Lured into Love (Blossom in Winter Book 2) by Melanie Martins

Author:Melanie Martins [Martins, Melanie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Melanie Martins, LLC
Published: 2021-02-13T18:30:00+00:00

Manhattan, September 26, 2020

My new painting has been progressing well. It’s dark, melancholic, and… well, a bit depressing. A reflection of my own self, like Dr. Nel suggested. At least I’ve managed to keep myself busy and, most importantly, isolated from Janine and Dad, who’ve been pretty vocal about my eating habits.

“Petra, get out of here.” Dad keeps knocking impatiently on the locked door of my atelier. “You’re gonna have dinner with me whether you want to or not. Enough is enough!”

“I’m not hungry,” I shout once more as I remain focused on the canvas in front of me. “Leave me alone.”

But Dad doesn’t give up. “Very well. Janine will lock the kitchen door and there will be nothing for you to eat,” he threatens. I shrug my shoulders. If I want to eat, I will order something. “And no food delivery will be allowed to come in.”

I turn my gaze to the door at his serious tone, but knowing him as I do, I’m gonna guess he’s just bluffing. “Good…” I answer. And my attention goes back to the panting.

I hear an exasperated exhale from him. “Is this some sort of punishment toward me?” His question makes me stop for a second, my heart squeezing a bit at his concern. He sounds worried and genuinely saddened at not seeing me for the past few days. But I kill those thoughts just as fast. Dad is always bluffing, and at this point, I should know better. “Please open the door,” he insists, his tone laced with frustration as he keeps pushing on the handle in some hope that it’ll magically unlock itself. “I’ve been very patient with you, Petra. Why are you doing this?”

I ignore his second question just like I did the first one, and, picking up another brush, I take a bit more black oil paint from the palette and softly stroke it onto the canvas.

“Very well, I won’t leave until you open this door.” He’s so pushy, my goodness! “I just want to talk…” And it’s either me, or I just heard a quick sob coming from behind the door. “I haven’t seen you in days. Is it asking too much to have dinner with you?”

Closing my eyes, I blow out a breath in exasperation. I won’t be able to manage remaining focused if he keeps insisting and pushing me emotionally to the edge. It’s better to talk to him once and for all, and then come back later to paint. I put my brush and wooden palette down, clean my hands, and go to open the door. “Alright,” I mumble as I unlock it.

And to my surprise, his eyes widen in shock upon seeing me. “You are so…” He lets his words trail off as he observes me from top to bottom, disappointment laced in his gaze. “Skinny.” I can’t help but lower my head, ashamed in some way by what I’ve been doing to myself. I’ve been avoiding Janine and Dad like the plague for the past few days and pretending either to be asleep or to be too busy here to go down and eat.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.