Page 44 of Secrets, Lies and Love

I thought I was immune to the memories, but apparently they are still deeply rooted inside me, wreaking havoc.

I go to the bathroom, squeezing my eyes shut to keep from crying.

It’s done. Peyton and Jodelle are just bad memories from the past. They can’t hurt me anymore.

I need to repeat this like a mantra. I can’t afford to break. There is no one to pick up my pieces later.

Cecily

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

“Something’s happened,”Elina says when Zoe, the wife of another of Dionysus’s cousins, enters the dressing room.

“Do you have a crystal ball?” I ask.

“No. I’m just an observer. For a long time I listened more than I spoke and learned to read people. Tell me.”

I could talk about my sleepless night after the inappropriate conversation with my boss, but I’m not that brave. After I got dressed and grabbed the baby monitor, I waited, watching Dionysus through the device until he left the room. I saw him pull out the rocking chair and watch his son in the crib. He stayed there for a long time, and the contrast between the loving father and the seductive man is so enchanting that it drives my entire system crazy.

I choose to report Peyton’s phone call instead. “Remember I told you I have a stepsister and a stepmother?”

“Yes.”

“Peyton, analmost-sister who was never anything to me other than a stranger, called me. She wanted to visit me in Manhattan.”

“And would that be so bad?”

I wonder if I should tell her my story, but I don’t want her to feel sorry for me, so I summarize everything. “After my father died, Jodelle, my stepmother, became my guardian. While I lived with them, life was hell. I want distance from both of them.”

“Did you tell your sister that?”

“She’s not my sister.” I remember Keith. Yes, he was the only friend I had.

“Still, she has the power to upset you.”

“I know. I thought about it. I still allow people to hurt me.”

“Sometimes it’s not a matter ofallowing. We are human, flawed, and emotions are difficult to contain most of the time. Want to hear some advice from someone who comes from a completely dysfunctional family?”

I nod my head, signaling yes.

“Don’t hide yourself so much. Nobody is strong all the time. You don’t have to be perfect. Just learn to say “no” and be okay with it. You said they were mean to you, so you don’t owe either of them anything.”

“Thank you, Elina.”

“It’s got to be this one.” Zoe, a beautiful ex-top-model, comes out of the fitting room stall in a champagne-colored dress. “Have you chosen yours yet?”

“Cici is somewhere between red and tea pink.”

“Red, always!” Christos’s wife says.

“To match the hair?” I ask, discouraged.

“Baby, there’s no way to hide your hair color. You are a natural redhead, and some women would give an arm to have that color. I vote for red, without a shadow of a doubt.”

“That’s five times what I can afford for an outfit like that. The chance of me being invited to another wedding is very small, and if it happens, it will probably be with you two, which means Iwon’t be able to wear it again. It’s a big investment for something I’ll wear only once.”

“Lucky for you, this store belongs to me,” the Greek woman’s friend says. “Choose whatever you want—it will be a gift.”

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