Chapter Eighteen
The residue exhaustion from Ever’s engagement with Brooke persisted until Thursday closing, which was the moment her employer chose to deliver the final insult.
Ever dragged home, too numb to think. She didn’t bother with grocery shopping but made due with decaf and a toasted peanut butter sandwich. It was only fifteen minutes into her favorite lawyer program when she picked up the phone and dialed Stroud’s number. She spoke the moment he picked up.
“I can’t come this week-end,” she told him, which was not at all what she’d intended to say.
There was a pause at Stroud’s end. “You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
Another pause. A movement on the line. “Then I’ll see you on the twenty-first?”
“Yes.”
“Alright,” he said.
***
Ever slept through most of Friday, thinking things would n
