Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 96850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
No.
Eve sipped her coffee. “I like the idea, Veda, but I don’t have the extra capital to make it happen right now. We’re talking six figures here.” It hurt to expose a weakness out loud, but she liked this girl and wanted to impress on her that she wasn’t getting a brush-off. “The club . . . is still finding its footing.”
“I gathered that after you hired Full Bush Rhonda.” Veda thought for a second. “What if I crowdsourced it? Like a GoFundMe?”
Eve was already shaking her head. “I don’t like asking for handouts.”
“We could frame it as a separate venture. I don’t mind being the face of the charity case. It wouldn’t be the first time. Ooh.” She dug her phone out of her back pocket. “That rhymed. I need to put that in my notes. I write songs for the band, you know.”
“What is the name of your band, by the way?”
Veda grinned. “The All-Nighters.”
“Fitting.” Eve sighed while pacing her kitchen slowly, from one end to the other. Dammit. Veda’s idea was in its infancy, but it was a good one. And it could bring in a whole new—and younger—clientele to the burlesque club. “Let me think about it.” Madden’s face materialized in her mind, his jaw set, eyes following her every movement. “I’ve had a lot of proposals in the last twelve hours.”
Veda paused. “You have another proposal for the backyard space?”
What was it about this girl that made Eve less guarded? “Um, no. A marriage one.”
“Wow. I can’t even get matched on Tinder.” She stared at Eve. “This is a legit marriage proposal we’re talking about?”
“Yes.”
“Is he hot?”
Why water down the truth? “Extremely.”
“Is he a criminal?”
“No.”
Veda blinked. “Sounds like a resounding yes to me.”
Eve drained the last of her coffee. “It’s complicated.” She chewed her bottom lip, visions of an outdoor dance floor floating through her mind. “Why don’t we make an appointment with the town inspector to make sure we’re zoned for an outdoor space and find out what the requirements are. It doesn’t hurt to find out. We’ll see what they say and take it from there. But no promises. Sound good?”
“Yeah.” Veda ducked her head, seemingly to hide a smile. “Yeah, sounds perfect.”
“I’ll text you with the details.” Eve put her mug back beneath the brewer. It was a multiple cup kind of morning. “Right now, I have to find a pulmonologist for Landon.”
“Why?” Veda paused on her way to the door. “Does someone have asthma?”
“Landon, apparently.”
“I’ve had asthma my whole life,” Veda said, going through her phone. A second later, Eve’s phone dinged with a text message. “That’s my doctor. She’s a little bit of a drive, but she’s good with kids.”
“Okay, great. Thanks.”
Veda opened the door and let it swing shut. “I’ll be back later to babysit,” she called through the closed door. “But you’re paying me this time.”
“Roger that,” Eve said, dryly, pressing the button on the coffee maker for the maximum number of ounces. “Guess she’s here to stay.” Waiting for her next cup to brew, Eve opened her laptop on the breakfast bar and started doing some research. The deeper she got, the heavier the weight in her stomach became.
An out-of-pocket pulmonology appointment could be six hundred dollars if Landon required tests—which he would, if he hadn’t been diagnosed previously. Inhalers. Backup inhalers. Follow-up appointments. This was going to be expensive. She’d sell everything she owned to get the kid the medical treatment he needed, but he also needed a roof over his head. Both those things would stretch Eve’s funds to the limit.
Asthma could only be the beginning too. Other conditions could present themselves in him or his sister, right? Kids broke arms. They swallowed magnets and goldfish. A trip to the emergency room could break the bank. Already, the school trips and class dues, extra food, clothes were adding up. Throw in medical costs?
No way around it. Eve needed insurance for them.
They needed security.
A brief search told her a family plan, using the club as her employer, could be well over a grand every month. Holy shit. How did people afford this? Was everyone just struggling and keeping quiet about it?
Eve closed her laptop and picked up her phone, weighing it in her hand. Not only the device, but the decision she was about to make. Normally, there would be nothing on this green earth that would induce her to take this megalevel of help from someone, but she couldn’t wait until she was drowning to reach for the lifeline.
And if she had to reach for someone, it would always and forever be Madden, wouldn’t it? She wanted desperately to be pragmatic about this decision, but it was easier said than done when her pulse was going haywire at the prospect of being his wife. Madden Donahue’s wife. A secret dream she’d been harboring since age fourteen. Even if they were marrying for security, what if she pretended otherwise? Just for a moment.