Total pages in book: 181
Estimated words: 171979 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 573(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 171979 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 573(@300wpm)
Sheer determination not to humiliate herself further held her immobile rather than shoving him out of the way. What was Kent Bryant doing here?
“No one is supposed to be in the room while I’m cleaning,” she said angrily, trying to disguise her voice.
She knew Kent wasn’t Matthias, so she was going to kill April if she knew there were going to be two people here.
“I guess today’s the day for breaking the rules, because you’re not the woman scheduled to be here, which gives Mr. Luciano grounds to dispute the charge.”
Her stomach sank in dread.
Had Kent recognized her? All the crap she had put up with from Bree and Livvy had been in vain. There was no way she was going to be able to show her face in the office again. All the things she had planned to buy with the tip money withered and died. If Ivo lost the money from the cleaning, he wouldn’t fire her, but he had been so good to her that she didn’t want him to lose the money, or the client. She wasn’t the only one whom he helped out.
“April asked me to take over for her,” she explained in a calmer voice, trying to change the sound of her voice while inwardly still screaming at herself to run.
“Actually, that is why Mr. Luciano sent me in here. He only wants her to clean his house. Will she be back next week?”
Gripping the hose of the vacuum tightly, she held it close to her chest, still not turning back around to face him. “April won’t be coming back. She’s getting married,” she said in a strangled voice.
“I’ll inform Mr. Luciano. He left your tip on the entryway table. He doesn’t require you to finish cleaning. You can go.”
“Okay.”
She listened for any sounds in the room, was frantic to leave, but didn’t want to turn around in case Mr. Bryant was still there. When she didn’t hear anything for several minutes, she turned her head slowly around to see he had left.
Dropping the vacuum hose as if it was a hot poker, she took off running out of the kitchen, nearly skidding on the hardwood floors as she barreled into the old-fashioned coat rack to remove her coat. She jerked it on and tied the belt at her waist before reaching for the doorknob. She was almost out the door when she saw the money sitting on the wooden table.
A piece of her soul died when she went back to snatch the money into her hand then rushed back to the door. She didn’t breathe until she was locked inside her car and speeding away, holding back the burning tears of humiliation.
Did he recognize me? she asked herself hysterically. He would have only needed to look at her for a split-second when she first turned around, before she turned her back to him again. The wig was a different color than her hair. He might not have recognized her.
“I’m not going to cry.” She repeated the mantra over and over out loud. She had learned to say those words to keep herself calm instead of crying. Tears didn’t solve problems; her parents had drilled that into Glory’s and her head from the time they were old enough to understand what they were saying.
Life had been hard for her parents. They had raised them in the ideology that you had to roll with the punches life dealt you. Had they not been taught that, Sage thought they would have crumbled when they returned to Glory and Denny’s house, faced with another aftereffect of the fire.
How many punches was she supposed to take? How much longer could she paint a pretty picture for Glory that everything was going to work out? Could something work out for her for once without it backfiring?
She wished for just one person to talk through all her burdens with. Glory used to be her go-to person, but she had to stay positive with her. Their parents were both deceased. Their father had been a plumber before he died of a heart attack her junior year of high school. Their mother had passed away two days after she started college.
Glory had had Denny to help with the unexpected losses, while all she had was her schoolwork. April had become her confidante at work, but they had never hung out afterward. She didn’t have her anymore. She had never had an outgoing personality, so without the steady presence of her parents, she had sunk deeper into a solitude, which had become a prison she didn’t know how to escape from.
Sometimes, she felt as if she were a robot going through the motions of living. The only true happiness she had in life anymore were Glory, Colby, and Tinsley. And she wouldn’t have them if Glory didn’t need her help. They might have grown up together, but they were as different as day and night. Glory was vivacious, the belle of the party, while she was a wallflower, content to live in her own little world of solitude. The fire had drawn them closer together, giving them the bond they had lacked in their childhood.