After he had gotten a charger for me, we headed down to the kitchen. I memorized our journey down, so I could make my way back up when I needed to.“Why not have sign boards?” I asked in the kitchen.“The house isn’t that big.” His eyes darted to me, as if he was deciding if he should say more or not.“When I was old enough to be unsupervised, I would use markers on the bottom of the walls to help me find my way around. Then they would paint over them whenever Grace wanted a new feel of the house and I would have to start over, it was a game of sorts. There’s not a lot of adventure to have when you’re the only kid in a big house.”I could picture a boyish version of him, walking around alone, trying doors just like I did and marking them up.“Of course I grew out of it. A year in and I knew most of the house like the back of my hand.” He cleared his throat gruffly. “Do you remember the directions?”“I think it’s pretty solid in my head, thank you.”“My pleasure. The kitchen is
Plates clanked against each other as we took generous portions of the different dishes. Grace took the first bite. Her brows lifted in surprise when the flavors of the carprese burst on her tongue.“Mae, this is absolutely delicious! You mean to tell me you make food like these every day in the restaurant?”I twirled pasta onto my fork. “Basically, although, I have to say that the food was so much better when my dad was in charge, he had a touch no one could replicate.”“Why isn’t he running the place anymore?” Benjamin asked as he chewed.“About two years ago, He had his first heart attack. We…started meds , that sorta thing and uhh… the heart attack triggered a heart failure, and then he got cardiac arrest which scared the living sh-we were terrified.” I laughed sadly. “We made it so that he would stay at home more, get enough rest, so he doesn’t do much nowadays.”I was such a Debbie Downer. Everyone looked at me with sympathy. My cheeks heated.“I think he should still cook.
I had no desire to wake up the next morning. The thought of leaving the room to face Grace, Benjamin or Ethan’s granddad was very unappealing, but the clock hit ten, I was starving, and knew it would be rude by courtesy rules to avoid them for longer, so I took a shower, used an opened toothbrush I found in the cabinets, and headed down. The kitchen was empty, so was the library and living room. I didn’t know where else to check so I just stood there lost in thought“Are you looking for Ethan?” I heard Grace call behind me. My cheeks flushed, as if I had been caught red-handed being bad.“Yeah, I don’t know if he left last night.”“No, he left very early this morning.”“Oh, thanks.”We stood in awkward silence.“I’m sorry for how he acted yesterday,”She brushed it off immediately. “…Happens more often than I would like” she admitted, “I guess I deserve it, I wasn’t the ideal mother.” I willed her to say more. “You’re still in that dress, I’ll have to find something else for yo
I paused for a second, rethinking my decision. Was it important that I looked her up? What was the advantage of knowing about her, vs. remaining in the dark? At the end, my curiosity won.Silently I typed Ava’s name into my phone and hit search. The pictures that popped up forced my jaw to drop. Ava Williams was not simply beautiful; she was super-model stunning, which made a fitting career for her. Popular brands popped on the screen the more I scrolled. I felt a pang of jealousy when I saw a picture of her and Ethan during a red carpet event. She was smiling up at him in a breathtaking dress that matched her skin tone, giving the illusion of bareness. A delicate hand was resting on his chest, as she smiled at the camera. The headline had called them the power couple of the century. I didn’t understand why Ethan did not just wed her. They both came from the same social class, she had a thriving career and complimented his good looks with hers. Independent- Right...that was it. Ava Wi
I know he wanted to talk. We could not stay outside, in case they were reporters around, nor did I think it was smart to stay anywhere close to my father, that left one possible choice.“Come with me” I said and pointed a thumb towards the stairs. He gave a curt nod and followed silently behind me as I led him to my room.If I thought Ethan in the living room was an invasion, then him, in my bedroom was so much worse. I couldn’t help but be hyper aware of all his movements. The way his eyes roamed over the contents on my dressing table before he leaned on it, the colorful fashion designs I had pinned on my walls and the general disorder that was my bedroom.“You didn’t use the card.” He said gruffly, his face set in a scowl.“I needed a break today. You said the gala is not till the weekend so, I reckon I still have time to find something to wear.“He nodded. “And the documents?”“I’ll send them to your email this evening.” I began to feel mild irritation. He could easily ask me those
A driver was outside the door early the next morning just as Ethan promised, but so were a few reporters. I don’t know if they were there of their own accord or if Ethan had dropped an anonymous tip. Either way they were outside when I left the house, and they took several photos of me in my red waistcoat and matching pleated skirt before the driver opened the car door. Contrary to Ethan’s believe I had good looking clothes, I had spent the most part of my high school, making outfits I dreamt I could wear to a fashion school.I greeted the driver politely just as I slipped into the back seat. Only when he had turned , gotten into his side of the car and pulled away from my home, did he answer me,“Good morning miss Ricci. My name is Gideon and I was instructed to take you wherever you need.” He finished looking at me in the rearview mirror.“It’s nice to meet you, Gideon.”“Would you like some recommendations? I’ve driven lots of celebrities to fashion stores before I started wor
“…so I told her that if she wanted Anchovy’s in her salad, she could just fucking buy em instead of screaming like a toddler. Let’s just say the whole dinner went smoothly after that.”I doubled over, laughing my head off. Wynona was the easiest person to be around.“Did you get the contract after that?”“What do you think?” she smirked as she pulled a blue sequined dress from a hanger and pressed to her body. So far, we had hit three stores.“What do you think about this one?”“I think it takes away from you, rather than compliment your tone.” Since she learned that I was passionate about fashion, she would constantly ask my opinion.“You don’t let people walk over you especially now that you’ll soon be Mrs. Crowe. They didn’t get their reputation from being softies. The black or the green?”“Black’s better, but we can do better.”“Just find a dress for me!”I lay the dress in my hand gently on the lounge. “I think your color should be purple. “ I rooted around for deep colo
I was disappointed by Ethan’s reaction to my dress when he picked me up in the evening. He took a hard look at me and then frowned as if my very presence was going to ruin his entire evening. I mean I didn’t expect him to fall head over heels in love with me, but the dress…It deserved a little bit of attention. I would have settled for a backhanded compliment too but none was forthcoming. He remained silent the entire drive, making me more nervous.When the driver stepped out to open the door for us, he spoke for the first time.“They will be more than a dozen eyes on us tonight. There won’t be any cameras on the inside so we can relax a little. But people will be watching. A few of them will report to my grandfather by dawn tomorrow.We have to give them a good show.”“Nice pep talk. I don’t feel nervous anymore.” I answered, sarcastically.“Then it’s a good thing we’re not here to please you.”He got out first, and then extended a hand to me in the car. Here goes nothing, I si