by Rose Perry
LOVING THE ESCORT
BY
ROSE PERRY
OTHER BOOKS BY THIS AUTHOR
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Loving The Escort Series
“Loving The Escort: 1, 2 & 3 (Box Set)”
“Loving The Escort”
“Loving The Escort: 2”
“Loving The Escort: 3”
Copyright © 2014 by Rose Perry
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Loving The Escort
All rights reserved.
This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. No part of this work may be used, reproduced, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording and faxing, or by any information storage and retrieval system by anyone but the purchaser for their own personal use.
This book may not be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of Rose Perry, except in the case of a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages for the sake of a review written for inclusions in a magazine, newspaper, or journal—and these cases require written approval from Rose Perry prior to publication. Any reproduction or other unauthorized use of the material or artwork herein is prohibited without the express written permission of the author.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Other Books by This Author
CHAPTER ONE
“I feel like leaving this godforsaken place!”
Janet Burns was tired of working her tail off and still could not make ends meet. To her, the life she had was dull, uneventful and going nowhere. There was no room for promotion and she had expenses, which she could not ignore.
At twenty-three years old, she was a hard worker who sometimes took double shifts so she could help her mother. She was strikingly beautiful with golden blond curls which hung midway down her back. Her blue eyes, accentuated by long lashes, were deep and showed her emotions easily. Sensuous lips and a button nose with tiny freckles enhanced her features.
She stood at around five feet seven inches and was slender, with a small waist and curvy hips. She was often mistaken for a model and often times was approached by scouts looking for fresh faces. She always turned them down because it would mean travelling all the time and leaving her sick mother.
Her voice had risen louder than it should have and some of the patrons turned to look in her direction. Rod was sitting a few feet away and he stared at her in his usual creepy way. What’s with him, she thought, why does he always stare at me?
The guy was greasy looking in Janet’s mind. He had dark hair that hung loosely around his neck, almost touching his shoulder. It was slicked back with hair gel. His dark eyes seemed to bore holes into her whenever he looked at her. He’d asked her out a couple of times, but she refused. He just wasn’t her type, plus she was too preoccupied to even think about dating.
Janet was modest girl who was often surprised when people complimented her looks. She wanted more than what the average man often offered. She wanted to make something of herself, and if possible go back to school. However, working double shifts in Dineo’s Diner in Newark Valley would never pave the way to success.
She’d just cleared table three when she realized how frustrating her life was. She held on to that job because she lived in the Valley and there was nothing else to do. She was also at her wit’s end, trying to figure out a way to deal with her current situation.
“Where would you go?” asked Sara, her friend and co-worker. “What about your mother?”
Both questions were reasonable but to be honest, the only reason she stuck around was because of her mother. Barbara Burns, Janet’s mother has been in and out of the hospital for years, suffering from various ailments. Just when mother and daughter thought that things were turning around another bombshell hit.
They had gone for a routine checkup at the Newark Valley Memorial Hospital. Janet began to get an uneasy feeling when the doctor suggested her mother stay overnight. He told them they were running a few more tests that would require her to be monitored.
She had gone back to work at the diner when the call came in that she return to the hospital. So many thoughts ran through her mind. At one point, she thought that maybe her mother had died, but she quickly dispelled that and hurried to her mother’s room.
The doctor was there, standing by the bed looking quite sheepish. Janet stood in the doorway, a bit relieved to see her mother, but anxious as to why she was asked to come in.
“Miss Burns, glad you could return,” the doctor said. Janet greeted him and kissed her mother.
“Is everything okay? Are you sending her home now? Is that why you sent for me?”
“Honey,” Barbara’s voice sounded far away and she took her daughter’s hand.
Janet looked at her mother. Her greying brown hair splayed on the pillow like angel wings. She noticed that her mother had taken the time to make up her face, splashing on scarlet lipstick and blue eyeliner, the one that matched her electric blue eyes.
She didn’t need all that makeup, Janet thought. She was beautiful the way she was. Her lips curved at the corners as if she was smiling all the time and her skin was still soft and smooth, except for a few squint lines around the eyes.
“Yes mom,” she answered, stroking her mother’s hand.
“Come sit beside me,” her mother requested.
“What’s going on?” she inquired, looking pointedly at the doctor.
It wasn’t the physician who usually tended her mother. This one was much younger, in his mid-forties, thick-rimmed glasses with a balding head. His brown eyes flickered from Janet to her mother. Janet’s eyes traveled to his nametag on the left of his jacket, it said, “Dr. M. Fowler.” Fleetingly she wondered what the ‘M’ stood for.
The man cleared his throat and took on a serious expression. “Your mother, Mrs. Burns…we ran some tests and they came back positive,” he started.
“What tests?” She’d gotten white as the blood drained from her face. She feared the worst as the thought of cancer entered her mind.
“Your mother has been having symptoms consistent with a rare illness. The test shows that she has what is called Myelodysplastic syndrome,” he informed her.
As Dr. Fowler spoke, Janet felt her mother cling to her hand. She’d heard the news already, Janet could tell. She looked down at her mother and touched her forehead affectionately.
“What is that doctor? Is it some kind of cancer?”
He sighed as if he’d been holding his breath for a while, “It’s a very rare blood disorder where some blood cells are not produced efficiently. This can lead to more serious problems. We need to run more tests to see what stage she’s at. We feel she needs to stay in the hospital for an extended period.”
* * * *
That was two months ago. The results were not good. It was confirmed that her mother was in an advanced stage of the disease. There were no one-hundred percent cures and without effective treatment she would die within a year.
Janet was determined not to let that happen. Her mother was all she had. Her father walked out on them when she was only four years old. There was no way she could let her mother just wither away and die, she had to do something.
After the diagnosis she had
a talk with the doctor about treatment options, “I’m afraid there’s no high percentage cure at the moment. We can make her as comfortable as possible,” he told her.
She left the hospital determined to find a way to save her mother. The library was the first place she stopped, where she researched what Myelodysplastic syndrome was. What she found was not good at all. According to the doctor, her mother was in an advanced stage of the disease and that meant she was showing signs of Leukemia, which would only get worse if untreated.
The following day she returned to the hospital to visit her mother and decided to have a talk with the head nurse. She told her the same thing, there were no realistic cures. Desperately she went to see Dr. Fowler.
“What do you mean there’s no cure. How can you say that? You’re a doctor!” her voice had raised a pitch.
“Miss Burns…,” his gentle tone seemed to pity her.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell, not at you anyway.” She said.
“I understand,” he hesitated. Janet noticed it was a trait of his whenever he had bad news. “There is a treatment. It has not been approved yet which means it’s still in development stages. You do understand that this is an experimental treatment.”
“Where is this place?” she’d asked, hopefully.
“In Canada,” replied Dr. Fowler.
He gave her the name and address of the facility and a doctor she could contact in Toronto. Janet took the information with the hope that they could help her mother. Though the treatment was only experimental, she was confident that her mother would recover.
* * * *
Frustrated at her helplessness, Janet began clearing the other tables. By the time the tables were cleared so was the diner, except for Rod. He was engrossed in something on a tablet he held in his hand. The breakfast crowd had left the place in a mess, so she and Sara were making the place spotless.
“Have you called the clinic in Canada?” Sara asked.
“Yes, that’s what so hard. It’s expensive,” she told her friend. “It’s fifty-thousand. Where am I going to get that much money?” Janet’s said her voice rising in pitch.
Suddenly, upon hearing their conversation, Rod’s head shot up. His interest was piqued. “Hey J, I can help you out,” he was sitting at a table near the window.
“Go away Rod, I don’t need your help,” Janet replied, turning her back and ignoring him.
Sara rolled her eyes and asked, “What about insurance.”
“They said it doesn’t cover experimental treatments. Argh! I feel like hitting somebody. Why does this have to be so hard?” She said.
Rod got up from his seat and strolled over to where the girls were working. His six feet frame towering over them.
“Hey baby, I can take care of you if you just give me a chance.” He told them.
“Hey, beat it; she doesn’t need your kind of help!” Sara said as she stepped between Rod and Janet.
Sara was around the same height as Janet, but she was afraid of nothing. Rod held up his hands in surrender, winked at Janet and walked out of the diner.
“Ugh, I feel like I want to hurl,” Janet said in mock nauseousness.
Sara was her best friend. They practically grew up together in the valley. She was the rock, the voice of reason at times when Janet wanted to give up. They both worked in the diner and mostly the same shifts, so it was easy to talk to her while they worked. They were very close and Sara always acted as her protector. There was nothing the girls wouldn’t do for each other and often covered for each other when they got in trouble.
A wisp of dark hair fell loosely along Sara’s temple. Her brown eyes studied her friend and saw the frustration etched in her face and eyes. She could always tell when something was wrong, because Janet’s eyes would change color to a dark purplish hue.
Sara was a very attractive girl with a bit more curves. She also got her fair share of attention. Her hazel eyes were very captivating, but what stood out was her aggressive type of personality. This scared men away and she was content with that.
Sara felt sorry for Janet because she knew the situation and how hard her friend worked to take care of her mother. They lived in a small house in the valley and it was Janet who paid all the expenses since her mother could no longer work. Sara lived a few blocks away in a tiny apartment.
“Maybe you could ask “D” for a raise,” Sara supplied.
The owner of the diner was Dineo Batelli, but everyone called him “D”. He wasn’t a mean man, but he could sometimes be quite harsh if you got on his nerves. Asking for a raise seemed very risky, so no one ever had the courage to ask.
It was rumored that his grandfather use to be part of the mafia. No one knew for sure if the rumors were true, but word on the streets that his father was killed on an ‘assignment’ for the boss, Dineo’s grandfather. Indeed, the man was scary looking and had a very bad disposition. No one messed with him and his employees felt safe; because if anyone messed with his workers, they would have to deal with him.
“No way!” Janet said.
“It’s worth a try,” Sara encouraged.
“’D’ would never agree,” Janet wasn’t about to risk agitating Dineo. His voice rolled like thunder when he was mad. His wife insisted he stay out of the dining area and manage things from his office at the back of the diner. He wasn’t even allowed in the kitchen anymore.
When Dineo opened the Diner almost twenty years ago, it was just he and his wife. He was the cook back then and his wife, Bella, served. It was hard work and when she got pregnant, they hired their first employee. There were no shifts. The diner would open for breakfast and closed to prepare for lunch and then it would close after lunch to prepare for dinner.
Twenty years later, it was a twenty-four hour establishment with over a dozen people on staff. Bella now worked at the cashier station; there were two cooks, dishwashers and the servers.
Sara and Janet finished clearing the tables and started counting their tips.
“Think about it. It may not be much, but it’s a start. What other options do you have?” Sara said.
Janet counted thirty dollars in all. By the time she went off her day shift she may end up with one hundred and fifty.
Janet hated when Sara made sense, but that’s why they were so close, she could always rely on her friend to be the voice of reason and she badly needed that.
“I’ll think about it.” Janet responded.
Her idea was to find a better paying job, but that meant moving to the city. That was out of the question as long as her mother was home. If she could only come up with the money needed to send her mother to Canada, she would be able to work in New York.
It was beginning to stress Janet out that she was unable to do anything, but she did not give up. She decided that, as soon as she left work, she would continue her search for alternative treatments and a better paying job.
At one point she even thought of taking the insurance company to court but that would take years before a resolution might be met, and time was against them. If she didn’t come up with the money in the next few months, her mother would die.
It was at these times that Janet resented her father for walking out. If he had been around things may have been easier on the family. In her mind, he was a coward for leaving them and running off with God knows who. She hoped he was suffering as much as they were.
After a short break from the morning crowd, the diner started filling up again with early lunchers. By eleven, there was hardly space to seat anyone. The food was excellent and the last couple of years, after Dineo suffered a mild heart attack, they began serving a healthy menu.
The menu consisted of the usual greasy fries, onion rings and burgers. There was the chicken potpie, which was one of the crowd favorites, but what surprised everyone was the egg white omelet, which was on the healthy menu and fast becoming the bestselling breakfast. During the summer, there were salads and sorbet added to the menu while winter service were stews a
nd soups. The BLT was the lunch favorite, especially for the female patrons.
The diner was busy that day and Janet put talking to her boss completely out of her mind. There was no way he would give her a raise and it didn’t make sense asking for extra shifts. So by the end of the day she had no real solution to her problems.
She headed straight to the hospital after work. She was informed that the insurance wouldn’t last much longer so they had to figure out something before it ran out. This made Janet really upset.
At such a young age, she didn’t have time to do what normal girls her age did, such as dating, hanging with friends and just having fun. Her mother felt guilty about not providing the life she wanted for her daughter and was thinking of going back to New Jersey, where her family home was, to die.
There was no one there. Barbara’s parents were dead and her only sibling, Robert, lived in California. They had no idea how he was doing financially, in addition, he wanted nothing to do with the old house in which he grew up. She wasn’t sure if it was still standing or if it needed repairs, but that didn’t matter, she would die in a few months anyway.
When Janet arrived at the hospital Barbara wanted so much to tell her that she shouldn’t worry, but she got scared. All they had were each other, and she didn’t know how her daughter would react to her taking off, especially in her condition. She didn’t want her daughter thinking she didn’t need her, so she kept quiet while Janet told her about the diner.
“Sara thinks I should ask ‘D’ for a raise, but I don’t think so,” Janet said. She knew it was small talk, but she knew it kept her mother alert. It also made her feel involved in her life as well, which made her feel needed. “I’m going to try getting a loan Mom,” she added.
“Do you think that’s a good idea? I won’t be able to help with payments,” Barbara said.
“Don’t worry about it mom. I’ll put up the house. I may be able to get a third of the money. The house must be worth at least fifty thousand. I should be able to use it as collateral for a small loan.”