Read Online Deeper Illusions by Annie Jocoby - Free Book Online Page B

me before leaving. With a wry smile, she said “It sounds like you’re living a dystopian Cinderella story.”
    To this, I smiled. I never thought of it that way, but it was true – a dystopian Cinderella story was exactly what I was living. I was just the average girl, looking for love in all the wrong places, finding nothing but toads, until Ryan. Ryan, the sweet, handsome, rich guy who worshiped me, for whatever reason. Turns out that he was not only my savior, but the cause of my personal hell.
    It occurred to me that if I never knew him, I would have been able to escape my past for the rest of my life.
    But, then again, perhaps it worked out the way that it was supposed to. My past was brought to light, and I would have to examine myself once more to find out why I was filled with self-loathing for so long. At the same time, I was not only in love, but loved back, perhaps for the very first time in my life. Our life together was never perfect, and it wasn’t even real – real people didn’t experience the problems that we were experiencing. Real people generally don’t have their dirty laundry aired in front of the entire world. Yet, somehow, we were sticking with each other through this, supporting each other, helping each other through. It heartened me to know that we were in this together. I never in my life had a man who would stick by me through the crap that happened in my life prior to this.
    Darlene finally left. I felt like a deflated balloon. I looked at Ryan, who was paler than I had ever seen him. He was very quiet.
    “That was awful,” I began.
    “Yeah, but it’s out there now.”
    “I guess we can probably go home now, huh?”
    “Might as well,” he said. “But I would like to see my sister before we leave.”
    At that he called her. After getting off the phone, he announced that we would be leaving in the morning to see Sarah on the Vineyard.
    “We’re goi ng to have to fly there, huh?”
    “Yeah. My plane is at La Guardia.”
    I felt a little disappointed. For some reason, I was thinking that Ryan and I would get the chance to fly like normal people for once. It didn’t occur to me that he would have somebody fly his plane here to New York.
    That night, we had one last dinner with Nate and Nat. Nat was doing her usual googly-eyes at Ryan. I felt badly for her, having such strong feelings for my husband. She was as vulnerable as anybody, and couldn’t help the way that she felt. I knew that.
    I felt nervous about seeing Sarah again. Our last meeting didn’t go all that well, as Sarah was trying to force Ryan into making me sign a prenup, and Ryan, of course, refused to do so. Sarah was never all that warm to me, and I knew why – she thought I was a gold-digger, and could never accept that wasn’t the case.
    Nevertheless, I had to steel myself to see her again. Because it was about to happen.

Chapter Nine
    Sarah’s house on the Vineyard was just how I pictured it. It was a neo-Classical mansion, with four columns on the front porch. The home was made up of a light colored coral stone, with enormous windows and a gorgeous, enormously solid , door. The garden out front of the house was perfectly manicured, with five different varieties of roses and African daisies. A circle drive was out front, and there was a six-car garage.
    Ryan had explained that Sarah’s husband, Gil, was a collector of classic cars. But the classic cars that he collected were unlike any other. For one, he owned a very rare Aston Martin and a Bentley. Gi l also had a Duesenberg, which was among the very rarest of all classic cars. They were handmade, and sold for around $6,500 in the 1920s, and now sold for around a million dollars. That particular car was in mint condition, with white-walled tires, and was enormous, shiny and black. I somehow pictured Gil as a guy with a cigarette on the end of a long cigarette holder, like FDR.
    Sarah and Cori appeared on the lawn. Cori was short for Corialanus, who was her