Read Online Burning Down the Spouse by Dakota Cassidy - Free Book Online

awake-and-not-allowed-to-wallow time, and her stomach was a sea of roiling acid. “Oh, look, Kiki.” She held up the pamphlet, which Kiki assessed with calm eyes along with her owner. “Maxine says cash is cash, and there’s no shame in starting at the bottom of the job chain.”
    Nikos’s offer had been generous, considering a prep chef was an entry-level position. When Maxine heard the salary he’d offered her, she’d whooped—loudly, making Frankie wince. But she couldn’t summon up the kind of excitement Maxine apparently felt over the idea that she’d be able to afford her own cell phone and tampons in no time.
    “Where would we be without Maxine, Kik?”
    “I see you got Maxine’s Survival Guide for Ex-Trophy Wives.”
    Frankie grunted at her aunt. “Whether I wanted it or not,” she said on a wide yawn.
    Gail glanced at the clock on the wall with the Amish couple in the center. “You’ve been up a whole three hours. Takes a lot out of a girl, eh?”
    She was too tired to care that she was being poked with a stick. Her fingers tugged at the elastic band holding her ponytail, yanking it out and running a hand through her hair. “Just breathing takes a lot out of me.”
    Gail sat on the arm of her plaid couch, placing an arm around her niece’s shoulder to give her a squeeze. “Did you even read the pamphlet? I spent a week typing that up on a computer, sunshine. Used to do almost a hundred words a minute back in the day.”
    Frankie pressed it tight to her chest. “I’ll treasure it always,” she teased.
    Gail pinched her cheeks and smiled. “Don’t be a smarty pants, young lady. So tell me all about how you nabbed this job and on your very first interview while I make us some dinner. Pretty impressive for someone who’s been in the crapper for six months.”
    Her shoulders lifted as she followed Gail into the kitchen, watching her pull out two TV dinners from the freezer. The thought of food made her want to retch. She dropped Kiki at her food dish, giving her little black-and-white bottom a nudge toward the bowl. “No, Aunt Gail. None for me thanks.”
    Gail’s eyebrows rose. “What? Not fancy enough for your overdeveloped palette?”
    Frankie let out a sigh. “No, it’s not that at all, Aunt Gail. I’m not as much of a food snob as you’d like to think. There were plenty of nights when Mitch was off globe-hopping that I ate TV dinners.” Though, if Mitch had known, he’d have had an apoplexy. “I’m just not very hungry.”
    Gail’s forehead wrinkled. “Nonsense. You need energy for your new job tomorrow. I just bet you’ll need energy to keep up with that hunk Nikos Antonakas. Phew, he makes my insides all squishy.” She giggled. Like she was still in high school. “He’s good-lookin’, don’t you think?” She peered at Frankie with covert eyes while poking holes in the plastic TV dinner.
    Good-looking? If ever there’d been an understatement. Calling Nikos good-looking was like saying the Andes were just little mounds of dirt. He was gorgeous, and if her libido wasn’t in a state of deep freeze, she’d acknowledge that very fact, but her hormones were officially ice cubes. “He’s fine, Aunt Gail.”
    Gail plunked down some forks and folded paper napkins on the table. “Fine, you say? Fine? Did your eyeballs fall out of your head when you got that divorce? He’s what the kids these days call brick shithouse.”
    A gurgle of laughter bubbled up from her throat at her aunt’s use of modern-day slang. “Okay, he’s brick shithouse, but it doesn’t make a difference. I’m not in the man market. Though, apparently, I’m now in the job market.” Albeit under duress and brute Maxine force.
    The microwave dinged the completion of their meal. “Maxine said you were none too happy about it either. Why’s that? It’s a perfectly good job with a perfectly good-lookin’ boss.”
    A tear stung her eye.
    Yes. Everything was perfectly good. She just couldn’t summon