Mindset Read Free Page A

it.  I don’t want to be scared anymore.”
     
    “Eva, I never knew.  I’m so sorry.  You should’ve told me; I would’ve helped you, sweetie.”
     
    “I had already distanced myself from you when it started getting bad, or rather James distanced me from you.  By the time I realized I was in trouble, he made sure I couldn’t reach anyone from my past.  The only reason he let me see you later on was because Richard wanted to get to know you better after the wedding.  I’m sure he couldn’t believe it when you wouldn’t go out with him initially.  The Wesley’s tend to believe they’re entitled to whatever they want.  What made you change your mind over two years later and agree to go out with him anyway?”
     
    “It‘s a long story.  I was depressed, I guess.  I’d had an argument with someone I really cared about, and I was upset, and I was at kind of a crossroads, I guess.  I was dissatisfied with the whole modeling thing, but I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to do next.  Then I ran into Richard, he asked me out, and I thought, what the hell?  He was a boost to my ego when I needed one, I guess.  I was in a low place in my life, and I thought he could make everything better.”
     
    “I know it was a bad choice for you, Callie, but selfishly, it afforded me the chance to renew our friendship, and I’ll always be grateful for that.  Seeing you, being around you again these last couple of months has helped me to remember the person I used to be and hope to find again.  Hearing that Texas twang of yours was like a shot in the arm.  I’m never going back there, Callie.  I don’t care what he does to me.  I’m never going back.  I wish I was brave like you.  You never did back down when he was hitting you.  I’m such a coward.  I just stayed.  I gave up, and I stayed, and I just put up with it.  No more.  I’d rather die than go back to him.”
     
    “I don’t know how brave I was, Eva.  I was probably more stupid than anything else.  No, I take that back.  I’d have to say I was more furious than anything else.  Yep, that about covers it.  I was so pissed off, all I could see was red.  I didn’t even realize at the time that it was my own blood I was seeing!  Of course, that was after I got over the shock that he’d actually had the nerve to hit me.  In my world, boys don’t hit girls.  Man, just wait till my brothers hear about this.  And my granddad.  It’s a good thing those jerks live in New York.  Maybe, just maybe, they’ll escape with their lives.”
     
    “I remember your grandfather.  He came for the fall show the first year we met, our first big break.  I remember he was really tall and tan and handsome.  He was really quiet, too, if I remember right.”
     
    “That was less than a year after my grandmother died.  He never has stopped loving her or missing her.  I didn’t think he would make it to that show, but he said he wouldn’t have missed it for the world, wanted to see me make the big time.  Plus, he also wanted to make sure I stayed in school and got my education.  He made me promise I would.”
     
    “And you sure did, didn’t you?”
     
    “I always keep my promises.  I have a degree in Business Administration that I’ve never used.  Who knows if I ever will?  But it was worth it when I walked across that stage to the whistles of all the men in my life.  Jake, Josh, Cade, and Granddad all made it up for the graduation ceremony.  Jake had already finished getting his degree in architecture by then, and Josh was headed for law school.  Even Cade came, and he was still in school, though he was his usual quiet self when the whistling was over.  He never came to one of my fashion shows, but he made it to my graduation.  He didn’t stick around afterwards for very long, but he gave me a hug and some gorgeous yellow roses before he left.  I’ll never forget it.”
     
    “Okay, I remember meeting your grandfather,