Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 43837 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 219(@200wpm)___ 175(@250wpm)___ 146(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43837 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 219(@200wpm)___ 175(@250wpm)___ 146(@300wpm)
“I haven’t yet introduced myself,” Eddie begins, and he towers over her as he moves forward to offer his hand to Megan. “I’m Eddie. Eddie Snow.”
“Snow? As in Snow Condos and Apartments on Peachtree?” she asks him, wide-eyed. I can tell that she’s impressed and also maybe a little surprised.
“That and more,” Eddie tells her, nodding as he drops her hand.
Megan’s normally pretty features twist into something ugly that looks like jealousy for a moment, and I can’t help the smugness I feel. It makes me feel warm inside. Eddie is a good-looking man, and he’s with me and not with her.
“Right,” Megan echoes as she stares at him with wide eyes.
“And you are?” Eddie asks her in a cool tone of voice, completely calm and at ease around her, something I wonder if he learned while he’d been friends with my father. My dad was always a man to never fold under pressure. Even when he did something, he never relented, which is why he’s probably in jail now.
“Megan,” she softly offers to him, standing up a little bit straighter. “Well, I guess I better be getting back to the stage,” she quickly tells us all, pulling back, so she’s out of our circle completely. It makes me feel giddy and as if I’m finally in control because of Eddie. “Intermission is almost over, and I’ll be missed.”
“Yeah, sure, so nice meeting you,” Eddie says flippantly, sounding as if he doesn’t care. It makes me unreservedly happy to know that this man is so stuck on me that other women barely exist to him beyond me.
Stevie gives a happy little smile to Megan as she leaves, unaware of the tension between us all. “Good luck out there,” he calls after her. “Break a leg or two!”
“We could only be so lucky,” I whisper, and Eddie lets out a snort of laughter as my little brother joyfully hops back into the balcony toward our seats.
“Hey, are you okay?” Eddie asks me, brushing his fingers under my chin gently. “Kathleen? Are you alright?”
“She was always so annoying,” I tell him instead of answering because it’s true.
“But are you okay?” he asks me again, serious this time. “I’m sorry about that.”
“I think so, yeah,” I answer him honestly, looking at Eddie with eyes I know must hold a hell of a lot of emotion for him. I can’t even fathom the depth of what I feel for this man. “That was a lot to deal with, but you did it well, I think.”
“I’m sorry if I crossed the line with her,” Eddie tells me. “I just didn’t want her to think she could talk to you however she wanted. I don’t think it’s right.”
“You keep throwing that Snow last name around here, and we’re going to have the camera’s chasing us,” I answer him playfully. His features relax some at my ribbing.
“How did you know that would work on her? Knowing you were wealthy? She shriveled up so quickly when she heard who you really were. It was great.”
“Well, she was up here at intermission, right?” Eddie says, shrugging as if it’s an easy thing to know. “The only reason an actress would come up here in the limited amount of time they have to be off stage is to try and secure powerful friends. I sometimes listen to my sisters when they talk about things like this, though neither of them ever has to know I said so.”
If I remember correctly, Robin had gone to school to be a lawyer but has settled on being a graphic artist, and Riley is some kind of school teacher-turned-internet influencer.
I’m not sure exactly about either one of them, but I do know that they’re both smart women with good heads on their shoulders. I always admired them both when I was younger, and I knew them.
“I won’t tell them. It will just be our little secret,” I tell him, bumping him gently with my shoulder. “They would probably just get a big head about it anyway.”
Eddie laughs softly in agreement, and my mind clings to the sound of it.
When we get back in the car, the night catches up to me, and I fall asleep quickly.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Eddie
The eggs crack easily into the bowl and I mix them quickly, tipping them into the pan on the stove. At my back, Stevie sits with a cup of orange juice in his hand.
“Does your sister ever have the chance to sleep in?” I ask the little boy, turning a bit to look over my shoulder at him as I cook. “Or does she ever get to relax?”
Stevie takes a moment before he answers.
“Not really. She works most of the time at night, and I stay with Mrs. Maxine. She gets up too early in the mornings.”
“Oh yeah?” I ask him, smiling wryly as I plate the fluffy eggs. “She gets up too early for you, kid? You ever think she’s doing the right thing for you?”