First Sight by Danielle Steel Read Free Book Online

not sure I want the Zacks anymore either. I always wind up feeling like their mother, and as though they expect me to meet their every need. That’s not my job.”
    “Try telling them that,” Jade said tartly. “Maybe we should both go into the convent,” Jade said, smiling at her.
    “Not unless I get to redesign the habits. They’ve gotten seriously ugly,” Timmie said pensively as though she meant it, and they both laughed. “I don’t know what the answer is. At your age, you’ll find the right guy one of these days. You just have to keep looking. At my age, I don’t think I care anymore. In fact, I know I don’t. The last thing I want now is to get married … so that leaves the Zacks … or no one. Noble solitude. I guess I’m ready for another dose of that sometime soon. I think this is on its last legs. It’s starting to depress me. I’m tired of playing Lady Bountiful to bratty, immature male models and actors, or being bitched at when I don’t want to. Where the hell do these guys get their sense of entitlement? I wish I had as much self-confidence as they do. Narcissists are just too goddamned much work,” Timmie said with a shrug. Although he had been relatively pleasant, the call to Zack had done nothing to cheer her, and after three weeks on the road, she was exhausted, which dampened her spirits. She wasn’t sure if she was looking forward to seeing him when she got home, or not.
    “Maybe you’ll meet someone here in Paris,” Jade said hopefully, and meant it.
    “Are you kidding? Who are we talking about here? The nineteen-year-old male models from the Czech Republic, or the angry French journalists from the left-wing press, or the other designers, who are either women or gay or both? I’m not looking for anyone. And anyone I’d meet here would be geographically undesirable anyway. The last thing I need is a guy halfway around the world, in Paris. But thanks for the suggestion,” Timmie said, popping another chocolate in her mouth. Her metabolism allowed her indulgences few women could get away with.
    “I think I’m going to try computer dating when we go back. I know four people who’ve gotten married this year to men they met on the Internet,” Jade said, looking as though she meant it.
    “Just be careful. I think that sounds scary,” Timmie said, as she got up and started brushing her hair. Her first interviewer was due to arrive within minutes. The Paris rat race was about to begin.
    “How much worse could it get?” Jade asked rhetorically. “I’ve had married, you’ve had assholes. The worst that could happen is that I meet a nice ax murderer, get married, and have babies. At thirty-eight, I can’t afford to be too picky.”
    “At thirty-eight, you can afford to be as picky as you want. Don’t settle, Jade,” Timmie said seriously.
    But she also knew that even Jade was older than a lot of men wanted. Men of all ages seemed to want twenty-two-year-olds. Grown-up women, with brains, had been becoming obsolete for years. And Timmie knew that she herself was no longer even in the running, for a variety of reasons, age, income, success, celebrity to a certain degree since her name was a household word all over the world, which didn’t help either. All it drew to her were guys like Zack, or worse. She was still pondering it when Jade came back in to tell her that her first interviewer was waiting downstairs in the lobby. There was a wonderful area where they served tea and fabulous pastries. She liked meeting members of the press there, or in the bar. Timmie sighed when she told her. She looked beautiful, but her assistant could see how tired she was.
    “Shall I have him come up?” Jade asked.
    “I guess so,” Timmie said quietly. She wasn’t in the mood. All she wanted was to go for a long, quiet walk through Paris. She had three days of hard work ahead of her, and then, over the weekend at least, she could do whatever she wanted. She thought of Zack’s comment