Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 130286 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 651(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130286 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 651(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
She had intended to go to the salon eventually, knowing he preferred her waxed with only a
trimmed patch at the top. Looked like he’d thought of everything. She supposed she could indulge him
for his thirty days. What was the harm? So long as he wasn’t interrupting her plans with Jason, she
saw no trouble in humoring his request. “I guess I could stay here.”
“Good.” He kissed her lips, a satisfied grin on his face.
She took a few experimental steps in her flip-flops. The smack of the shoe against her heel made
her frown. God, she was like an alien, always trying to get used to new things. Get over it, Keats.
They’re shoes.
Lucian hustled in and out of the room, sorting through his money on the bureau, returning to the
bathroom to tidy his hair, and finally to kiss her good-bye. When he left, the condo was filled with
impenetrable silence. She wandered around for several moments, pondering what she should do for the
next few hours.
The sharp ring of the house phone startled her. “Hello?”
“Ms. Keats?”
“Yes?”
“This is Camille from the salon. Mr. Patras asked me to call and inform you your appointment is at
eleven.”
She glanced at the clock. It was quarter to. “Oh, okay. I’ll be right down.”
“He wanted me to remind you to bring a book so you have something to do during your paraffin
treatment and pedicure.”
So he had decided what she would be doing with the remaining hours of the day. She smiled. If she shoved away the initial offense at being coddled, she could actually get used to feeling so cared for.
“Okay. Thank you.”
She hung up the phone and went to her bag. Evelyn wasn’t going to bust out her elementary
workbook at the salon, so she grabbed her dictionary. She’d practice reading words. Jason had been
working on combination sounds and consonant blends with her. She’d play around in the ph section for a while, because that still threw her off.
Chapter 16
Speak Easy
Over the following days, Evelyn discovered a side to herself she only knew from distant musings.
Lucian decided everything for her from the type of panties she wore to what vegetables she ate with
her dinner. She couldn’t imagine how such an arrangement was benefiting him. She, on the other hand
was making out like a bandit.
She saw no fault in temporarily indulging his request to take better care of her, so long as he didn’t
override her decision to continue with her education. Her lessons with Jason took an incredible
amount of time. The work she did on her own often left her tired, but Lucian was encouraging her
every step of the way. His determination to control the little details was actually helping her focus on her top priorities.
The freedom of not having to make one decision after another cleared her head into a state of purity
she never experienced before. Her tasks were simple: focus on her schooling, rest, tend to Lucian—
which was never a chore—and simply be.
It was a vacation from herself in a fundamental but intangible way she was quickly learning to live
with. And she liked his choices, from the style of underwear to the menu. He knew her so well, knew what she liked, and appeared to understand exactly what she needed.
On Friday morning, Lucian arranged for Dugan to take her to visit Pearl. Evelyn complained, still
feeling beaten down from her last visit with her mother, but he felt it was for the best that she replace her recent memories with better ones. In the end, she was glad he pushed her.
Pearl was quiet, somewhat withdrawn, but the presence of sullen doubt and jaded opinions helped to
put Evelyn’s world back on its proper axis. As always, her mother complained about her stay at the
rehab as though she were an imprisoned criminal, voicing falsehoods of how good she used to have it
on the streets.
Evelyn took stock of the increased thickness of her mother’s wrists, the fullness of her hair, and the
lack of sallowness in her skin. These were the evidence of better living. Lucian had done this as well.
Her mother, who had been malnourished and withered since Evelyn could remember, was finally
beginning to look like a somewhat healthy person. Her jaded, cynical opinions of the world said
otherwise, as did her nonsensical ramblings that indicated mental illness, but Evelyn had grown used
to such tendencies.
Nevertheless, Lucian had suggested setting Pearl up with a specialist capable of performing
evaluations of her mental health and possibly getting her on additional medication. Evelyn agreed it
wouldn’t hurt to utilize the professionals at her mother’s disposal, but it was still a lot to take in. Her mother was not normal and would always be a little bit broken. Seeing physical improvement at least
made up for something.
Once her visit with Pearl was over, Evelyn saw that Lucian was again right. Seeing her mother had
healed some of the hurt from her prior visit. Once back at the penthouse, she’d called Lucian and