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  “Now, here’s a stunning white gold and diamond ring that is sure to be sold out in no time,” the QVC host announced, and Alicia agreed with her completely. It was beautiful and very classic. It was a neat little band with diamonds covering the entire circumference and she had to have it.

  She pressed the speed-dial number she’d assigned to QVC and the representative answered immediately. Of course, her shipping and credit card information were already in the system, and since she was calling from her home phone number, the representative had already identified who she was.

  “Will we be shipping to the Lampley Cove address?”

  “Yes.”

  “Your first item number, please?”

  Alicia read the number she’d written down in her notebook and told the rep she needed a size seven.

  “Next item,” the woman continued.

  “That will be it for now…no, wait.” Alicia stopped when she saw a pair of hoop earrings on the TV screen. She already had a pair that looked similar, but these were a bit smaller and would look great when she wasn’t dressed up and wanted to wear a T-shirt and jeans. So, she quickly spoke the item number and the woman confirmed her order.

  Alicia thanked her and then heard the call waiting signal. Someone was calling from the church and while she knew it could either be Phillip or her father, she had a feeling it was Phillip and debated whether she should answer.

  She waited but then muted the television and pressed the Flash button. “Hello?”

  “Hey, I just wanted to call to say I’m sorry and that I hate when we argue like this.”

  Alicia had prepared herself for combat, but her face softened when she heard him apologize. “I hate it when we argue, too.”

  “I know I get upset about the way you spend money but in the end I hope you know how much I love you. I love you with all my heart and, baby, you really do mean the world to me.”

  “I love you, too, sweetie,” she told him and suddenly felt her eyes watering. Phillip made her so angry when he ragged on her about money, but she did love him and even after only being married to him for a short period of time, she already knew she didn’t want to live without him.

  “Truce?” he offered.

  “Truce.”

  “So, what were you doing before I called?”

  “Working on the outline for my novel.”

  “Well, that’s good news. You haven’t worked on that in a while now.”

  “I know, and it’s really time I started taking my writing a lot more seriously, because the sooner I finish the outline, the sooner I can get the entire manuscript written, and then start submitting it to literary agents.”

  “Once you finish it, you’ll be published in no time.”

  “You really think so?”

  “Of course. Your short stories and articles are excellent, so now all you have to do is write an actual book.”

  “Yeah, but a full-length book is a lot more time-consuming, and it takes a lot more character developing and plotting.”

  “But you can do it if you truly want to.”

  Alicia watched the QVC host displaying a diamond, oval-shape pendant hanging from a dainty chain. It was another must-have, and she hoped Phillip wasn’t planning to be on the phone with her much longer. She’d already lied to him about what she was doing, and she didn’t want to tell another lie just so she could end their conversation.

  “Well, I guess I’d better get going, but again, baby, I’m sorry.”

  Alicia’s prayers had been answered. “So am I. And I love you.”

  “I love you, too, and happy writing.”

  “Bye.”

  Alicia dropped the phone to the side of her and quickly jotted down the item number of the necklace. Then, she jotted down the information for a second pair of white gold earrings, except these were a lot dressier than the hoops she’d purchased earlier. She waited to see what the next item was going to be, however, when she saw it, she decided she wasn’t interested and called to place her next order. Right after, though, she flipped to the Home Shopping Network and smiled when she saw this fabulous-looking, mustard-colored leather jacket. It must have been the sharpest thing she’d seen in months, and she could already see herself wearing it with a cute white short-sleeved top and matching pure white pants. It was only February, but just a matter of time before it would be warm outside.

  After another hour of not seeing much of anything that was worth her while, Alicia turned off the television and decided it really was time for her to work on her outline. She’d put it off long enough, and the more she thought about it, if she could finish writing her first novel and was blessed enough to get it published, she’d have a chance at earning her own six-figure income. Which would be good because then Phillip wouldn’t have a single reason to complain about anything. She’d have her own money, and this problem they were having would be over with.

  Alicia tore out the notebook pages she’d written her item numbers on and went into her office and shredded them. She did this because the last thing she needed was for Phillip to see her notes and then instigate another argument. This was also the reason she was glad he worked all day, Tuesday through Friday, because for whatever reason, not many of the packages she received tended to come on Monday or Saturday. Those were Phillip’s two off days, and it was just better if he didn’t see most of the things she ordered. There was an occasional delivery every now and then on both of those particular days, but thankfully they were very rare.

  When Alicia sat down in front of her computer, the phone rang and she smiled when she saw that it was her mother.

  “Hey, Mom.”

  “Hi, sweetie. How are you?”

  “I’m good, and you?”

  “Fine.”

  “And James?” Alicia asked, referring to her stepfather.

  “He’s doing fine as well.”

  “I can’t believe I haven’t seen you in almost two weeks.”

  “I know, and that’s pretty unusual for you.”

  “It is, but I’ll see you this week for sure. I’ve been a little busier than normal with some of our church activities, but this month will be a lot more open,” Alicia told her but felt somewhat guilty because she knew her statement was only partly true. The real reason she hadn’t stopped by to see her mother and James was that the last couple of times she’d driven over to the Chicago area, she’d spent so much time shopping, it had become too late for her to head out to the suburb where they lived and still get home early enough to keep Phillip from asking questions—suspicious questions relating to her whereabouts and the kind she didn’t want to have to answer.

  “Honey, you know I understand, and there’s no need to explain. You have a husband now that you need to spend time with, and even though we’re only ninety miles away from you, that’s still a pretty good ways to drive on a regular basis.”

  “I know, Mom, but I miss you.”

  “I miss you, too, but your husband comes first, and you should never forget that.”

  “I know.”

  “So, what have you been doing this morning?”

  “Oh my goodness, Mom, I bought this amazing yellow jacket. It’s dark like mustard.”

  “This early? Did one of the stores have a thirteen-hour sale or something?”

  “No, I ordered it from HSN.”

  “The Home Shopping Network?”

  “Yep.”

  “Alicia,” her mother said, sounding disappointed.

  “What, Mom?”

  “I know you’re grown and that we’ve talked about this before, but honey, you really need to cut back on some of your spending.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you know Phillip isn’t happy about it.”

  Alicia loved her mother with all her soul, but she didn’t like any of what she was saying. It was true that they had had this conversation before, but Alicia was getting a little sick of everyone, specifically her mother and Phillip, making such a big deal about nothing. S
he was sick of people telling her what she should and shouldn’t do, and she wasn’t sure how much more of it she could take.

  “Mom, everything is fine. Things are not as bad as you think. Believe me.”

  “Maybe it’s time you considered finding a job. Even if it’s only part-time.”

  “But if I do that, I won’t have time to work on my novel.”

  “Of course you will. You can write before you go to work or after you get home. I’m sure other writers do that all the time.”

  “Maybe.”

  “You really should, and just a few weeks ago, your dad was telling me that he wants you to come work at the church. He said something about a public relations position, so has he talked to you about it yet?”

  It still amazed Alicia that even though she was twenty-two, her parents still discussed her life like she was a child. They were divorced, but they always seemed to stay in contact so they could talk about her and what she was doing.

  “Yes, he mentioned it but I told him I’d think about it.”

  “Well, I think you should take him up on it. You’d be good at promoting the church to the public, and it will be a good way for you to start building your résumé.”

  “I’ll talk to him again,” Alicia agreed and thought about how maybe this was a good idea after all. Partly because once she’d spent the money in her bank account, she’d still have an income and even more so because she knew her father would pay her much more than the job was probably worth.

  “You can work part-time and still get a lot of writing done because Phillip makes more than enough to support both of you. Especially if you stop buying things you don’t need.”

  Alicia rolled her eyes toward the ceiling and decided it was best she ended this stressful dialogue with her mother.

  “Well, Mom, I’d better get back to my outline, but I’ll talk to you later or tomorrow, though, okay?”

  “Sounds good. Tell my son-in-law I said hello.”

  “I will.”

  “Love you.”

  “I love you, too, Mom,” Alicia said and hung up the phone.

  Then, she turned off her computer and called her best friend, Melanie, to see if she wanted to meet her at the mall. If so, her outline would just have to wait.

  Chapter 2

  You are such a cheapskate,” Alicia said to Melanie after locking her silver-blue ragtop BMW, the one her father had bought her for graduation. Then she hugged her best friend.

  “Call me whatever you like, but if I shopped the way you did, I’d be broker than two mules. Plus, we just went to the mall two weekends ago, anyway.”

  “And?”

  “It means there’s no reason for me to go back until a long time from now.”

  Alicia pulled open one of two elegantly carved wooden and beveled-glass doors, and she and Melanie walked inside the restaurant. She loved The Tuxson, a gorgeous restaurant that sat on the river, but she was still a little disappointed about not being able to head to the mall the way she’d wanted to. Of course, she had tried her best to talk Melanie into it, but Melanie had quickly resisted the whole idea of it and had told her she would gladly meet her for lunch instead.

  “You kill me,” Alicia said, smiling.

  “No, you kill me.”

  Next, the maître d’ escorted them to a linen-covered table, right at a window overlooking the water, and they took their seats. Alicia was glad that for the first time in a while, they hadn’t gotten much snow all winter and that even today, the river wasn’t frozen. It was a bit chilly outside, but still above freezing range.

  “Gina will be your waitress and will be with you shortly.”

  Alicia smiled at him. “Thank you very much.” Then she turned her attention back to Melanie, who was one of the few people she knew who still looked great even without makeup. She didn’t even wear lip color most of the time, and her skin was so unblemished, she didn’t even need powder. Her only fault was that she was just so doggone cheap. “I just don’t understand how you can spend so much time worrying about money when you work all those hours and earn such a great salary.”

  “I worry because from the time I was a child, my mother and my grandmother were telling me I should always save for rainy days.”

  “That’s all fine and well, but you and I both know that tomorrow isn’t promised to any of us.”

  “It might not be promised to us, but based on life expectancy for most Americans, there’s a good chance we’re going to be around for a lot of years. And if that ends up being the case, I want to be prepared. I want to be okay and living as comfortably as I can. Not extravagantly, but living in a way that will allow me to pay for food, clothing, and shelter.”

  Alicia snickered. “Girl, you sound like some eighty-year-old woman who’s struggling to make ends meet on a fixed income from Social Security.”

  “Laugh if you want to, but if you don’t change your thinking, I’ll be eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner seven days a week, and you’ll be homeless and trying to find some soup line to stand in.”

  “That’ll never happen.”

  “Well, you know what they say. Never say never.”

  “That might be true, but in this case that saying doesn’t apply.”

  “One day you’ll eventually get what I’m talking about.”

  Alicia doubted it and looked at her menu. She just didn’t understand Melanie. Here she’d gotten a bachelor’s degree in nursing, graduated near the top of their class, and worked in the heart center at the area’s largest hospital, yet she was acting as though she had no formal education and barely made minimum wage. Worse, she worked no less than four twelve-hour days and even picked up a few additional hours through the home health-care agency she worked for on the side. To be honest, Alicia had been pleasantly surprised to learn Melanie wasn’t working today, because over the last couple of months, she had been working six-day weeks and there were a couple of weeks when she’d worked seven.

  The short-haired, middle-aged waitress walked over and greeted them and then took their orders. Alicia ordered a shrimp appetizer, Melanie ordered a cup of butternut squash soup, and they both ordered field green salads dressed with raspberry vinaigrette and then broiled tilapia as their entrées.

  “Oh, and just so you don’t have to worry about who’s paying for this, I’ve got it covered,” Alicia teased.

  “No, actually, I’m paying for both of us. You paid last time, and you know I’m definitely no freeloader.”

  “You’re right, lunch or dinner is one thing you don’t mind taking care of.”

  “I really don’t. It’s only unnecessary stuff that I don’t like wasting money on. Things I don’t have to have or need. Plus, my goal is to save as much as I can before I settle down to get married and have children.”

  “Well, if you end up marrying Brad, you won’t have to worry about paying bills at all. The man is only thirty-two and here he’s already made partner at his law firm. He’s beyond successful.”

  Brad was Phillip’s handsome and highly intelligent best friend, and as soon as Alicia and Phillip had begun dating, they had introduced Brad and Melanie.

  “Yes, he’s doing very well, but when it comes to taking care of myself, I always remember three things.”

  “Oh, no.” Alicia feigned disgust. “Not the three ‘always’ rules again.”

  But Melanie repeated them anyway. “Always be able to stand on your own two feet, meaning be able to take care of yourself with or without a man. Always save at least ten to fifteen percent of whatever you earn with no exceptions. And always pay your bills on time, preferably well before the due date and even if it means you don’t have a lot of money left to blow away.”

  “I think you’re working in the wrong career field.”

  “Please.”

  “You are. With the way you talk, you should be working for Suze Orman or somebody like that. Because you’re really caught up, woman.”

  “You know what?” Melanie said when the waitr
ess set down their appetizers. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe there’s no way you’ll ever get what I’m talking about.”

  Probably not, was all Alicia could think and she wondered how she and Melanie could be best friends for life, love each other like sisters, yet be as different as Milan, Italy, and Barnesville, Georgia. They viewed life as a whole so dissimilarly, but thankfully it never affected the caring way they felt about each other. And actually, Alicia didn’t totally disagree with Melanie’s financial philosophy because she did believe in saving, when she was a lot older, and she did believe in paying bills on time as long as Phillip was the one who did it. To her, it was the man’s responsibility to do whatever he had to in order to make sure his wife was happy and comfortable, the same as her father had done for his first two wives and was now doing for Charlotte.

  But Alicia decided it was best to keep her current thoughts to herself because in the end, she knew their discussion on this subject could go on and on without any possible resolution and there was no way they’d come to any real agreement.

  After Alicia and Melanie had finished their appetizers, the waitress brought their salads to them. “Is there anything else I can get for either of you?”

  Melanie looked up at her. “No, I think we’re fine.”

  “Then please enjoy.”

  Alicia took a couple of bites. “I love this dressing.”

  “So do I. It’s probably the best in the city.”

  “I think it is.”

  “Brad would come here once every week if he had time.”

  “So, how is everything with you guys? Is he starting to talk more about marriage yet?”