23 Miles by Renee MacKenzie

Author:Renee MacKenzie [MacKenzie, Renee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781927328538
Amazon: B00U4O6G46
Barnesnoble: B00U4O6G46
Goodreads: 27759432
Publisher: Affinity E-Book Press NZ LTD
Published: 2015-03-09T03:00:00+00:00

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When Talia saw the white tablecloths on the tables in the visiting room, she was glad she’d put on a dressy pair of slacks and a blouse. All the visitors were dressed a little nicer than usual, but the inmates still wore their work pants and shirts.

She saw Brian after scanning the room briefly and made her way over to him. The tables were pushed together to create three longer ones. He sat at the table closest to the buffet.

“Tali,” he said as he stood and hugged her. “You look great.”

“Happy Thanksgiving.” She pulled off her coat as she glanced toward the food. “Well, it certainly smells great.”

“Yeah, just stay away from the stuffing.” He took her coat from her and draped it over the chair beside the one he’d claimed for himself. He leaned close to whisper into her ear, “The cook who made the stuffing cut his finger really bad and bled all over it. They didn’t have time to start over so they stuck it in the oven as it was.” He gave an exaggerated shudder. “What a shame, since the stuffing is your favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner.”

The chatter around them lessened as a chime rang through the room. Over the intercom a voice announced that residents with the last name starting with the letter A through D would go through the buffet line first with their guests.

A low rumble of voices started at the word ‘residents.’

“I am so glad Mom didn’t marry that Zimmerman fellow instead of Dad,” Brian said.

When it was their turn to go through the line, Talia followed behind Brian. She spooned spare amounts of green bean casserole, turkey, mashed potatoes with gravy, and corn onto her plate. When she got to the stuffing, she hesitated.

“What’s the matter, Tali?” Brian asked. “Still don’t know if you believe me or not?”

“Nothing’s the matter.” She put a decent-sized portion of stuffing onto her plate.

“Remember, it’s a crime to waste federal funds so you must eat everything you take.”

It was not lost on her that Brian didn’t put any stuffing on his plate.

“Don’t wait until later to get your dessert, because once the first fight breaks out the food will be taken away.”

She wedged a slice of pecan pie between her green bean casserole and corn.

“You have to trust me on this.” He gave her a brilliant smile. “Just because we didn’t end up with a massive riot last year doesn’t mean we won’t have one this year.”

She hoped he didn’t have inside information; that he hadn’t manipulated some situation so that it would erupt during the holiday dinner.

To Talia’s left, a family of three kids and a woman joined an inmate that Talia recognized from some of the visitation days. She couldn’t remember ever seeing the family on visiting days. No, he always met with a younger woman then. She was curious, but it was none of her business.

Brian reached toward her and she thought for a second he was going to take her hand.

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