Read Online True Love and Other Disasters by Rachel Gibson - Free Book Online Page B

committee.”
    “We think it’s best if Dodie takes over that position.”
    “Oh.” Before Virgil’s death, she’d worked tirelessly on this year’s benefit. She’d already spoken to the Seattle Philharmonic, and her heart sank a little. “Then what’s my function?”
    Tabby pasted a fake smile on her face. “We feel that with everything going on in your life right now, you won’t have time for your responsibilities.”
    Sure, now that she owned a hockey team, she had a lot on her plate, but the Society’s work was important. “I understand your concern, but I assure you that I will make time,” she told Tabby. “You don’t have to worry about that.”
    Tabby placed a hand against her own throat and twisted her pearls. “Don’t force me to be unkind.”
    “What?”
    “We think it would be best if you voluntarily gave up your Society membership.”
    She opened her mouth to ask why, but then she closed it again. They weren’t concerned that “with everything going on” in her life that she wouldn’t have the time. Virgil had once teased that after he died, all the wives of his friends and associates would kick her out of all their clubs because they couldn’t stand to have someone young and beautiful around their husbands. Virgil had been wrong. Most of their husbands had mistresses that the wives knew about. They didn’t want her because she hadn’t been born with a surname worthy of hyphenation. She’d known from the first meeting that they didn’t consider her a worthy member oftheir society. Somewhere along the way, she’d forgotten that she really wasn’t one of them. She was “riffraff.” No matter how hard she worked or how much money she’d raised.
    “I see.” If Tabby thought Faith would cause a scene that the Society could all dine out on for months, she was wrong. “Best of luck to you,” she said. “I hope this year’s fund-raiser is an unqualified success.” She smiled and turned toward the front of the building as heat rose up her chest and tightened her throat. Her hand shook as she opened the door and walked outside into the cool afternoon air. Tears pinched the backs of her eyes and she fumbled in her purse for her sunglasses. She would not cry. Would not care about people who did not care about her.
    She could sic her team of lawyers on their asses and make them sorry. She could ruin their day as much as they’d ruined hers, but what would that solve? Nothing. They would be forced to accept her back into the Society. Back into a world where she wasn’t wanted.
    Faith shoved her sunglasses onto the bridge of her nose and looked up the street to where she’d parked her car. She had two hours before her meeting with the PR department of the Chinooks. She thought of the short drive to her penthouse where she could curl up in bed and pull the covers over her head. She thought of her mother in theshower when she’d left, and Pebbles snapping and barking as she tried to pull her Valentino peep toe from the dog’s mouth.
    She didn’t feel like dealing with her mother and Evil Pebbles, so she wandered a few blocks without direction. She thought of Tabby’s face and cool smile. The gloomy overcast day fit her mood, and she thought of marching right back to the Society and telling them what horrible, supercilious, pretentious bitches they were. Instead, she found herself in front of the Fairmont Hotel and walked into the familiar lobby. Shuckers Oyster Bar had been one of her and Virgil’s favorite places to eat lunch. She was shown a table and sank into a chair, finding comfort in the familiar surroundings.
    Getting thrown out of the Gloria Thornwell Society was horribly humiliating. They’d meant it as a hot slap across her face, and it stung like hell. It hurt a lot more than she wanted to admit. At one time she wouldn’t have let it bother her. Living with Virgil had made her soft.
    She’d always known that those women weren’t her friends—not really—but she