Love Proof (Laws of Attraction) Read Online Free PDF Page A

pillows and a beautiful, white faux-fur throw
she saw in a catalog draped over a white upholstered couch.  She made a point
to buy all three of those, including the exact couch.  Triple-wicked, scented
candles.  Sweet-smelling bath salts.  A long list that she felt a little
foolish making, yet at the same time it made her feel deliciously pampered even
to sit there and think about it.
    She had held off for so many years buying herself the kinds of things
she dreamed about:  even something as simple as pretty, lacy underwear, bought
at full retail price instead of from a discount store.  Every time she checked
off another item on the list, she felt more prosperous.  And what was most
shocking, by the time she got to the end of it, was that the entire spree cost
her less than three thousand dollars.  Somehow she thought it would cost closer
to ten thousand—maybe even more.  She had built it up so much in her mind, it
seemed an unreachable goal back when she had practically nothing.
    She still remembered too vividly that day in college when she looked at
her bank statement and saw a balance of $4.32.  Back then, spending three thousand
dollars on luxuries might as well have been ten thousand—fifty thousand, for
how impossible it seemed.  But these were different times, she told herself
with joy.  She had finally made it.  And furnishing her perfect apartment was
one of the happiest experiences of her life.
    She didn’t regret any of it now—not a single purchase.  Even though she
could have used those thousands of dollars over the past six months.  But she had
to believe she would find her feet again one day.  And when she did, she didn’t
want to have to start over, pulling herself up from the kind of impoverished
life she had grown so accustomed to since her childhood.  She accepted that her
rapid rise was over—there was no other way to see it.  What she didn’t want to
accept was the idea that she might start sliding backward to where she came
from in the first place.
    The food she ate at the airport wasn’t sitting well in her belly. 
Sarah pulled out the ingredients for a smoothie—organic orange juice, a frozen
banana, frozen strawberries and raspberries and blueberries—and whirled them
all in her blender.  Then she took sips here and there as she changed out of
her battle suit and wiped off all her makeup.  She pulled a shower cap over her
still-behaving hair and stepped into her bathtub shower.  And replayed portions
of the day as the warm water washed it all away.
    ***
    Sarah set her alarm for four o’clock the next morning to give herself
time to exercise.  She never used to be that way.  She’d roll out of bed, drink
a huge mug of coffee, and answer her e-mails before she even started to dress.
    But becoming a partner had reformed her.  Her immediate boss, Richard,
sat her down the day he made the offer and told her she needed to make some
changes.
    “We’re making you a team leader,” he said.  “Elevating you to partner. 
Not an equity partner,” Richard had continued before Sarah could even register
the news.  “So you won’t receive any of the firm’s profits, but we consider
this level of partnership an important step to full status, once you’ve proven
yourself.”
    He assigned her a team of five younger litigators.  From then on, Sarah
would be responsible for all of their files, all of their cases, and for making
sure they turned in time sheets for every minute of their time by the end of
every day.
    “If you don’t write down the time, it never happened,” Richard said.  “We
only get paid for what we bill.”  Sarah had heard that speech many times.  She
always had more billable hours than any of the other associates.  It was one of
the factors, Richard said, they’d considered when promoting her.  “We know you
understand money, Sarah.”
    She agreed that she did.
    And then she proved it by negotiating an even higher salary than the
last team