Read Online Reinventing Rachel by Alison Strobel - Free Book Online Page A

the slot machines and headed for the hallway that held the stores and cafés. She spotted a small sandwich shop with a hulking espresso machine and knew she’d found the right place to eat. The menu was limited, but they had decent-looking coffee, and that was just as important as food. Dodging knots of tourists, she got herself to the counter and ordered a sandwich and a large cup of the regular, black, which she blew on with impatience while waiting for her meal.
    She allowed her focus to be pulled from one sight to another as she ate her ham and cheese baguette, unwilling to think about anything serious until the coffee had kicked in and her stomach had been sated. But once the feeling of hunger had passed and her mind finally felt alert, she settled her thoughts on Daphne’s proposition from the night before.
    Chicago. She knew next to nothing about it, just whatever tidbits Daphne had mentioned since moving there four years ago. There was a lake and a few beaches—not that she could use them more than a few months out of the year. But it was better than being landlocked. They got snow in the winter, lots of it. That would be a new experience, but nothing she couldn’t handle. She may be a California girl, but she wasn’t a wimp. Daphne lived near a university, though Rachel couldn’t remember which one, but there was one thing almost all college students shared, and that was a love of coffee shops. Surely she’d be able to find a job somewhere. It might mean starting back at the bottom, but since she’d be a full-timer in a sea of part-time student workers, she’d easily work back up to manager, probably in less than a year.
    She reached the bottom of the coffee cup, tossed it into a nearby trash can, and started back for the room. A smile tugged at her mouth as she reentered the casino area. It would be fun, plain and simple, to live with Daphne. Especially now, when the pressure to convert her wasn’t heavy on Rachel’s shoulders. A sliver of her had always been a little jealous of Daphne’s freedom—her spontaneity, her non-judgmental fearlessness in the face of the weird and freaky. Daphne’s free-form morality might still give Rachel pause, but she didn’t feel quite as bothered by it as she once had. To each her own, right?
    Rachel’s smile grew and a lightness began to bubble up inside her. She would do it. So long California, hello Windy City. She had a past to forget and memories to bury, and more important, a new life to live. Time to get the show on the road.
    She made her way back to the elevators, eager to tell Daphne she’d made up her mind. Halfway down the hall to their room she heard yelling, a woman’s voice carrying on a one-sided conversation that painted a picture of domestic unrest. She was about to slot her key card when she realized it was Daphne.
    She froze, unsure whether or not to enter. She didn’t want to interrupt, but she didn’t want to just sit and listen without Daphne knowing she had an audience. Biting her lip, she scanned the key and eased open the door.
    Daphne stood in the center of the room, pink cell to her ear as she stared out the window. Her voice was sharp with sarcasm. “You take one psychology class and think you know the root of all my problems, is that it?” Rachel cleared her throat and Daphne spun, eyes wide and bright with tears. She paused in her rant, then shook her head and turned back to the window. When she spoke again her voice was considerably quieter, though a bitter edge still barbed each word. “Whatever. Fine. I appreciate your concern.” She signed off with a sharp obscenity, then jabbed a finger at the cell’s buttons and threw it onto the bed, where it tumbled into the sheets. She huffed and shook her head again as she sank into one of the armchairs against the wall. “That’s one of the problems with cell phones. There’s just no satisfaction in ending a conversation with the press of a button. That really required a good