Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 145803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
“Come here. Let me see.”
Raine looked as if she might throw herself off the bed, so Vienna hastened to her side so she could see the engagement ring close up.
“He picked it out himself and it’s perfect for me.”
“It is. He knows you so well.” Raine subsided against the pillows, looking lost. “I don’t think I’m ever going to have that—someone really knowing me. I confuse men.” She gave her friends a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “I think I confuse myself.”
“What do you mean?” Harlow asked.
Raine shrugged. “I’m a contradiction. Most brainiacs are gamers on their downtime. They don’t hike and climb. I’m an avid hiker and climber. Most hikers and climbers don’t have the kind of job I do. And they aren’t all girlie.” She looked down at her perfectly manicured fingernails. “They don’t have gorgeous boots in their closets they can’t wait to wear with darling little swing dresses they’re addicted to. They don’t dream about owning a gift shop instead of dealing with classified material.”
“Raine, you’ll find someone.” Vienna’s heart ached for her.
“I want someone who knows all of me. Not just one side of me. And I have such a bad temper. I really try to get that under control, but you know how mean I can get under the right circumstances. That doesn’t help. I try not to be the smartest person in the room, but when men get all superior and start talking down to me, I can’t help putting them in their place, and I’m not subtle about it.”
Vienna knew Raine had had her heart broken once. She’d been shattered, and the effects had been long-lasting. She didn’t trust herself anymore. She didn’t trust the men vying for her attention. She never let them in.
“You’ll find someone,” she reiterated. “When you least expect it. I did. Zale was persistent when I kept shoving him away.” She had the feeling that if a man really wanted Raine, he would have to pursue her and knock her over with a bowling ball.
Raine smiled at her. “I’m glad you all came to see me. What other news do you have for me? I can’t look anything up on my laptop and they’ve disconnected my television set.”
“That’s so mean,” Shabina said. “What is the point of isolating you?”
“They want my brain to rest. And they want me to learn to meditate and slow down.”
There was a small silence. “Does your brain slow down?” Vienna asked carefully.
“No,” Raine answered honestly.
“Did you explain that to them?” Vienna pursued.
Raine shrugged. “What’s the use? I did to Rush when he kept asking me what was wrong. I hated that he knew something was wrong. No one ever knows, but he seems to be able to read me when no one else can. It’s disconcerting.”
“What did Rush say when you told him you can’t turn off your brain?”
Raine rubbed her temple. That small gesture alarmed Vienna. Raine only did that when she had the beginnings of one of her headaches. “He said he understood because he had the same problem. He told me his mother used to say his brain was too big for his head and there was no off switch. He told me his mother would massage his scalp when he would get headaches, although that would make his father angry because men don’t get headaches.”
The women gave a collective gasp of exasperation. “I thought that bull had been put to bed a long time ago,” Harlow said.
Shabina shook her head. “It’s alive and well.”
“It’s awful,” Zahra said. “I know my brother was expected to live up to a very high standard and never complain about anything. I thought I had it bad, but he had it worse in many ways.”
Zahra rarely talked about the family she no longer was allowed to see or interact with. Vienna’s heart ached for her. More than ever, she was grateful she had Mitzi and Ellen back in her life. “I forgot to tell you, Mom and Ellen said to say hello and they hope you get better soon. They would have come to visit you, but they couldn’t get their names put on the visitor list. We were lucky to get ours on there.”
Raine’s golden-red eyebrows nearly met as she frowned. “I have a visitor list? And only a certain number of visitors can be put on there? Are you serious? People like Luciano Vitale are making the cut but your mother and Ellen aren’t?” She sounded outraged. “Who is making the decisions on who can see me and who can’t?”
She threw back the covers and looked as if she might leap from the bed. Vienna caught her hand to stay her actions. “What are you doing?”
“I have to get out of here, Vienna. I’m going crazy. I really am. I can’t stay in this place another minute. Now they’re telling me who I can see?”