𝐞𝐠𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 · 𝐚𝐥𝐟𝐢𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐬

𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞

SOON CAME FAR too quickly for Evelyn's liking. Within three days, Richard Klein had visited her brother a total of five times. Tommy never asked Evelyn to attend those meetings, always shutting the door before she could stand up from her makeshift desk next to Lizzie's.

Evelyn impatiently watched the door to Tommy's office, mindlessly tapping her pencil against the wooden surface as she rested her chin in her palm. Richard had once again strolled into the betting shop ten minutes after Tommy had arrived, and the pair had been in a meeting for almost an hour since.

"That's an annoying habit," Evelyn's head snapped to the left, huffing when she noticed the intense stare that Lizzie was giving her. 

"I have a lot of annoying habits," the Shelby woman quipped back, causing Lizzie to softly laugh. 

Evelyn wasn't particularly wrong, she did have a lot of bad habits. When she was excited she would rush her speech – trying to get all her words out at once, she would unconsciously bite her nails and grind her teeth, and not to mention that she could never sit still for more than ten minutes before needing to get up and move. 

They were annoying, but they made her who she was – so she really didn't give a damn about what Lizzie Stark thought.

"I won't agree since you will probably stab me with your hairpins," Lizzie smirked, leaning back in her chair as she lazily smoked. "Klein is quite a looker, isn't he?"

Evelyn shrugged, not particularly fond of gossiping with the woman who she wouldn't count as a friend – only knowing about her through her past relations with both Tommy and John as a whore. 

"He's alright," Evelyn responded, discreetly rolling her eyes before they focused back on the door – Lizzie hummed at her words.

"Not quite your type though, right?" The older woman broke into a teasing grin, before sending Evelyn an understanding look. "You like them rough, not clean-cut."

Evelyn's heart raced when her mind drifted to Alfie. The Shelby woman used to believe that she would end up with someone like Richard Klein, a man who was educated, well-groomed and looked the perfect picture of a gentleman – but that fantasy was easily shattered when she met Alfie who was the complete opposite of every standard she upheld. 

"And you like them all," Evelyn sarcastically shot back, before dropping her head into her hands – realising that she had no right to snap the way she did. "I'm sorry."

"I get it. You can miss him, Evelyn, but he's the one who decided to not come back."

A frown grew on Evelyn's face as she turned to look at her brothers now fiancé. Evelyn wasn't sure whether Tommy proposed because the woman was pregnant or because he truly felt something for her, but at this point she couldn't find it in herself to care – there were much more pressing matters.. 

"How so? I'm the one who pushed him away."

Evelyn could see the pity that Lizzie was showing her – it was the same look she got from her family whenever they woke up the next morning after hearing her cry herself to sleep. 

"Tommy didn't tell you?" Lizzie tilted her head, shifting her seat closer to Evelyn so she could speak to the girl without being overheard from the others in the shop. "Polly told Tommy to go collect Alfie the day you collapsed – but Alfie refused."

Evelyn felt her throat tighten at Lizzie's words – her eyes boring into the woman, looking for any form of her being deceitful; the action causing the woman to laugh lightly and shake her head.

"You're just like your fucking brother," taking a drag from her cigarette, Lizzie looked towards Tommy's office door just as it swung open.

Lifting her head, Evelyn took in the way Tommy and Richard shook hands before they both turned in her direction – Richard sending her a wink as he left the betting shop. Evelyn's eyes followed the young man until he left, looking towards her brother as he gestured for her to come into his office.