" We don't really care if you play puppet master to everyone else," Shelly said. She had her hands on her shapely hips. "But this relationship will no... work if we are not completely open and honest with each other. You asked us to trust you last night but you didn't have enough confidence in us to let us find our way to this point."Adam couldn't refute the comment. He believed that – eventually – everyone would come to see his point of view. He simply feared it would take too long to avoid. She said that she needed my rent. As a sponsored student I always paid my rent on time, in fact by direct debit. My money paid her mortgage on the house. If I failed, and became unemployed, I would have to return to my parents while I hunted another job. She would be left with a vacant room in mid-year and probably couldn’t fill it until next September. So three times a week we sat with our heads close together at the kitchen table while I learned statistics. If I hadn’t been so petrified of. It was one of the reasons I decided not to carry alcohol. It took a lot of temptation away, and besides, I needed that cooler space for vegetables and milk.I had people. Alice worked from three to eight, three days a week, and eight hours on Saturdays. Miguel’s youngest sister, seventeen, worked the same hours as Alice on opposite days, and Consuela’s Spanish skills helped us tremendously. I even took Spanish classes, and could now speak it, poorly. I think a lot of customers came in just to. Then her eyes narrowed. “Debs,” she hissed, “what do you think you’re doing, bringing that girl here?” Debs, Deborah probably, at last I learned the given name of the girl. She didn’t appear fazed. “Cool down, Lydia, she’s one of Amy’s classmates and already eighteen.” Calculating eyes roamed up and down my body, but I could see Lydia’s expression relax. “Think about what we talked the other day? I think she’d be perfect.” The woman’s eyes rested right between my legs, and I wanted to die with.