Fiendish: A Twisted Fairytale Read Online Free PDF Page A

evenings alone.
     

    Chapter 3
     
    “Come on, Lee. We’re gonna be late!” Macy exclaimed, storming into my room.
    She was taking me out to celebrate. After giving up on all hope of getting the job, Patrick Thorn ’s assistant called me two days ago to ask when I could start. I told her I had to give notice at the bookstore so that my schedule could be arranged there. She was ok with me starting in a week’s time. Mr. Bradford was sad to hear I was quitting, but he understood. He allowed me to work just weekends or evenings for the remaining two weeks and said he’d happily rehire me should things not work out.
    Macy had planned a complete girl ’s day, which meant a trip to the spa and some shopping. She thought that, as an executive assistant, I needed to change my wardrobe, but I told her as a secretary my wardrobe was just fine. Her comeback, ‘I had to learn to properly decorate myself if I wanted to decorate people’s homes.’ Fashion was her thing, but I just conceded and let her win like usual.
    “You aren ’t even dressed?” she asked as she scrutinized my choice of outfit.
    “What are you talking about?” I responded, taking another look at myself in the mirror. I did look bummy in comparison to her, but I always did. Macy wore her favorite pair of light blue Dolce and Gabanna jeans, a fitted dark blue turtleneck shirt and a gray wool blazer with quarter sleeves. “You said shopping was going to be involved, which means I need to be in comfortable clothing.”
    “You are not leaving the house with me looking like that. Yoga pants are meant for two things: bumming around the house or yoga class.”
    She walked over to my closet to pick out something different. We went through this same routine nearly every time we left the house together. She started mumbling under her breath about how she needed to burn most of my wardrobe since it consisted mostly of jeans or workout pants. I gave up arguing with her over this point a long time ago. Taking off my pants and sweatshirt, I slipped into the dark-wash jeans she gave me. After vetoing all my shirt options, she left to get one from her closet. Macy returned with a cream V-neck cashmere sweater. It was a size smaller than I normally would wear, but she ignored my complaints about how much it clung to my body.
    “Happy now?” I asked, giving a little spin. The change of outfit snowballed into redoing my hair into a more acceptable ponytail and adding some basic makeup.
    “Much happier. Honestly, I don’t know how I have allowed you to keep your bad sense of style all these years.”
    “I think I ’m insulted,” I replied, feigning sadness.
    “Be insulted in the car,” she retorted, grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the door.
    The spa was very relaxing. I needed to unwind, and my massage therapist had the hands of an angel. By the time we were done with the massages, pedicures, and manicures, I was actually relaxed enough to allow Macy to use me as a life-sized Barbie, but that relaxation quickly wore off by the sixth boutique. I was tired and hungry. The ‘lunch’ they’d fed us at the spa was not enough to even fill up a child. It didn’t help that she kept grilling me about trying to find Seth while she forced me to try on more outfits. The times I had gone back to Carroll Street Cafe I secretly hoped he’d be there, but he never was. Short of taking out an ad in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, I didn’t know what she wanted me to do to find him. Macy continued to chat about how I always just let life pass me by and how I should learn to go for it more. She was probably right, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it now.
    After three hours of shopping, I ’d reached my end. Sitting in the chair outside the fitting room, I watched Macy check the fit of the latest dress she tried on. “Macy, I need to eat or I think I’ll pass out from starvation. Aren’t you hungry?”
    “Huh? Oh, okay just let me try on these