An Ever Fixéd Mark Read Online Free PDF

debates.
    Please send my regards to Mr. Chester. I
hope that he shall return to Boston when his leisure suits him.
    Fondly,
    Harriet”
    “Who is Mr. Chester?” Andrew asked.
    “I don’t know. Never heard of anyone by that
name before,” Paula looked at Lizzie.
    “An unrequited love?” Lizzie offered.
    “No,” Paula cautioned. “There isn’t anything
that you can add to the tour from that, you know.”
    “Who is Lotty?” Andrew asked the other
obvious question.
    “I don’t know that either,” Paula reached
for her coat. “I think it’s time to head home. What do you
think?”
    “Lizzie has a hot date with her gal pals,”
Andrew sniveled. “We don’t want to keep her.”
    “ No,” Lizzie turned to
Andrew. “We don’t want to keep Davis waiting. He will hate us all
if we make you late for your French film.”
     
    *****
     
    Nora and Meg were already drinking martinis
in the living room when Lizzie climbed the stairs. She hung up her
coat and noticed the swatches Nora spread out on the coffee table.
“So these are the colors,” Nora explained after they exchanged a
quick hello and Meg left to get Lizzie a drink. “What do you
think?”
    “We each have a different one?” Lizzie
picked up one of the red squares.
    “Same design, but you all will have a
different shade,” Nora explained with a look for approval in her
amber eyes.
    “What is Becca wearing?” Lizzie fingered
another square.
    “She likes this one,” Nora picked up a
swatch that was redder than the burgundy color Lizzie had across
her palm. “We were thinking a gold waistband or something.”
    “Fitting for the maid of honor,” Lizzie
showed her approval with a smile. “I like this one.”
    “Just like wine,” Meg handed her a glass. “I
figured you’d go for that one.”
    “Which design did you pick?” Lizzie sipped
from her martini.
    “Knee length and strapless. It should be
comfortable for June. And Lizzie, you will look fabulous,” Nora
smiled.
    “Well, thank you,” Lizzie took the
compliment, even as she was still bemused by Andrew’s references
earlier. “I think the same will be true for Meg and your
sister.”
    “I’m not getting up to go running at six in
the morning,” Meg rolled her eyes.
    “You started running again?”
    “Just since Monday,” Lizzie answered. “Doing
penance for Thanksgiving.”
    “Good girl,” Nora approved. “You’ll look
better than me in June.”
    “I doubt it,” Lizzie scowled. “No one in the
wedding party will outshine the bride.”
    “Speaking of the wedding party,” Nora heaved
a sigh. “One of Mark’s groomsmen had to drop out.”
    “Oh no,” Meg took another sip.
    “Yeah, Patrick is moving to Japan,” Nora
looked down. “So, he’s asked Aaron to take over.”
    Lizzie darted her eyes to Meg. Years before,
when Nora still lived with them, Meg had one of her passionate
albeit short-lived affairs with Mark’s cousin, Aaron. It didn’t end
well and added to the tension between Meg and Mark. “Well,” Meg
breathed out carefully.
    “We’ll pair him with Lizzie, of course,”
Nora looked hopefully at Lizzie.
    “That’s okay,” Meg shrugged off her concern.
Lizzie realized that she wasn’t drinking her first martini of the
evening. Nora probably noticed that, too. “Besides, I’m bringing
Alec.”
    Nora looked directly at Lizzie, who smiled
awkwardly. “He has been helping Meg with her thesis.”
    “I’ll bet he has,” Nora set her jaw. “He
sucks the life out of you, Meghan.”
    Nora picked up the swatches and, in spite of
her irritation, still arranged them neatly in her box. Lizzie took
a sip from her martini, uncertain if there was a deliberate play on
words in Nora’s comment. Meg was writing another master’s thesis on
vampires in literature, something Nora could never comprehend. But
she had managed to sum up Alec’s effect on Meg quite appropriately
with that sentence. Lizzie knew Meg was delaying her reaction
because she couldn’t