by Lily Zante
“I’m going to apply for other jobs in the meantime,” I tell him, taking a bite of the chocolate bar.
“Me too. I can do better than where I’m at.”
“We can both do better. At least you have a roof over your head.”
“You can stay with me for as long as you want, Mari.”
He’s a good guy. A good friend. Someone I can depend on, unlike the douchebag who was my boyfriend. “You’re too kind, but it’s not ideal.”
“Seriously, you can stay as long as you want.”
I ditched Dale, of course. I don’t need someone like him in my life, but I wish I’d learned my lesson the first time round. I deserve better. Jamie always says I’m too nice, too forgiving, that I always see the best in people, and that’s my downfall. My mom always used to say that, too—back when she was my mom, before the dementia hit and slowly made her forget who I was.
A few days after that? My landlord told me to leave after I couldn’t pay the rent for my apartment for the third month running. The well paid job? I’d used most of my savings to pay for my mom’s hospital bills because in the last year she’d had a few falls, and there was always something wrong. We had lots of tests done over the course of the last year and then I had to pay for my mom’s move into a nursing home.
She lived with me in my small apartment, but during the last year I noticed that she would get upset when she forgot something, because it started to happen a lot. I didn’t think anything of it at first. Then one day she got lost when coming home from grocery shopping.
That’s when I took notice. Over the next few months, she would become irrational, and get upset easily. She thought she was seeing people walking around in the house, or outside. I was starting to find it difficult.
Then she fell down and broke her arm and while in the hospital, she was diagnosed with stage four dementia. Maybe that’s why I couldn’t keep an eye on what Dale was up to. I’d stay at his place a lot, but the more ill my mom got, the less I saw him. There was no possibility of him coming to stay at my place. It was tiny as it was. With my mom being there it was hard.
Still, she was my priority and I nursed her back, but it wasn’t easy, what with her new forgetfulness and mood swings. It was when she left the stove on all day, that I decided she would be better off in a nursing home.
So I tried to explain to her, and she understood it. She flits in and out of being ‘my mom’ and being a stranger. The trick, and the gift, the beauty, is to have her for as long as possible, being my mom. And this week, this week out of hell, I was told that she has stage five dementia.
It’s good that she’s in a nursing home, having someone keep an eye on her all the time, but I still worry. She’s only been there a few months, and I’ve been paying to keep her there, thinking that the promotion I was going to get was going to come through. My boss had told me it was. And then the crook himself messed things up for us all.
I’d been paying a third of my rent for the past few months, needing to get my mom settled but my landlord got impatient and threw me out.
“Why so quiet?”
“My life is a shit show.”
“It’s not. This, right now, your life and everything that’s happened, this is what’s meant to happen. This is where you’re meant to be. Hopefully you’ll learn this time.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “Learn what?” I scoff. “Being broke, discovering my mom’s dementia is worse than I thought? Losing my job? Having a cheating boyfriend?”
“That you are too nice, too forgiving, too …” He pauses, then presses his lips together, as if he doesn’t want to say.
“Say it.”
“You’re too reckless, especially when it comes to guys. You can do better. Dale is a jerk. He was a jerk the first time he cheated on you, and now he’s a …” He shakes his head, and I can tell he wants to swear.
“I fell in love,” I say, putting the chocolate wrapper in my pocket now that I’ve gobbled it all up greedily. I was in love. I am reckless, perhaps. I give my heart too easily, without thinking. I don’t second guess when my insides go all mushy, or when someone kisses me and my toes curl. I’m not a hussy, but I can’t not react at times like this. And Dale was so handsome and lovely in the beginning.
“Who’s it with?” he asks. “The interview tomorrow? A family, with kids?”
“I think it’s a guy. A businessman.” That’s what the recruitment consultant told me. She said it was a new job placement that came up and they didn’t have many details about it yet. I look at him and widen my eyes, exaggerating my very-scared face. “A perv, you think?”
Now Jamie looks worried. “I’ll come with you, if you want.”
“To the interview? How stupid would that look?”
“The offers there if you want.”
“I’ll be okay. I’m a grown woman. It’s just an interview. Oh, my goodness!” I squint at the paper with his address, as it hits me. “He lives in the Gold Coast area.”
Jamie’s eyes widen.
The famed Gold Coast is one of Chicago’s most prestigious areas. Suddenly, my woes have evaporated and I feel suddenly uplifted. In the nightmare of my week, this new revelation is as shiny as a diamond. But Jamie stares at me as if there’s an axe murderer standing behind me. “Maybe you shouldn’t go alone.”
“I’m going, and I’ll call you before I go in, and as soon as I come out, okay?”
“Deal.”
A red football bounces towards us. I look over to see a bunch of teens yell at us to kick it back so I get up and give the ball a hefty kick. Too bad it shoots off in the wrong direction, about five yards wide of where the guys are.
“And remember, you have a lot going on at the moment. Don’t worry about finding a place to stay. You can stay with me for as long as you want.”
“Awww.” I squeeze his arm slightly. “You’re very sweet.”
“Just trying to help you out,” he mumbles, before moving his arm and looking away.
Now I’ve upset him. This is a strange thing. Me and him being such good friends. He’s not been lucky with women either, though as far as I know no one has cheated on him. We went out as a foursome once last year, and I met his girlfriend, but they split up a few months ago and he never really gave me a reason why.
Me sleeping on his couch might raise eyebrows with some of my friends, or even my mom, depending on what sort of mood she’s in and if she remembers who I am, but it’s the only way my life works right now.
“I worry about you,” says Jamie, staring at me pensively.
“Awww, stop that. You have plenty of worries of your own without adding me to the list.”
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Click here for more details on The Price of Inertia
Booklist
The Seven Sins: A series of seven standalone romances based on the seven sins. Steamy, emotional, and angsty romances which are loosely connected.
Underdog (FREE prequel)
The Wrath of Eli
The Problem with Lust
The Lies of Pride
The Price of Inertia
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The Billionaire’s Love Story: This is a Cinderella story with a touch of Jerry Maguire. What happens when the billionaire with too much money meets the single mom with too much heart?
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The Promise (FREE)
The Gift, Book 1
The Gift, Book 2
The Gift, Book 3
The Gift, Boxed Set (Books 1, 2 & 3)
The Offer, Book 1
The Offer, Book 2
The Offer, Book 3
The Offer, Boxed Set (Books 1, 2 & 3)
The Vow, Book 1
The Vow, Book 2
The Vow, Book 3
The Vow, Boxed Set (Books 1, 2 & 3)
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Indecent Intentions: This is a spin-off from The Billionaire’s Love story. This two-book set consists of two standalone stories about the billionaire’s playboy brother. The second story i
s about a wealthy nightclub owner who shuns relationships.
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The Bet
The Hookup
Indecent Intentions 2-Book Set
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Honeymoon Series: Take a roller-coaster journey of emotional highs and lows in this story of love and loss, family and relationships. When Ava is dumped six weeks before her Valentine’s Day wedding, she has no idea of the life that awaits her in Italy.
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Honeymoon for One
Honeymoon for Three
Honeymoon Blues
Honeymoon Bliss
Baby Steps
Honeymoon Series Boxed Set (Books 1-4)
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Italian Summer Series: This is a spin-off from the Honeymoon Series. These books tell the stories of the secondary characters who first appeared in the Honeymoon Series. Nico and Ava also appear in these books.
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It Takes Two
All That Glitters
Fool’s Gold
Roman Encounter
November Sun
New Beginnings
Italian Summer Series Boxed Set (Books 1- 4)
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A Perfect Match Series: This is a seven book series in which the first four books feature the same couple. High-flying corporate executive Nadine has no time for romance but her life takes a turn for the better when she meets Ethan, a sexy and struggling metal sculptor five years younger. He works as an escort in order to make the rent. Books 4-6 are standalone romances based on characters from the earlier books. The main couple, Ethan and Nadine, appear in all books:
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Lost in Solo (prequel)
The Proposal
Heart Sync
A Leap of Faith
A Perfect Match Series Books 1-3
Misplaced Love
Reclaiming Love
Embracing Love
A Perfect Match Series (Books 4-6)
Standalone Books:
Love Inc
An Unexpected Gift
An Ordinary Hero
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Acknowledgments
I owe a huge thanks to the wonderful ladies in my proofreading group for their patience and support, as well as their tolerance for my ever-changing deadlines. They check my manuscript for errors, typos, inconsistencies and the many strange words and phrases which often find their way into my stories.
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They give me the confidence to release each book and I am eternally grateful for their help and support:
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Marcia Chamberlain
April Lowe
Dena Pugh
Charlotte Rebelein
Carole Tunstall
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I would also like to thank L J Andersen of Mayhem Cover Creations for creating the awesome cover.
About the Author
Lily Zante lives with her husband and three children somewhere near London, UK.
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Connect with Me
I love hearing from you – so please don’t be shy! You can email me, message me on Facebook or connect with me on Twitter:
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Copyright © 2020 Lily Zante
The Lies of Pride (#3, The Seven Sins)
Ebook Edition
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All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced in any format, by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the copyright owner and publisher of this book.
The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book through the internet or any other means without the prior written consent of the author is illegal and is punishable by law.
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This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places and events are the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously and do not bear any resemblance to any real person, alive or dead.