Living in that miniscule three-floor walkup had been an adventure her youth was more than qualified to take on. The beginning of a life that held immense promise and possibility.
And maybe that’s what bothered her. That this new life was not a beginning at all, but an end. The culmination of that other life and the turns it had taken.
She would adapt. She always did. But it had been a series of trials.
The first had been paring down all of her belongings, including her vast wardrobe. That had been the hardest so far. After spending years as a working model doing photoshoots and walking runways, her closets had been overflowing with clothing, shoes, purses, and accessories.
But this was the life she’d decided on. The one that was supposed to bring her peace, balance, and security in her golden years.
She shed her robe in favor of black capri leggings, a black sports bra, and a slim gray tee in some kind of breathable fabric that was supposed to keep a person dry and cool. Not much chance of that in Florida in May.
She frowned. Who had named the final stage of life the golden years? Was that supposed to make a person feel better about dying? All right, she wasn’t dying in the sense that she had some incurable medical condition, but clearly she wasn’t getting younger, either.
She spritzed her face with SPF, then added a Chanel ballcap that was a bit worn, but perfect for exercise. She pulled her hair through the space in the back. Since she’d let her signature red hair go silver, there wasn’t much need to protect it from the sun, but shielding her face was still a good idea.
She glanced in the direction of Beau, who was, quite literally, the best dog in the entire world and her constant companion. “Atleast I didn’t have to sell everything, hmm? You got to keep your Louis Vuitton collar and leash, didn’t you, baby?”
Andhis Gucci set. Beau didn’t deserve to suffer.
She’d kept quite a few items, but had sold off more of her designer things than she liked to think about, all collected over the years of her life. Parting with the gowns had been the easiest. Where would she ever wear those again? But some items had been straight off the Paris runway. A few things had been gifts from the designers themselves. Such a shame.
But what was done was done. She’d lost her husband, her fortune, and the life she once knew. This was it now.
This tiny home. This community. This place.
She had to make the best of it. Which she knew. It was why she’d RSVP’d for the book club this evening. She loved to read. Connecting with some other folks over books seemed like a great way to make new friends and start to settle in.
But knowing she’d eventually adjust to this new life did little to ease her anger over what had happened to her and how she’d been scammed. It didn’t do anything to assuage the grief she still felt three years after losing her husband. Time had helped, but did that sense of loss ever go away?
She tied her walking shoes.
Jay had been a great husband, a wonderful father, and a tremendous provider. There wasn’t a day that went by that she didn’t think of him. Often she thought about how she’d have never been scammed if he’d still been alive, something her son, Evan, mentioned too frequently for her to forget.
Didn’t he think that she’d change all of it if she could?
She put on her Gucci sunglasses, attached Beau’s leash that matched his collar, and headed out into the bright morning sun to get some steps in and let Beau do his thing. The community was fairly quiet at this hour.
Some were early risers, but it seemed the general population really got moving about an hour from now. She liked the solitude. She’d spent a lifetime molding herself into whatever vision the client wanted. A lifetime of making other people happy.
This new life was going to be all about her. What she wanted to do, eat, wear, who she spent time with, when she got up, when she went to bed, where she went, how she looked, what she said. All of it was her decision.
Even after Jay passed it hadn’t been that way. Evan had come to stay with her for a while and he’d been…well, he’d meant to be helpful. She understood that. But he’d somehow gotten it into his head that she needed his input making decisions.
After a few weeks of that, she’d told him firmly that she could make decisions for herself. The argument that followed had been more about grief than anything else. Thankfully, they soon made up. But then, just a year later, she’d been scammed.
What a horrible, dark, depressing mess that had been. Still was, although every day, she got a little further from it.
Beau stopped to sniff a patch of grass along the way, his little tail wagging excitedly. She let him sniff. If she was going to live the kind of life she wanted to, why couldn’t he?
Calling Evan to explain what had happened had made losing most of her savings seem like the least of it. She’d been utterly humiliated and embarrassed. Just the memory made her cringe.
Fast footsteps came up behind her. The path was plenty wide, but she stepped to the right all the same, making room.
She turned to see a man jogging toward them. She gave him a nod of greeting, out of politeness, then shifted her attention to Beau.
Beau, however, was very interested in the man. He ran toward the jogger until his leash stopped him, but it was far enough to get under the man’s feet. He tried to sidestep Beauand ended up falling down, rolling into the grass at the last moment.
Blaise gasped. “I’m so sorry. Beau, that was naughty. Are you okay?”
