Vegas Two-Step by Liz Talley Read Free Book Online Page A

boring she was. How dowdy she’d become while existing in Oak Stand. How predictable…blah, blah, blah. She knew who she was. And she liked who she was. Well, most of the time.
    “Look, Kate. I like my life. Sure, sometimes it bores me. Sometimes I need to feel different—that’s why I came to Vegas for your glam weekend. But I am not you. When I wake up after a night out, I sometimes have regrets.”
    Kate flounced toward the chair in the corner of the posh dressing room and plopped down with a flourish. “Okay, listen, Nellie. I get you. I know you were raised to be ashamed of every passionate impulse you have. But I know who you are under all those layers your grandmother wrapped around you. I know the girl who snuck out for the Pearl Jam concert is still in there somewhere.”
    Nellie rolled her eyes. “That was you who snuck out. I stayed home and did my math homework, remember?”
    “I thought you came with us?”
    “No,” Nellie said, shrugging out of her T-shirt and hanging it on the hook.
    “Oh, my God! Is that a hickey?”
    Nellie’s color went past red and stopped at purple. She shot her friend a murderous do-not-go-there look.
    Kate merely smiled. “ Nice! ”
    Nellie chose to ignore Kate’s comment. She had been shocked enough to find the small passion mark on her neck that morning in the hotel mirror. Jack had done an amazing job of getting the syrup off her neck.
    Kate tucked the gloating smile away and continued on her original mission. “I remember the first time I saw you, Nellie. Mostly ’cause I really liked how I could see my reflection in your shoes. You had your hair pulled back, a smocked dress with lacy socks and shiny patent leather shoes. You said ‘yes, ma’am’ and ‘please’ and ‘thank you,’ and that was it. You were like a doll all dressed up. I tried to pinch you to see if you were real.”
    “I distinctly remember,” Nellie said, glancing at her friend in the mirror as she shimmied out of the capris she wore. Kate looked as if she was just getting started.
    “And when you got dirty, remember how upset you would get? You knew what your grandmother expected. You knew from day one you were a Tucker and that meant something in Oak Stand. You were different.”
    Nellie sighed as she pulled on a silky sleeveless sweater dress in a tawny gold. It felt like the touch of a butterfly’s wings. She would definitely purchase it. She caught the price from the dangling tag in the reflection of the mirror. Maybe not.
    “Nellie, she made you think you had to be a certain way. That’s probably why you’re a stodgy librarian. She picked the job out for you. It’s genteel. Acceptable.”
    Nellie held up one finger. “Now, stop right there. I chose to be a librarian. And it’s not stodgy. Being a librarian today is different than it was twenty years ago. We don’t even call ourselves librarians. I am an archive specialist.”
    Kate rolled her eyes. “I know. They have computers and little scanner thingies.”
    “Yeah, little scanner thingies. That’s the absolute correct term.” Nellie grimaced. “Look, I love my job, Kate. That has nothing to do with being a Tucker or with my grandmother’s expectations about what I was supposed to do with my life. It has to do with me being realistic.”
    “Whatever, but still—”
    “Grandmother Tucker had her good points.” Nellie didn’t want to endure another tirade about her grandmother. “She raised me the way she was raised. She didn’t know any other way.”
    “But that doesn’t mean you have to continue on that path. That very narrow path.”
    “Most of the time I like that path, Kate,” Nellie said, stepping into a pair of raw silk pants that complemented the sweater. They looked magnificent on her. She glanced at the price tag. $380.00! No way. For pants?
    “See.” Kate motioned to the price tag with disgust. “Just what I’m talking about. You have a buttload of money and won’t spend it. Your grandmother had