The Promise of Paradise - By Allie Boniface Page 0,12

sun-dappled and secret. Jen had been right. The bird’s eye porch was the best part of the apartment. Out there, she could escape. She could think. She could watch the world from above without it staring back at her. Ash grabbed a napkin along with her lunch and hauled herself across the sill.

The day was quiet, breathless in the heat. She watched the street for a while as she chewed, but nothing moved. Even Helen remained inside. Content for the first time in what seemed like forever, she allowed herself to relax.

God, she’d fallen apart when the news about her father broke. He’d tried to claim a set-up, a political framing, but how did you argue with the facts? A gram of cocaine in the glove box of his private Benz. A point-oh-nine on the breathalyzer test. Worst of all, a nineteen-year-old prostitute in the seat beside him, made up to look twenty-five but playing the lost little girl as soon as the first news camera appeared.

Her mother had defended him, as always. Ash finished her lunch and crumpled her napkin into a tiny ball. The space in the center of her chest ached. Was that what it meant to be a politician’s wife? Smiling for the camera and denying any wrongdoing? Ash had no intention of letting that happen to her. Ever. She’d be the politician, but never the passive wife, never standing at home while her husband ran around behind her back.

Hell, now she didn’t even want to be a politician. She’d spent her entire life watching how everyone, the people of Massachusetts, and the reporters themselves, had at first loved her father and then lambasted him. They worshipped him, put him into office with the biggest majority the state had seen in fifty years. And then they were the first ones to parade his mug shot across every television channel and newspaper in the city the moment he slipped up. Did she want a life like that for herself? No way.

Ash made her way back into the kitchen. She couldn’t think about it anymore. The sorrow and frustration would give her a migraine and land her in bed for two days. With a couple of hours until she had to return to Blues and Booze, maybe she’d attack the mold growing behind her toilet. That chore might be disgusting enough to take her mind off all the problems back home.

Someone knocked on her door, and Ash froze. Oh, God. They found me. The media followed me to Paradise and now they want a statement. With a hearing scheduled for later this summer, the story would be building again, after the relative calm of the last few weeks. She eyed the door. She’d thought New Hampshire was far enough away, but who knew what those vultures were capable of? They’d camped outside her apartment in Cambridge until Colin called the police. Of course, that was when he’d still lived there. When he still cared. She hugged her elbows. All she wanted was to be left alone. Was that too much to ask?

She tiptoed to the door and looked through the peephole. Eddie. Thank God. She pulled open the door in relief.

“Hi.”

Today her downstairs neighbor wore jeans and a faded red T-shirt with the words “Frank’s Imports” across the pocket. His feet were bare. He lifted the edge of his shirt to wipe his forehead, and Ash caught a glimpse of a six-pack hiding underneath. Damn, he looked good. Even preoccupied with thoughts of her father, she couldn’t deny that.

“Hi yourself. Everything okay?”

“Fine. Come on in.”

“Thanks.” A wide smile brightened his eyes, revealing a dimple.

God, he’s even better-looking when he really smiles.

“How’s the job search going?” He pointed to the paper, lying on the floor beside the loveseat.

“Ah, I found one.” A vision of the darkened Blues and Booze flew into her mind, and Ash grimaced.

“Yeah? But that’s not a good face.”

“No, it’s okay.” She willed away the image of the manager's yellow teeth. “It’s waiting tables in a restaurant downtown. Blues and Booze. You know it?”

“Sure. Great little place.”

“Really?” She leaned in the kitchen doorway. “Seemed a little...I don’t know. Strange.”

He chuckled. “You probably talked to Marty, the manager.”

She nodded.

“Marty’s dad left him that place ‘cause no one else in the family wanted it. He’s got a sister who works in real estate down in Boston, and a brother out in California. Marty just made it through high school and didn’t have the gumption to do much of