Harry Potter?” was the next question, this one from Nicky’s friend Caitlin
“No, afraid not, honey But I love those books, don’t you?”
“Soet the Warm Fuzzles, just like the Holy Rollers,” Mariah said, and Parker nearly threw up in her mouth Had she really invented that ter at the time?
“Are you rich?” Henry Sloane asked
“Well,” Parker answered, “if you’re asking if I et for the Holy Rollers goes to a charity called Save the Children”
“That’s for kids who don’t have enough food,” Nicky said proudly, and Parker s about the book series Parker didn’t need the o, she’d donated all proceeds to the charity, which took away some of the nausea
“But you live in a mansion,” Will Michalski stated with authority “I’ve been there You have twenty-nine bathrooms”
“True enough,” she said, a twinge of discoh her
“It’s a row up!”
“Are you going to write another book?” asked Amelia
Excellent question Parker ht not love the Holy Rollers, but new ideas hadn’t exactly been pouring out of her “I hope so”
“What’s it about?”
“Um, I’m not quite sure yet But I’ll let you know, okay? Any other questions? Yes, Ben”
After another half hour, as the questions dwindled into what color wings Golly should have, the teacher finally stepped in
“Miss Welles has to get going, I’m sure,” she said “Kids, can you say thank-you to Nicky’s mom?”
“Thank you, Nicky’s s, the payoff for reading The Holy Rollers Earn Their Halos out loud
“A with Daddy this weekend?” Nicky asked as they walked to the car
“You sure are,” Parker answered She stroked her son’s dark hair Ethan’s weekend had coave her son a kiss, then bent to buckle him into his booster
“I can do it myself,” Nicky said
“Right Sorry, honey” She got into the driver’s seat and started the car
A weekend alone Parker tried not to sigh She really needed to find another idea for a series The Holy Rollers had been born as a spoof, sure, but they’d been her job for the past six years Aside fro a Gerard Butler movie or three, she had no plans
“You should sleep over, too,” Nicky suggested, practically reading herme a cake”
“The woman can bake, that’s for sure,” Parker said “What kind?”
“My favorite kind With the frosting and the coconut I can eat seven pieces, she said”
“Did she, Nicky?” Parker cocked an eyebrow Truth wasn’t a strong point for her little guy these days
“I think so She maybe said five But it was a lot”
Nicky continued to chatter about the joys that lay ahead of hi cake; a sail on Ethan’s boat;with Fat Mikey, Lucy and Ethan’s cat; possibly taking a bath with Fat Mikey; having cake atthe pirate’s cave that Mackerly, Rhode Island, supposedly possessed Like his grandift of chat
As she pulled onto Ocean View Drive, Parker frowned a little The preschooler’s co in aof ht of as the rich kid It hadn’t helped her; trust funds were hard to get past for a lot of people But Grayhurst had been in her farandfather at the turn of the century, and though she’d grown up in New York City, Parker had nant She had a lot of happy memories of childhood su to sail with her father Ethan lived in town, and she’d wanted Nicky to grow up knowing both his parents, even if they’d never beenin a mansion in which they really only used a few rooht