Eve Fawkner, Cat Burglar in Training—Highlights from My Week
Eve Fawkner and her young daughter have recently returned from France to move back in with her father at Oakthorpe, the Fawkner ancestral home. She’s expecting to slip back into her old routine where her days will be calm, safe and free of drama. Little does she know! Here’s the run-down of her first week back at Oakthorpe.
Monday
8:00 am – Amber, my daughter and I enter the kitchen ready for breakfast. My father and his friends Ben and Hannah are already eating their breakfast.
8:05 am – Something weird is going on with Father, Hannah and Ben. There’s something they’re not telling me. A secret. I keep sending them suspicious looks but can’t say much because of Amber. Bother it!
8:10 am – The phone goes and Amber answers it. She hands the phone over to me, and it’s some rude man, demanding money. I tell him I don’t have any debts, and he should get lost. He cuts into my tirade. Good grief! He threatens to harm Amber if the debt isn’t paid on time. Father’s debt!
8:11 am – Send Amber off to brush her teeth. Demand answers from Father. He admits to a small debt. Nothing to panic about. They’re not telling me everything. I decide to pack our stuff and take Amber back to France.
8:20 am – Amber arrives back before I can worm all the info out of Father, but he does tell me he expects me to take over the mantle of cat burglar. I say no. He admits his arthritis is acting up, and he can’t climb anymore. I flatly refuse. I don’t want to be The Shadow. I crave normal, and the life of a cat burglar is nowhere near normal!
8:30 am – I drive Amber to school, my mind full of debts and thugs. No, I’m not going to let my father guilt me into becoming The Shadow. I can’t run away to France either. There must be an alternative.
9:15 am – I arrive back at Oakthorpe. Father, Ben and Hannah gang up on me. I suggest we downsize and sell Oakthorpe. This suggestion is met with abject horror.
9:30 am – Father ends the argument by telling me he’ll meet me in the gym where I’ll start my cat burglar training.
9:32 am – I stomp after him and present my arguments again, but Father and Ben wear me down. I spend the next three hours undertaking brutal training in the gym. My bruises have bruises! My ass hurts.
Tuesday to Friday
More gym sessions. More training. More bruises. Father’s receiver expresses a wish for rubies.
Friday night
8:00 pm – Showtime! My first ball. I’m dressed to entice, my smile cheerful and flirty. Bimbo-like. It’s all a ruse because I’m searching for the perfect mark—a woman wearing rubies. Cat burglar in training.
To read about the rest of my week, plus the following weeks, check out Cat Burglar in Training, available now from Carina Press and other online retailers.
This first appeared as a guest post on Romancing the Book.