The Everlasting Chapel Read Online Free PDF Page A

situation. You
have no idea.” I wipe the happy tears off my cheeks.
    “Better…?” He sits back and is twiddling his
thumbs, still grinning from ear to ear.
    “More normal, I suppose. I mean, you have no
idea how guilty I have felt about this job. I still feel guilty,
and I just wanted to tell you because I’m sick and tired of hiding
what I did, you know? Sick and tired of being judged by everyone,
myself included,” I admit.
    He leans forward again, and brushes my hand
lightly with his. “You did it because you had to, Scarlett. I don’t
think you would have chosen to do it had you not been so
financially strained.”
    “True, but I still felt super guilty. I
mean, it’s not who I am. It’s just what I did to get by, and even
though I only worked there for six months, I hated it.”
    “I’m glad you told me,” he says. “I just did
it to get by, too. My parents still don’t know what I did. I
haven’t been able to get myself to tell them.”
    I can’t help but keep smiling—so much that
my cheeks cramp. Finally I have someone who understands me
completely, and his life turned out pretty good. I mean, he’s a
doctor for crying out loud! Suddenly, I find him a whole lot more
attractive. Not in a sexual sense, although he is plenty sexy, just
in an ‘I really, really like this guy’ kind of a way.
    “Did you like working as a stripper?” I ask,
sipping my diet soda.
    “There were parts of it I enjoyed,” he
says.
    “Like what?” My ears are pinned.
    “Don’t judge me if I tell you,” he smiles,
and sticks the tip of his tongue between his teeth.
    “Trust me, I won’t. I just want to see if we
have more things in common.”
    The waitress brings us our food and I start
to eat.
    “I liked the sexual freedom that came with
it,” he says. “Being able to connect with that part of me, and the
part women don’t usually allow themselves to express. Growing up, I
always felt I was sexually repressed, as if that side of me was
sordid and filthy—a taboo. You see, my parents are very religious,
and we never discussed such matters at home. My father couldn’t
even watch a show that had kissing in it. He’d immediately turn the
channel to something else. And my mother, bless her heart, I’m sure
she never even had an orgasm in her entire life, poor woman.”
    I laugh.
    “I’m surprised they even managed to have
three kids.”
    I can’t believe we’re actually having this
conversation over lunch, but I absolutely love it. “Do you have
brothers? Sisters?”
    “Two sisters,” he says. “Both are younger
than me.”
    “So are you like the big over-protective
brother?” I ask.
    “Yes, very over-protective.”
    “That’s sweet,” I say, taking another bite
of my salad.
    “They’re both attending the University of
Texas at the moment. What about you?”
    I give him a questioning look.
    “Did you like any part of the job?” he
asks.
    I think for a moment. “Well, I did enjoy
connecting with that part of me, but at the same time I hated being
objectified. Most men were respectful, but in the end, I felt they
just came for a show and a sexy woman they could imagine fucking
when they went home.”
    “Did you ever do private parties?”
    Should I tell him? Sure, what the hell. “I
did, and I don’t know if you’ve heard about Michael Manning and
that whole fiasco.” I roll my eyes.
    “Vaguely on the news. I don’t listen to the
news much. There are too many depressing things and just a bunch of
gossip.”
    “I don’t blame you. Anyway, it’s a long
story. I did a few private sessions with him, and…well, it’s really
complicated.” I still don’t feel comfortable enough yet around
Spencer to discuss it in detail. And this is not the right setting.
I might break down, and that’s not something I want to do at the
moment.
    “I’ve had one of those complicated
relationships myself,” he says. “Unfortunately, it didn’t work
out.”
    Great, just what I didn’t want to