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Izzy turned her attention to the people passing by outside the windows and shook her head, even though Amelia couldn't see it.
"Oh, no. Talk to me," Amelia urged softly.
"I just... I don’t know. I don't know if I belong here."
"Did you and Everett have a fight?"
Izzy inhaled and moaned softly. "No. That's just it. He's...wonderful. I can't even complain about him because he's been so amazing. He's been the perfect gentleman," she said. Except when he wasn't such a gentleman—not that she was complaining aboutthat.
"So what makes you say you don't belong?"
Izzy closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I guess... It's just the differences in our financial status, you know?"
"Has he said something to make you think it's an issue?"
"No, but…" She explained the offer for a showcase as well as the additional requests. “If the gallery does it, I won’t make nearly as much even though I’m doing the work. But if I can front it myself, I could have a really solid return from this.”
"Okay, well, if it's that, you know I can front you the money. You don't have to ask Everett. Or your parents. Then you just return whatever doesn't sell."
"I know you'd do that for me, and I thank you for offering. You have no idea how much it means to me but…it just got me thinking."
"Scary words, there, Iz."
Izzy smirked and shook her head again.
"Thinking about what?" Amelia asked.
"Wondering what on earth I have to offer a man like him."
"Oh,Izzy. We talked about this."
"I know but I can’t help it," she said, lowering her voice. "All of this started as a mistake, but there are times when I feel like he'sboughtme because he has all the connections and I'm just...me."
"Youare a beautiful, creative, wonderful person who shouldn't be putting herself down," Amelia said.
"I know but wouldn't you wonder?"
"Wonder what?" Amelia asked.
"If that's all it is? If you were me, wouldn't you wonder if you're just some arm candy for the events he doesn't want to attend alone? A project he's amusing himself with for entertainment?"
"Izzy, one—and I'm going to be blunt here—Everett could have any arm candy he wanted. But he didn't ask them. He askedyou. And as to you being a project...where is all of this coming from? You knew before you left what the arrangement was and you agreed to it."
"I know."
"You'd accompany him and get to know him, and he'd introduce you to the people he knew in the art world."
"Iknowbut—"
"But what? What is going on in that crazy brain of yours? What's happened to send you into a spiral of wondering whether or not you're worth someone's time and energy—Oooooh."
Izzy winced. "Yup," she said, knowing Amelia had finally caught on to the fact that she and Everett had taken things to an intimate level yet again.
"You've fallen in love with him, haven't you? That's why you're freaking out?"
It was. They still hadn't known each other long. A matter of weeks. Ms. Georgia had always told them how she'd known right away that she'd met Mr. Right. And while Izzy would totally admit to attraction, hard-corelike, was it love? "It’s too soon. That would be crazy.”
"Life's crazy, Iz."
