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40: Subterfuge
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Abandoned, Evelyn tread the path to the subway moodily and even more quickly than she did normally with Lily—she hated to ride the subway alone. So much so in fact that she’d plan to walk rather than take it when she knew she’d have no other option besides go alone. What’s more, in the sweltering summer heat made worse by an uncharacteristic and lingering heatwave, it was miserable as well as somewhat frightening and disheartening—hot, sticky, the air close and heavy and reeking of the discomfort of all the overwarm bodies pressed together inside it.
Boarding the train, she took a handloop as she and Lily usually did, flinching and turning the opposite direction when another passenger lifted his arm for the loop next to hers, and the pungent scent of him diffused into the air near her face. Around her, the train surged forward, the noisy rhythmic clacking along the tracks and the stifling temperature lulling her into drowsiness.
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World of Tomorrow 42: Narrow Escapes
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World of Tomorrow 43: Challenges
Dear God, Evelyn thought trudging up the Trust’s stairs. Even this early in the day, the monotonous gray cement stairwell was blisteringly hot and stuffy, and her rising physical discomfort added to the intertwined panic and confusion clanging madly in her head. She wondered which one of them was lying about their identity— Edwardo Montero? Or Mrs. Stiles. Probably both, she thought contemptuously. No question about why Evelyn herself didn’t like either of them—why her stomach twisted into pretzel knots the instant either of them was around—and knowing they were together in whatever malign scheme they were hatching only made it worse. ‘We need to talk’, the sleazy detective had said menacingly. She doubted it. Yet the same instinct that made her insides wrench with anxiety upon seeing him, lit up her neural pathways like the Empire State building at night, anxious to hear what he had to say. Just not whil
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Andrew’s voice sounded raspy, doubtless from the argument with his mother, but still cultured, elegant and cool. Between the gravel in his voice and his disheveled appearance, his fine suit wrinkled as he sat cross-legged on the floor like one of the children, the exchange they were having seemed absurd, even bordering on surreal. Stripped of his polished veneer, he should have sounded fanatic. Instead, he sounded entirely sincere. Evelyn’s heart lurched and her eyes widened in shock, then the cold hard truth intruded again. She had to keep her defenses up—she was too big of a pushover to his charms otherwise, and all that had landed her was a broken heart. “You want what you can’t have, Andrew.” Cocking his head, he huffed a laugh and flashed her a megawatt smile. “That’s not how I imagined that going.” “Cinderella stories only work for real princesses.” He look
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“What do you suppose he’s doing here?”Evelyn scarcely looked up at Lily’s question. Instead she gave a grateful sigh as they emerged from the revolving door, removing the handkerchief from her purse, and wiped her nose. “The same thing everyone else is—working or banking.”As they neared the elevators and the density of the crowd increased, Lily’s curiosity was piqued. “Oh, please. Did you even look up?”“I’m sorry. I didn’t, but I would hope you’d understand. I’m not exactly at my best right now.” She dabbed her nose again and folding the kerchief tightly around itself, tucked it back in her purse, glancing up startled when Lily’s hands closed on her upper arms.Her sky blue eyes were focused elsewhere. “He’s not banking, and I guarantee if he’s w
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World of Tomorrow 139: Epilogue
“Stop, Peter!” Sarah exclaimed, whirling to face behind her. She shot her brother an angry glare. “Peter, for pity’s sake, don’t throw dirt clods at your sister,” Andrew called over his shoulder, shifting his swaddled, sleeping son from his right shoulder to his left as they walked the long, tree-lined drive that led to the James’ estate, perched with its back on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Gulls rode the ocean updrafts in the afternoon sun above the glistening water, occasionally diving when something of interest caught their eye. On the opposite side of the tree-lined drive, his wife’s tiny orchard of glossy-leaved oranges in full bloom left a sweet scent drifting over the drive on the warm, salty breeze off the sea. Not far away, Evelyn's gated garden was growing lush with upright stalks of corn, twined in the loving arms of pole beans with the wide leaves of squash spreading in a carpet at their feet along the ground in one row. In another, her tomatoes were already d
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World of Tomorrow 134: As Luck Would Have It
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World of Tomorrow 133: Black Tuesday
The hotel’s ballroom was a gently baroque style. Its elegant space was replete with all manner of luxuries one would expect of a high-profile hotel, no matter where one might visit in the world—custom paneled with artfully etched-mirror and plaster walls, gold-leafed accents and intricate crown moldings. Above the near-magical dancefloor, which was lit from below, hung in the decorative ceiling, a ponderous crystal chandelier lit the warm wooden dancefloor beneath it. Along the periphery, undulating balconies supported by Corinthian pilasters gave an air of classicism to the space, but one not overly staid. These generous galleries provided seating for those who had only come for a meal, to watch the dancing or to listen to the orchestra. They’d dressed for a late dinner, but though the orchestra played, their music broadcast exactly as Evelyn had always dreamed of experiencing, she and Andrew hadn’t danced. In fact, they hadn’t stayed much longer than
World of Tomorrow 132: Miserable Monday
“The Coronado was built, and I believe is now run, by Preston Bradshaw,” Andrew advised more than an hour later as their cab pulled away from the curb at the train depot. “He graduated from Columbia with my brother, Russell. The two were quite good friends as I recall. My father introduced him to Stanford White in New York City where he worked before returning to St. Louis. He’s responsible for the monumental hotels on Lindell Boulevard. The Melbourne and the Coronado at midtown and the theatre district. And opposite, near the Central West end, the Chase and the Forest Park hotels were also his commissions.” “Did you know him?” Evelyn asked, closing her burning eyes and resting her head against his shoulder. “Is that why we’re staying at the Coronado?” She left unspoken the reminder that the Coronado Hotel, in particular the hotel’s famed Caprice Club, was where they’d found Charlotte to serve Andrew’s divorce paperwork after their tip-off from the Princes in Los Angeles.
World of Tomorrow 131: Arrival
The following morning Evelyn woke alone. She could tell by the way his belongings were packed that Andrew had already risen. If she was any guess, he was taking advantage of the train’s onboard barber, which meant she had time to bathe and dress without his typical morning enthusiasm for both processes. Selecting a warm dress from her traveling case, she draped her clothing over the empty towel rack in the bathroom and rooted through her toiletries for her toothbrush and toothpowder. When she was done, she hung a fresh towel on the rack nearest the shower beside the still-damp one Andrew had used and stepped under the spray. The warm shower felt delightful and soothed the telltale soreness from her bedroom exertions with her husband the night before. Once she’d washed, she stood with the warm spray draining off of her and for the first time since they’d come, wondered what they were going to do in St. Louis. They had only the name of a diner and a hotel off t
