New York Debut
Authors: Melody Carlson
Tags: #General Fiction, #ebook, #book, #(¯`'•.¸//(*_*)\\¸.•'´¯)
new york debut
OTHER BOOKS BY MELODY CARLSON:
Carter House Girls series
Mixed Bags (Book One)
Stealing Bradford (Book Two)
Homecoming Queen (Book Three)
Viva Vermont! (Book Four)
Lost in Las Vegas (Book Five)
Girls of 622 Harbor View series
Project: Girl Power (Book One)
Project: Mystery Bus (Book Two)
Project: Rescuing Chelsea (Book Three)
Project: Take Charge (Book Four)
Project: Raising Faith (Book Five)
Project: Run Away (Book Six)
Project: Ski Trip (Book Seven)
Project: Secret Admirer (Book Eight)
Books for Teens
The Secret Life of Samantha McGregor series
Diary of a Teenage Girl series
TrueColors series
Notes from a Spinning Planet series
Degrees series
Piercing Proverbs
By Design series
Women’s Fiction
These Boots Weren’t Made for Walking
On This Day
An Irish Christmas
The Christmas Bus
Crystal Lies
Finding Alice
Three Days
Grace Chapel Inn Series
, including
Hidden History
Ready to Wed
Back Home Again
ZONDERVAN
new york debut
Copyright © 2009 by Melody Carlson
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Zondervan.
Mobi Edition June 2009 ISBN: 0-310-86327-9
Requests for information should be addressed to:
Zondervan,
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Carlson, Melody.
New York debut / by Melody Carlson.
p. cm. — (Carter House girls ; bk. 6)
Summary: Life at the Carter house is in an uproar, with Taylor coming home from rehab treatment, Kriti developing a possible eating disorder, and Eliza creating competition between the girls for the New York debut at Spring Fashion Week.
ISBN 978-0-310-71493-4
[1. Models (Persons) — Fiction. 2. Eating disorders — Fiction. 3. Alcoholism — Fiction. 4. Christian life — Fiction. 5. Interpersonal relations — Fiction. 6. Conduct of life — Fiction. 7. Boardinghouses — Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.C216637Ne 2009
[Fic] — dc22
2008040305
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the
Holy Bible, New
International Version
®
. NIV
®
. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means — electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other — except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.
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new york debut
Table of Contents
“WHERE IS OUR TAYLOR?”
asked Grandmother pleasantly. She kept her eyes focused on the road as she navigated her Mercedes through the heavy traffic exiting the air terminal.
DJ hadn’t told Grandmother the whole story yet. In fact, she hadn’t said much of anything to her this past week, except to leave a brief message explaining that she’d changed her return flight from Vegas, and that she planned to be home two days earlier than expected. Obviously, Grandmother had assumed that Taylor had changed her plans too and was returning with DJ.
“So . . . is Taylor on a later flight?” Grandmother persisted.
DJ was tempted to say, “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” But she knew Grandmother wouldn’t buy that.
“Desiree?” Grandmother glanced at her curiously.
“Taylor is in LA.” DJ said the words slowly, wishing she could add something more to her answer, something that would deflect any further questioning . . . or blame. But what?
“Visiting her father?”
“No . . .”
“Touring with Eva?”
“No . . .”
“What then?” Grandmother’s voice grew slightly irritated as she entered the busy expressway, cutting directly in front of a semi without even using her turn signal. The trucker leaned into his horn, but Grandmother seemed oblivious. “Where
is
the girl, Desiree? Why isn’t Taylor with you? Speak up, please!”
“Taylor is in rehab.” DJ sucked in a quick breath, preparing herself for her grandmother’s reaction.
“Rehab?”
Grandmother turned to stare at DJ with widened eyes. “Whatever for?”
“For alcohol treatment.” DJ pointed ahead at the crowded road now. “Watch out!” she cried as the Mercedes wandered over the line and into the center lane.
Grandmother returned her attention to driving, her lips pressed tightly together. Hopefully she was stunned into speechlessness, although DJ knew it wouldn’t last long. DJ looked out the window, staring at the stone gray skyline as she twisted the handle of her Gucci bag. Taylor had forced the purse on her right before she went into the rehab facility.
“You keep it,” Taylor had told DJ after she’d emptied some personal items into another bag. They were sitting in Taylor’s mom’s luxurious tour bus that was parked outside of the rehab center. The Gucci bag was on the small dining table, with Taylor and DJ sitting across from each other.
“I can’t keep your purse,” DJ had told Taylor. “It’s way too expensive. Besides, I know how much you love this bag.”
“It’ll make me feel better to know it’s on the outside.” Taylor was joking, but DJ could see the tears in her eyes. “For all I know someone in that place might try to steal it from me anyway.”
Then they’d just sat there in silence for a few minutes. DJ had worried that this was all a huge mistake . . . and that it was all DJ’s fault for confronting Taylor in the first place. Not that DJ didn’t want Taylor to get help with her alcohol problem. She most definitely did. But, really, what did they know about this place? And what about the people who ran it? Wouldn’t it be better for Taylor to get treatment back in Connecticut? Back where she’d have friends to support her?
“Let’s go.” Taylor had stood with a determined expression. The driver, who’d been patiently waiting outside for them, now opened the door and smiled uncertainly, asking Taylor if she was ready. She had just nodded solemnly, waiting as he gathered up her designer bags and led the way.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” DJ had asked as they followed him to the main entrance of the facility. But Taylor said nothing. Instead, she’d held her head high, in that haughty Taylor fashion, tossing DJ a narrow-eyed glance. DJ had known immediately what the look meant. It was a warning — keep your mouth shut before I let you have it. And that’s just what DJ had done.
Grandmother made a hissing sound through her lips, but continued to drive without speaking. This was a relief since DJ didn’t really want to discuss Taylor right now. She was still trying to grasp this strange turn of events herself. It felt surreal. Just a week ago, she’d been so angry at Taylor (and Eliza too). They’d both been totally exasperating in Vegas — drinking, partying, and pretending to be adults, but acting more like spoiled children. Then Eliza left — just as quickly as she’d come. That’s when DJ had confronted Taylor, and that’s when Taylor had decided to get help. After that, DJ had been mostly on her own, counting the days and hours until she could fly out of there. No matter what others said about the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas, to DJ it would always be lonely and depressing. She was thankful to be back in Connecticut again. Even if it was starting to rain.