CHAPTER FIVE
Susan Meier
For my sisters...may we always take care of each other the way Olivia, Eloise and Laura Beth do.
THERE WAS ALWAYS too much month left at the end of Eloise Vaughn’s money.
“Here, put these crackers in your purse.” Laura Beth Matthews gathered a handful of crackers from the party buffet of their newly married friend, Olivia Engle, and shoved them at Eloise.
She gasped. “So now we’re reduced to stealing crackers?”
“Five crackers are lunch.”
Eloise sighed but opened her Chanel purse and let her roommate dump the crackers inside.
“I’m sorry, Coco.”
Laura Beth said, “Coco?”
“Chanel...” She shook her head. “Never mind.”
Hoping no one saw the crackers falling into her purse, Eloise glanced around the Christmas party at the women wearing shiny cocktail dresses in shades of red and green and the tuxedo-clad men. Subdued gold and silver decorations gave the Engles’ penthouse a sophisticated glow. The clink of ice in glasses, laughter of guests and the air of importance—wealth and power—wafted around her.
For fifty cents she could work this room and probably leave with a date. But she didn’t want a date. She’d had the love of her life and had lost him. Now, she wanted a job, a good-paying job, a permanent position
