Searching for Sea Glass: BEST-SELLING AUTHOR (Sea Glass Secrets Book 1) Read Free Page B

pragmatic mind held him in place.
    Sunny started in fear when the man ripped the letter from her hand. She almost wept when he tore it open. She’d cherished it, like a priceless jewel. It was the promise of her whole shining future. Now its ruined envelope fluttered, torn and tattered to the sand. She watched as his perfect face twisted with an ugly leer. She wanted to cover her ears when he began to read it out loud. His words were harsh and mocking. Each one struck her with the force of her father’s belt.
    “Upon reflection and decision, after viewing Miss Murphy’s audition tape, the Gulf Coast Ballet Company cordially invites her to join the ranks of their Resident Academy. Upon receipt of her first year’s tuition, Miss Murphy will be afforded the opportunity to live and study with the Corps de Ballet. Master classes and individual instruction are available from the faculty and visiting professionals for additional fees, listed below. Miss Murphy is advised that she, as are all students, will be assigned various tasks, chores, and work to be completed daily as part of the collegiality of the Ballet. Please advise the office as to your arrival date. Please send tuition payments early to avoid late fees. Below can be found a list of supplies all students must furnish upon their arrival. These include sheets, towels, cell phone, text books, pillow, laptop, and any other item deemed necessary for your personal comfort. Purchase of dancing accoutrements-toe shoes, tights, bandages, leotards, performance costumes, etc. shall all be deemed the financial responsibility of the student.”
    He dropped the paper just low enough so she could see his mocking eyes. “This is a scam. You know that, right?”
    No.” She shook her head. “You don’t understand. It’s an honor to be chosen. Not many are. My teacher Maude Evelyn told me. She was a prima ballerina in her day. I’ve been working for years at my family’s café to earn the first year’s tuition.”
    “This teacher of yours, Maude what’s her name,” he sneered.
    “Maude Evelyn.”
    “Whatever…, if she was a prima ballerina, what’s she doing in Murphy’s Point? It’s not exactly a mecca of culture and artistic expression.”
    Sunny knew he had a good point. She’d wondered about that very thing, more than once. Every time she’d asked, the old lady had sighed and given a very Gallic shrug. Almost as if the pain of remembering Maude Evelyn’s former glory was too much to articulate.
    “I don’t know,” she admitted.
    “What about all these extra fees? They’re pretty much going to charge you for breathing their rarefied air.”
    Sunny had been concerned about those high fees, as well. The five thousand dollars she’d saved would barely cover the year’s basic cost. And that would be without any private instruction or master classes.
    “I didn’t know about the fees when I applied,” she whispered. She flinched and stepped back as he glared at her. Suddenly she felt very much like an uneducated hayseed.
    “You don’t know much of anything, do you?” John taunted. He recognized her involuntary defensive move. He knew exactly what it meant. She’d been hit, probably by a man. And probably more than once. He wanted to kill somebody.
    His sharp words caused something to snap inside her. She rounded on him with challenging eyes. “I know what I want to do with my life. I know who I want to be. I know I don’t want to spend my life waiting tables at my daddy’s restaurant. I don’t want to bail my brother out of jail every weekend. I don’t want to stand alone at another graduation and search the crowd for my family. I don’t want to spend another birthday by myself because all the people who were supposed to care about me forgot the date. I don’t want to work two long hard shifts hauling heavy pitchers of beer and fried fish to smelly rednecks on the most important day of my life. I don’t want my mother’s life. I won’t be laying