Tulle Death Do Us Part by Diane Vallere

Author:Diane Vallere
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781954579835
Publisher: Polyester Press

18

It was hard to hear those words and not think they were tantamount to a threat.

I could say a lot of things about Carson, but they were informed by the time we dated, not the time since then. The main reason for our breakup wasn’t that I wanted to move to San Ladrón and reopen the fabric store; it was that I’d wanted to chase the unknown. I wanted to wake up every day and know that the next twenty-four hours had the possibility of being different than the previous twenty-four. I wanted to experience the struggles of trying to make ends meet, because that gave me purpose, and I wanted to celebrate both the highs and the lows of trying something that was not insured against failure.

Carson wanted security. He wanted to know what came next.

The trajectory of my future took a hard left when I moved to San Ladrón. Carson and I stayed in touch, mostly because, aside from the hurt at accepting our long-term relationship hadn’t panned out the way we’d both expected, we were friends. We knew each other in a way a lot of people never got to know from living together and sharing the struggle of our post-college days. The last time we’d talked had been after I asked his advice on a financial matter, and he went behind my back to leverage the opportunity for his gain. Not only had I been infuriated by his actions, but my personal life had been dinged too; Vaughn could have given me the very same advice and been hurt that I hadn’t turned to him.

Vaughn. He planned to go to the elementary school with me tomorrow when I talked to Beatriz’s teacher. How was I supposed to tell him I no longer needed to investigate Beatriz Rosen’s connection to San Ladrón when I wasn’t allowed to tell him about tonight?

I sliced a piece of cheese and stacked it on a cracker then bit down and made a noisy crunch. Beatriz now rested her head on the arm of the sofa. Her eyes were closed, and she didn’t respond to the sound of me eating. I swallowed and crunched into the second half of my cracker and cheese.

“Geez, woman,” Charlie said. “Make a little more noise, would you?”

I glanced at Beatriz. “I think she’s asleep.”

“She drank two glasses of Clark’s scotch when I cut her hair and two glasses here in the past ten minutes. I don’t think she’s asleep. I think she’s passed out.”

“I guess that means she’s spending the night on my sofa.”

“Is that a problem?”

“I’m supposed to spend tomorrow with Vaughn.”

“And?”

“And Clark told me not to say anything.”

“You’re kidding me, right? Do you not hear me, or do you actively choose not to listen to me?”

“What are you talking about?”

“What did I tell you the other day when you accused me of being a capitalist?”

“You said you do what’s right for you.”

“Right.”

“You think I should tell Vaughn.”

“What I think shouldn’t matter. It’s what you think that counts.

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.