The Billionaire's Triplets (A Steamy Contemporary Romance Novel) Read Online Free PDF Page B

right.”
    “I can do a makeover. I was thinking I needed to do that anyway so I could start fresh.”
    “It’s more than that. You are too old.”
    “Too old? I’m twenty-four.”
    “In this market, you might as well be forty-two. The truth is that even if you hadn’t dropped off the radar, you’d be having a tough time getting shoots now.”
    “So I’m history?”
    “Things can change again, though. Make sure I have your number, and if something comes up I’ll call, but honestly, you know it’s a cyclical business. The cycles are going faster too. What’s in goes out quickly.”
    “Are you still handling Judy?”
    “Judy Wilson? Yes.”
    “She and I did a lot of the same kind of work.”
    “And she hasn’t had a shoot since the Toyota ads three months ago. She’s lucky that was a big one. The ad agency wants the new look for the next round. Judy told me she expected this. She saved some money and she’s thinking of starting a PR agency.”
    “So the baton is handed to a new generation?”
    Anita smiled. “You understand.”
    She did. Beyond being an ex-junkie, she was last year’s flavor in an industry where a year was an eternity. Even if Anita got her work, it wouldn’t be a career. Maybe it had never been a career. Maybe she’d had a long run of good fortune. After all, she’d never paid attention to what happened with her peers. She’d been much too self-centered for that. Too focused on having a good time.
    She couldn’t let herself go down that road again. Maybe being kicked to the curb was a good thing.
    “Thanks for the brutal honesty, Anita.”
    “Nothing else makes sense, Joan. It doesn’t do either of us any good to get your hopes up. That doesn’t pay bills.”
    She felt lighter suddenly. “I was probably foolish to even consider modeling again—it would put me back in the center of all the things I didn’t deal well with last time.”
    Anita stood up, grinning. “I always liked you, Joan. Now I’m proud of you.”
    When she left, Joan let herself recall the life she’d led. Even when it had been good, and at times it was wonderful, the life was too hectic, demanding. She didn’t need that kind of pressure now.
    But she needed something. A direction. A focus.
    That meant analysis—the kind of thing that Lissa was good at. Now that they were close, she felt comfortable talking to her about it. She would see it from the outside.
    # # #
    Lissa considered the question, wondering if any insights she might have would be right for her sister. They were quite different people, and when you were setting goals, they had to be right for you. “I’m willing to help, but I need you to promise me you won’t get offended if any of my ideas seem silly.”
    “Okay.”
    “If what I come up with is off base, tell me why, honestly, and it will give our model a useful feedback loop.”
    “A feedback loop?”
    “A way for me to reevaluate my assumptions. I listen to your reaction and make adjustments.”
    “Okay.”
    “For instance, and this is just an offhand idea, not something thought out, it would help us both if you were interested in working for me, with me.”
    “Doing what? I have no business skills, and I have almost no idea what you really do.”
    “I’m thinking of a more personal service. You know I’m eager to get back to work. Interviewing and evaluating people to take care of the kids and keep house is going to be a nightmare. If you had the least interest in doing it, that would be fantastic. I can trust you with the kids, and with my stuff, obviously, which would be a huge plus.”
    “I don’t know that much about child care.”
    “Getting pregnant doesn’t seem to have instilled a lot of knowledge and wisdom on that score in me. A person who was still mobile, on the other hand, could start attending classes on child care and home economics—on my dime.”
    A smile crossed Joan’s face. “I guess so.”
    “That was just a wild idea out of the blue, although