“Summer school. It’s absurd,” my mother muttered into a screwdriver—heavy on the vodka.

I wanted to point out that it was pretty absurd that she was already drinking on Monday, at eight-thirty in the morning.

Her current husband, Jack, patted her on the back. “It’s just for six weeks, Melody. And Thea is fine with it.”

I wouldn’t say fine. I was actually sort of embarrassed over it, but it was getting me out of the house.

Nicky wouldn’t be alone, either. Nor would he just be with Mother and Jack. Our housekeeper, Alice Winston, had a daughter, Grace, who was studying nursing at college. Grace planned to be around for the summer break, and she agreed to keep a close eye on my brother while I was gone from Monday to Friday of every week during the accelerated summer term. I paid her too. Dug into my runaway money and offered her a thousand dollars. Grace said she’d do it for free but didn’t turn down the offer. She had tuition to pay just like everyone else.

I was ecstatic that Nicky wouldn’t be here just with Mother or Jack. Jack, bless his heart, actually tried. He wasn’t a bad guy, which was surprising considering the fact that he was now married to my mother. But he didn’t understand Nicky. And if he ever were to leave Mother, he’d abandon Nicky.

Grace, on the other hand, wasn’t thrown by my mother’s tendency toward verbal abuse. For some reason, Mother would dial it way back when Grace was around. I never understood why, but so few good things happened to us that I never questioned the small favors fate doled out. Her being here meant that I didn’t have to worry about Mother taking out her shit on my brother.

Besides, it wasn’t like Mother wanted to take responsibility for him, even when she was here. She just wanted what she always wanted.

To control.

To emotionally lash out.

To leave us lacking, the way she seemed to lack for everything in spite of her family’s tremendous wealth.

Sadly, Mother was around the house a lot more these days. Several of the country clubs in Baton Rouge had removed her from their memberships rosters, although she claimed that she’d left them because their membership had deteriorated.

I only knew the truth about what happened because a friend of mine from school saw what actually happened. Mom had unknowingly called another member over and ordered the woman to empty a trash bin near her locker. When the woman refused, Mother had apparently told her she was acting like trash. She didn’t know the woman was a member. But then again, Mother would make that assumption about any minority walking the halls of her precious country clubs.

That was another thing about my mother that I hated.

She was a racist and an elitist bitch.

And an alcoholic.

She tossed back the rest of the screwdriver and got up, crossing the room toward me on rock steady legs. Melody Kent could hold her liquor, for sure.

“You had better pass that class, darling. I don’t raise losers.” She sniffed, glancing upward. “Your little brother…bless his heart. I still think the hospital did something to him.”

That was just like her, assuming someone or something else was the cause of anything unfortunate that happened in this family. I could imagine what she thought the hospital had done—switched babies or deprived him of oxygen for one second too long, or something that would’ve done damage to Nicky. Something that would account for Nicky’s disability. It couldn’t have anything to do with the fact that maybe he was just born the way he was through no fault of his own or the hospitals. Or her. But we never had to worry about her blaming herself for anything.

I loved my brother. As difficult as it was to care for him sometimes, he was my brother, the only sibling I had, and I loved him deeply.

My mother, however, was a different story. She had overtly expressed her thoughts about Nicky more times than I could count. She’d rather he not existed if he was going to remain the way he was in her eyes—less than perfect. That was what I’d demanded of her once. She’d scoffed and given me a derisive look. “You’re quite far from perfect too, Dorothea. Make no mistake.”

She at least tolerated having me around. For Nicky, she could hardly stand to look at him.

As she continued to glare at me, her flat blue eyes boring into mine, I had to fight the urge to snap back at her. It was what she wanted. She was in a mean mood right now. And I was in no hurry to be asked to go upstairs and put makeup on if she decided to slap me in the face.

Yes, it had come to that in the last year.

The woman was now prone to lashing out at us physically.

Maybe it was the alcohol.

Or perhaps because she woke up one day and quit going to church.

Maybe it was always in her.

I could never tell when, either, so I always stayed a few feet away, just out of reach, to avoid her.

“I need to get going,” I said, moving over to the spot where I left my purse. Inside were the keys to the car she’d given me—along with the very specific rules she expected me to follow. I’d almost rather not have the car, but it did give me a limited amount of freedom and with her for a mother, I needed it.

Plus, I needed it desperately when the time came.

She kept her cold eyes on me a moment longer, then waved me off dismissively. “Don’t you dare stay away all day. Your brother shouldn’t be left in the hands of strangers.”

I felt my temper flaring and pressed my hot palms to my thighs. “I don’t plan to, Mother. Besides, Grace is hardly a stranger. She spent years caring for Nicky and me. Like family.”

Before she could respond, I turned on my heel and headed out the door.

* * *

Mother might’ve told me not to be gone all day, but I’d neglected to tell her that I’d be at work until five. Of course, she didn’t understand why I took a job to begin with. She hadn’t worked on anything in her life. Well, other than sitting on charity boards because her family name had some weight around town. That was what sometimes happened when you were born into insane wealth.

Mother was an heiress.

Her great-great-great-grandfather worked himself to the bone and created a corporate legacy that lasted over one hundred and twenty years. Or maybe he worked others to the bone. Or he found a way to steal it out from under someone else, as I’d often read of the great robber barons of the time. I didn’t know a thing about my family lineage, and in some ways, I didn’t want to know. My mother was one branch in the family tree. To me, that told enough of a story.

I was told I’d inherit a share of it all at the age of twenty-five. There were also a couple of smaller trust fund accounts that I could access once I turned twenty-one, but the way my mother was burning through her share of the family fortune, I had no idea anymore. Those early trust funds might’ve ended up being all I’d get.

I didn’t think that was possible, in fact.

The one and only time I got a sneak peek into what Mother had, I lost track of the number of zeros on the annual report her trust lawyer had brought to the house. He’d mentioned that the company had performed better than average for a few years under the leadership of some new CEO. I’d gathered from their conversation that the Kent family was the majority stakeholder, but were barred from serving on the board of directors. Something that one of my great-greats thought was a good idea. Maybe they foresaw Mother coming and prepared for the worst. It was during that meeting that I also learned the name of a few companies I’d never seen or heard of before. Companies that we owned, apparently. Lasseter Oil was one that I remembered. But it never turned out to matter, and I didn’t care about money or oil companies.

I just needed enough to rent a small place somewhere far away from here. And a little more for food and to take care of Nicky.

No matter what, we were leaving, Nicky and I. Knowing Mother, she’d probably already found a potential loophole to stop us from getting access to the trusts, anyway. We couldn’t rely on something so alien to us, something so far out of our realities.

That was why I took a part-time job.

The boutique where I worked in the small town of St. Gabriel wasn’t exactly on the cutting edge of fashion, but there was one thing they did that was a bit different from the other stores. They still offered tailoring and custom-made one-of-a-kinds. It was rare to find a place like this outside of a fashion capital anymore.

I got the job quite by accident. I was driving around and saw a large bifold sign offering custom dresses outside their doors. After going in there to ask if they’d help me with a dress for a formal dance at school, the owner offered me a job on the spot. She was impressed to learn that I was the one who’d designed the dress all by myself.

I loved to sketch. There wasn’t a week that went by when I wasn’t drafting a design for a formal, or a sundress, or a pantsuit. The owner saw my artist pad one day and offered me double the cash if I’d sit in on her client consultations and sketch what the client described. Now my sketchpad contained close to half a dozen designs meant for her customers. One had even come in from New Orleans.

Fashion design was all I ever wanted to do with my life. I had no idea how to make it happen, but meeting my boss was the godsend that showed me one possible path. It turned out that all it took was one half-assed drawing I’d doodled during math class. If I’d spent a little less time sketching during math and a little more time paying attention, I might not have ended up in summer school. But I also might not have been able to squeeze in this summer job, so it all worked out in the wash.

“Your four o’clock is here,” said Tammy, my boss, as she came to the tiny office I’d use to draw when no customers were around.

The gorgeous woman smiled at me from the doorway, her high cheekbones slightly flushed, face glowing. She was always glowing. It was like she was one of the happiest people on earth. She seemed even happier lately—I’d commented on it and she’d laughed. “You’re why, sugar plum!” she’d tell me. “Those designs of yours bring me such joy…and such profit!”

I was ready to ask for another raise, but given she had just recently doubled my pay, I decided not to push my luck. I was doing what I loved, getting experience and I got away from the house for a little while. All was well in my world.

Grabbing my sketchpad and pencils, I went out front.

I froze at the sight of who stood out there.

Oh, the female client didn’t catch me off guard.

It was the young man with her—and there was no calling him a boy now. LeVan Vanderbilt had shot up at least a few more inches in the months since I’d last seen him at school. He was bigger all over in general. Back then, he was fit and lean, but still bordered on skinny. That wasn’t the case now. He was all grown up. A grown man. I held my breath as he dipped his head toward the woman standing in front of him, a wide grin on his face. His hair was different. It was still his natural light hair with strands of gold, but braided into dreadlocks. It suited his more muscular frame, and made him seem even more…perfect.

The woman with him reached up and tapped him on the arm, shaking her head at him. “I’m telling you, LeVan, keep it up. The world needs more men who mind their manners…” she told him, laughter in her voice. She didn’t finish the sentence as she turned and met my eyes. There was a look. It lasted for only a split second, then a bright smile lit up her face. “Oh, hello!”

LeVan swung his head toward me. “Hi, Thea.”

I promptly dropped my pencils and sketchpad, and my pride went with them.

Tammy was standing with her back turned as she searched for something near the cash register just a few feet away. At the clatter of my pencils, she spun around with a small shriek. “Goodness.”

“I’m sorry, Tammy,” I said, blood heating my cheeks.

Embarrassed, I crouched down behind the counter, scooping up my book and grabbing a rainbow of pencils as they rolled all over the floor.

“No need to apologize, sweetie.” Tammy’s voice was all sugar, but I caught the look in her eye. Hurry it up. This is an important client.

She was a good boss, she really was.

But this store was her baby. And I already knew how her mind worked. My looking clumsy in the middle of her place was not the image of elegance she was going for. I scrambled for the mess, wishing I’d invested in that portfolio I’d seen online. All my pencils would fit on the left inseam, and my pad would slide into the right. It was perfect, and a damn shame that I didn’t one-click it on the spot.

Tonight. I was definitely going to buy it tonight.

As I moved to stand, a shadow cut me off. “Let me help.”

His voice was just as perfect as I remembered, deep, thick, and rich.

Like honey as it soothed a sore, aching throat.

He stood in front of me with his hand outstretched. I accepted without thinking, although if I’d known how my brain was going to react, I probably never would’ve accepted that simple touch.

His touch.

A jolt of electricity shot between us.

It wasn’t really a physical thing, but I sure as hell felt physical things—like the way my breasts started to tingle, and my cheeks heated, and an ache started between my legs. But it went deeper than that. Our eyes locked as he helped me up, and I saw a reaction in him too. His pupils dilated, then shrank, then dilated again. And his lips parted slightly. And I could swear he moaned, a small sound.

Did he feel it, too?

Something told me he did, because after I got to my feet, he stood there, holding my hand and just staring at me. We both stared at each other, locked in a moment, forgetting there were two pairs of eyes witnessing the whole thing. I didn’t remember how long it went on, but it must’ve been for quite some time, because the person attached to one of those pairs of eyes coughed—loudly.

Jumping, I looked up and saw Tammy standing just behind LeVan, off to one side, giving me a look, with her eyebrows arched.

“I…I’m sorry. I…” Mustering up a smile, I tugged my hand free of his, aware that my skin was still tingling in the spots where we’d made contact. “I must have been daydreaming a little.”

“Me, too,” LeVan murmured, still gazing down at me with those intense tiger-striped eyes.

Someone off to my left subtly called LeVan’s name and I all but leaped away from him. The second pair of eyes. The woman he was with as they’d come into the boutique.

“Hello, ma’am!” It came out too loudly, too forcefully, and way, way too bubbly. I wanted to cringe at the sound of it.

But the pretty African-American woman just smiled. She stepped closer and inched LeVan to the side. “Hello there. Tammy tells me you’re her new secret weapon.”

“I don’t know about that, but I’ll do my best to get your vision on paper.” Nerves all but ate me alive as I gestured to the small sitting area. “Please, have a seat. It’s better if we get comfortable while we talk about what you’re hoping for.”

A few minutes later, after LeVan finished speaking with Tammy, he stepped outside to make a phone call. Then Tammy went to the back office to catch up on paperwork.

I found myself alone with LeVan’s mother.

Toya Vanderbilt.

Everyone in town knew her name, but for all the right reasons. She was known to be a supportive, nurturing pillar of the community. And she wanted to talk to me. But we weren’t discussing her sense of style or what she wanted for this new dress. She was asking me questions about me as she looked through my sketches.

“And you’re seventeen, honey?”

“Eighteen, ma’am. I just turned eighteen last month.”

She looked at the cocktail dress I’d designed a few weeks earlier for a long moment before shifting her honey-brown eyes to me. “Gorgeous. Young lady, these sketches are nothing short of amazing. Do you have any idea how talented you are?”

“They’re just dresses.” Self-conscious, I squirmed a little on the couch and resisted the urge to take another look outside at LeVan. I’d been doing that the entire time. Probably a bad idea, given who I was sitting with. But I wasn’t too capable when it came to trying not to look at him.

“These are more than just dresses, dear.” She sighed and neatened the stack, then passed them back over to me. “But…I came here to get my own Cinderella treatment. I wasn’t expecting my Fairy Godmother to be so much younger, but let’s see how you do with that magic wand, Thea.”

She wiggled her fingers at me and despite my discomfort, I laughed. “There’s no magic in this. It’s just…understanding how to put your words into a style. And knowing a little about colors, and maybe about how different fabrics fall on a woman’s body.”

“That’s magic. Especially the way I’ve seen you doing it. I’m ready if you are.” When I nodded, she pressed her hands together. “My twenty-fifth wedding anniversary is coming up, and that husband of mine is taking me on a cruise. I want a couple of new dresses that will remind him why he chose me. And with a seafaring summer night theme. You know, reds, whites, navy blues, those adorable knots and anchors, maybe stripes. Not all on the same dress, of course.”

“Definitely. I think I understand.”

“And you can expect a bonus if you make me happy.”

Tammy appeared out of nowhere in the blink of an eye at that. Eyes widening, I shot a look at her. I worked for a straight hourly wage, so there was no telling how she’d feel about someone wanting to tip me. Mrs. Vanderbilt gave Tammy a nod and made a small humming sound. I had no idea what it meant—but I would.

Years later.