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Back The Shoe Queen
Chapters (67)
  1. Cover
  2. “And may I say, those shoes are adorable.”
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright
  5. Dedication
  6. ( I )
  7. ( one )
  8. ( two )
  9. ( three )
  10. ( four )
  11. ( five )
  12. ( six )
  13. ( seven )
  14. ( eight )
  15. ( nine )
  16. ( ten )
  17. ( II )
  18. ( eleven )
  19. ( twelve )
  20. ( thirteen )
  21. ( fourteen )
  22. ( fifteen )
  23. ( III )
  24. ( sixteen )
  25. ( seventeen )
  26. ( eighteen )
  27. ( nineteen )
  28. ( IV )
  29. ( twenty )
  30. ( twenty-one )
  31. ( twenty-two )
  32. ( twenty-three )
  33. ( twenty-four )
  34. ( V )
  35. ( twenty-five )
  36. ( twenty-six )
  37. ( twenty-seven )
  38. ( twenty-eight )
  39. ( twenty-nine )
  40. VI
  41. ( thirty )
  42. ( thirty-one )
  43. ( thirty-two )
  44. ( thirty-three )
  45. ( thirty-four )
  46. ( VII )
  47. ( thirty-five )
  48. ( thirty-six )
  49. ( thirty-seven )
  50. ( thirty-eight )
  51. ( thirty-nine )
  52. ( forty )
  53. ( forty-one )
  54. ( forty-two )
  55. ( VIII )
  56. ( forty-three )
  57. ( forty-four )
  58. ( forty-five )
  59. ( forty-six )
  60. ( forty-seven )
  61. ( forty-eight )
  62. ( forty-nine )
  63. ( fifty )
  64. ( fifty-one )
  65. Acknowledgments
  66. Acknowledgments
  67. Questions for Discussion

“I need my freedom.” He kept his back to her. “As things are, I’m free to wander in my own imagination. I work whenever I want to. Sometimes I work all night and all day. My shoes come first. I can’t allow any woman to get in the way.”

“I love you,” said Genevieve. “I love you, Paolo.”

Silence from Zachari. She could see the tension in his back and his neck.

“Has it occurred to you,” she said, “that I might be happy to let you put your work first? It’s just possible, you know, that your designs might be better if you lived with a woman you loved. You’d have everything you have now, but you’d have me too. I could help you. I’m not an artist, Paolo, but I understand art. I could be your strongest champion—your partner even. Who knows more about shoes than me? I’d even make friends with Olga.”

He shook his head. “It’s not possible.”

She began to gnaw on an expensively manicured nail. “There’s a whole room full of shoes at my apartment, Paolo. Floor to ceiling. They’ve been my passion. I hold them close to my heart. Every box in that room contains an unfulfilled desire, a dream, a fantasy.” She closed her eyes for a moment. “I love my shoe collection, but I’ve let it stand in for a life. I’m not going to do that anymore.”

“Genevieve.” He turned to face her again, and his eyes were sad now. “It wouldn’t work. The two of us living here…Here. Your damn shoe collection alone would take up my entire apartment! You really should go home now.”

“I know you love me, Paolo. This one pair of shoes”—she looked down at her feet again—“they mean more to me than the rest of the collection put together.”

“You make me want to punch walls.”

She stooped to pick up her dress. Fussed with buttons. Zachari stood and watched her.

“I’m serious,” she said. “About leaving Robert. Say the word and I’ll walk out on him right now.”

“You haven’t even begun to think of the consequences.”

“Yes, yes—your work, your freedom.”

Zachari smiled sadly. “I’m talking about the consequences for you, Genevieve.”

( thirty-seven )

ROBERT WOKE WITH THUMPING head, a foul taste in his mouth and no idea of where he was. The bed was tiny—childsize—and his feet stuck over the edge. The room was completely dark. As he blundered to open the shutters, he trod on a sharp object and almost tripped over something else.

Sunlight flooded in. It was a boy’s bedroom. The floor was scattered with toys—a tin car, a spinning top, a stuffed bear, some books. The walls were painted sky blue. He was wearing a pair of blue cotton pajamas, not his own.

Where the devil?…