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Which did not include a male like that

Nope Not even close

Chapter Two

The following evening, Ivie leaned into the mirror over her bathroom sink and tried to hold herself steady so she could hit her eyelashes with some Maybelline that was probably…three years old?

Yeah, yeah, she knew that you needed to throw makeup out after a year--or was it six months?

"Whatever"

Either way, the stuff had ossified in the tube, reverting to a solid that got her nowhere

Pitching the green-capped wand and the pink lower half into the trash, she killed the lights and went into her bedrooalley kitchen, ts, and floors that were pine and stained with a low gloss The walls had been freshly painted so h to qualify as wallpaper, and the appliances and plu was secure, and her neighbors were hu, and away at jobs when she was sleeping

Was it the safest for someone who faced ht? Probably not But her bedroom didn’t have ain it, and there was an interior staircase to the co the daytih in her opinion, you couldn’t spend your life worrying about what-ifs You made yourself as safe as you could and then you just did your thing

Right before she left, she smoothed her skirt and checked toon correctly Yup, bra was under the blouse, not on top of it, and her flats were on the right feet--

Coat She needed a coat--no, not the puffy parka that arde from Wonka’s chocolate farht--

Oh, God, she sar now

Ivie shuffled back to the bathroom, and looked around for some perfume No luck The one bottle of DKNY stuff she had was nearly dried up What could she…

Febreze Fair enough

After giving herself a good , she wafted her way to her door and let herself out, h the little lobby By the ti like she had bench-pressed a Civic

It took her about a decade and a half to dematerialize…and when she re-formed it was in the shadows of Salvatore’s Restaurant The time was ten o’clock on the dot

And clearly she had lost her , she had no one around to i lot only had three cars in it, the huone, so, yup, it was just her and her nerves as she strode under the awning and entered the place Inside, it was all Rat Pack chic, the flocked wallpaper and red-and-black high-end everythingSal’s feel like a throwback to the past when life wasand sophisticated

The hostess wasn’t at the stand, but Ivie didn’t need anyone to show her where to go

Looking into the dining area on the left, she saw him

Silas was the only one at a table, the other two dozen four-, six-, and eight-tops eiven hie stone hearth Which was kind of not fair…like putting a Rolls-Royce under special showroohts

Wow He’d worn a suit A proper, deep navy blue suit with a bright white formal shirt and a pale blue tie that had a subtle pattern in it And as he sat there, he looked ht fro dark shadows all around his intense expression With his bro and his eyes trained on the crackling logs, it was as if he were searching for so her palms down her skirt, which was exactly where it had been when she’d left her apartment, she went over to him With every step, she expected hi about was consu

Maybe this was a mistake

Well, duh--

At that moment, he shifted his stare, and the instant he saw her, a slow sot to his feet

"I didn’t think you were going to come"

"Neither did I," she said

As she stopped in front of hi that broad chest of his and wondering what it would feel like under her hands