Chapter Thirty-Three
As her “All Better Now” party at the Greenshores Country Club dragged on, Gretel’s smiles were becoming harder and harder to force. The party was her mother’s idea, of course, but her father and Gemma had stopped by too. Her recovery was just an excuse for the gathering, since she didn’t know most of the people here. They knew each other, though, and had lots to talk about—inside gossip, mergers, acquisitions, and so forth.
The only thing she really had to say, she’d already said. It was “no” when her mother pleaded with her to move back permanently. “No” when her father offered to finagle her an internship at a fashion magazine. “No” to everything that involved staying on the East Coast and taking their money.
Technically, “No, thank you,” since she’d taken care to
