Page 1 of Spoiling Lillian
Chapter 1
Lillian
* * *
I grin as my phone rings and hurry out of the bathroom to grab it from my nightstand. Bryson doesn’t know it, but I’ve given him his own ringtone. King of my Heart. It makes me smile every time I hear it.
Not wanting to miss his nightly call, I leap onto my bed and grab my cell. “Hey.” I try to sound nonchalant, but I’m out of breath.
“Were you running?” he teases.
“Ha. Not a chance. You’ll only find me running if someone is chasing me.”
Bryson laughs. “I thought your mother dragged you to the country club on weekends. Wasn’t there a track?”
I cringe as I flop onto my back. My mother is not my favorite topic of conversation, but Bryson likes to dig into everything there is to know about me. After a month of talking to him, he knows darn near everything. He somehow manages to pull it out of me.
“I’m sure there was, but my mother would have choked if I’d suggested using it. She thought tennis was a more appropriate sport for a debutante like myself. Do you have any idea how many hours of tennis lessons I’ve had?”
“So you’re pretty good, huh?”
I wince. “Not even close. I’m not coordinated enough, and I don’t have the patience. Most of the time, I ended up with bruises on my thighs from getting hit by the ball so many times. Or, truth be told, I often hit myself with my own racket.”
“I bet your mother loved that.” Bryson chuckles, a deep sound I’m growing to love. I shouldn’t. He’s just a friend. The thoughts I have about him are totally inappropriate.
I groan. “She still thought I should wear the cute little skirts, and she made me stand on a stool in her bathroom so she could cover the purple bruises with makeup.”
Bryson laughs hard. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be laughing. I don’t mean to make light of your childhood. I fully understand that money does not buy happiness.”
I stare at the ceiling and twirl a lock of my hair around one finger. “Let’s talk about anything other than my mother.”
“Deal. How was your day?”
“Depends on how you look at it. I spent some time in the attendance office at the university. If I had a clue about what I wanted to study, I would register to start classes this fall, but maybe I should wait until the spring semester. Take some time to explore my options.”
“It’s not a bad idea. It’s not like you’re in a hurry. What else happened today? Your tone was off at the beginning.”
I sigh loudly. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a job? I’ve been turned down by every single place I’ve applied to. I didn’t realize it would be so difficult. It’s like they take one look at me and judge me. I don’t even know what it is about me that screams too stupid to hire.”
“Hey now…” Bryson’s voice switches from playful to serious as he goes all Dom on me. “What have I said about putting yourself down?”
His tone makes me tingle all over. It always does, especially when he lowers his pitch all bossy-like. I’ve started finding ways to bring that side out of him.
I roll my eyes hard. Too bad he can’t see me. What would he do if he could? Sometimes we video call, but tonight I’m safe. “Seriously though. I’m just a regular person. I assume I’m okay on the eyes. It’s not like I have two heads or an extra nose. I’ve applied everywhere, from working the cash register in the grocery store to waitressing.”
What I want is to be normal. I want to know what it would be like to blend in. I’m twenty-one. I was brought up as a wealthy debutante. I want to trade my manicured nails and salon hair in for a ponytail, natural makeup, and torn jeans. I just want to blend in. Is that too much to ask?
“Lillian, you are more than okay on the eyes,” Bryson admonishes. “As much as I hate to say this, the truth is you don’t have any experience doing any of the things you’re applying for. Why the big hurry? You don’t need the job. Take your time. You’ve been out from under the thumb of your parents for six weeks. You have plenty of money. Don’t rush yourself.”
I blow out a long breath. “It’s like I need to make up for lost time.”
“Well, you don’t. You’re young. You have all the time in the world.”
I kind of wish we were on a video call tonight because I’d like to see Bryson’s face. His serious, no-nonsense expressions are my favorite, though I’d never tell him that.
“Enough about me. How was your day? Did you make any headway convincing your client to include solar panels?”
Bryson is an architect. Unlike me, he wasn’t raised with a silver spoon. He worked his way through college, and he works hard at what he does. He has his own business, and I can tell he’s going to be well-known someday. His work is amazing. I’ve looked up some of his projects online.
