Rathe was standing outside the driver’s side door. His back to Heath as he watched me. I paused and held his gaze for a moment but that was all I could allow. Giving him a small nod and smile. That was friendly enough. Climbing into the driver’s seat, I was proud of how I handled that.

When I pulled out onto the road, Rathe was there in my rearview mirror watching me leave. The tightening in my chest came instantly and that weakness proved how human I was. This crush or whatever I had on Rathe might be hard to overcome, but it was also reassuring me that my mother didn’t know me. I was half my father. Rathe was reminding me of that with every emotional crack he caused in me.

TWENTY: THE INTERVIEW

Twenty

The Interview

Lala Longstreet didn’t want to meet with me at her Savannah offices. She told Duely to send me to her home, which was a four story townhouse in the historic district of Savannah. Duely had called shortly after I’d left Heath and Rathe in the parking lot of their apartment.

She had said to come as soon as I could, because she was heading to the airport at two for a showcase in Manhattan tonight. I did as directed and went right to the address he’d given me. Pulling up to the front, I looked around and wondered how much these places sold for. They were part of Savannah’s history and in a prime location. I hoped this meant she had the income to pay a salary that could afford my going to nursing school.

Even if she wasn’t going to offer me an amount that was more than what I made as a server, Duely had gotten me this interview. I was thankful for that. I wouldn’t have known to even apply for something like this. I’d planned on doing a little research on her before the interview, but there hadn’t been time. Now I was going in there, knowing only what Duely had told me. Which was very little.

I reached her front door and scanned for the doorbell. However, the door swung open before I could find the bell and ring it. A petite woman with wild curly dark blonde hair that brushed her shoulders, stood in front of me. Her lips were painted a bright red, her eyes were large round and brown. She could not be more than five feet tall and one hundred pounds fully dressed but something about her made her presence feel much larger.

“Fucking stunning! Duely told me so of course but I wasn’t prepared for this kind of stunning. The bastard lies when it works for him,” she said with a roll of her eyes and pursed her lips.