Never Say No to Love (Sonoma Summers Book 2) by Jesse Devyn Crowe

Author:Jesse Devyn Crowe [Crowe, Jesse Devyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Phoenix Publications, Ardenvoir, WA
Published: 2019-11-20T16:00:00+00:00

Rita arrived a week later with three oversize suitcases in tow — I guess she thought she might stay a while. After playing tour guide and showing my cousin the San Francisco Bay Area for a week, I departed, leaving the apartment in her care. I hoped she'd embrace a new start, but it wasn't something I could do for her.

Chapter Seven

I refurbished the Glen Canyon house as Carl and I planned, embracing the project as a blank canvas. The empty walls became life-size murals, depicting flowering garden scenes, with stone doorways slightly ajar showing a slice of a mystical mythical world beyond. Unbeknownst to me, Carl photographed my work and placed it in his San Jose office suite, where the pieces gained substantial interest. So I became a mural painter for the Silicon Valley nouveau rich, while working alongside Carl every so often as a graphic artist to help his clients' side-businesses.

My transition to Santa Cruz was easier than I dared imagine. I made friends with some of the musicians and artists in the area, folks who appreciated my differentness and didn't expect me to present a posh and polished exterior. Rita visited every other month without fail, lounging by my refurbished pool and helping me paint walls or pick out bathroom fixtures or weed the rose garden — willing to do whatever was needed and bringing her characteristic caustic charm. Jim and Timothy passed through occasionally when Jim was playing in Santa Cruz, an opportunity for them to leave behind the bustling crowds of the city music scene and enjoy the peace and beauty of the canyon.

My relationship with Carl unfolded into a harmonious life filled with remarkable ease, our disagreements few and far between, mostly borne out of creative differences at work when our opinions clashed — although rarely for long. Carl's daughters visited every few months despite their mother's best attempts to block the established visitation arrangement. The girls loved the upstairs bedroom I'd designed for them with rainbow-colored fairies and bright flowers and pony-sized dragonflies on the walls. Victoria's law firm dragged the divorce agreement out, countering every proposal, demanding more money, and finally insisting on custody hearings presided over by a judge, rather than an arbitrator. Eventually, since the parties absolutely could not agree, the matter was finally forced onto a court docket to determine alimony and child support payments.

Long story short: now that I was in the picture, Victoria wanted a boatload of cash and Carl had reached the end of his patience. And his savings.

He and I couldn't marry until his divorce was finalized of course, and although I felt I was already married to the man in many ways, Carl desperately wanted things settled. The frustration with Victoria's lawyers and the ridiculous delays had him at his wit's end. No matter how often I assured him I was with him for the long haul and that we simply needed to wait it out, he still got quite upset over it periodically. He wanted us to be married, for our relationship to be official.

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.