A Woman Alone by Nina Laurin

Author:Nina Laurin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: None
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2020-02-23T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Monday marks a return to the routine, although I’m now maniacally aware of every step. I get Taryn out of bed and dressed just minutes before the alarm is due to go off, and I make a point of cooking breakfast myself, to Scott’s surprise.

“What’s gotten into you?” he teases. “Craving the simple life? Maybe for vacation this year, we can rent a nice little hut in an Amish village.”

I contemplate, momentarily, telling him everything that I learned. But he’s about to leave for work, and although he’s covering it up with humor, I can see he’s impatient. He’d rather I let the machine make his coffee as usual. I start steaming milk and then Taryn starts to wail about something random so I turn my head at a crucial moment. The milk bubbles over, scalding my hand. Cursing, I turn on the tap but the water comes out at the exact too-hot temperature I preset it to. I have to yell for Saya to make it cold. Fail.

“Is everything okay? Do you need ointment or something?” Scott asks but it sounds…automatic. When I shake my head no, he looks relieved. He gives me a peck on the cheek and then leans down to kiss the top of Taryn’s head.

“Were you serious?” I ask, when he’s already in the doorway. “About a vacation.”

“No Amish huts,” he chuckles. “I like it here.”

“I didn’t mean go off the grid,” I say, doing my best to sound lighthearted. “But a vacation would be nice. Thailand, maybe.”

Doubt flickers over his face. “Who would watch Taryn?”

“We’d bring her with us,” I say, dumbfounded.

And then he flinches. It only lasts for the shortest moment. “The flight would be hard for her. And I don’t see what fun it could be for a toddler in Thailand.”

“She’d love it on the beach,” I say, although I already know I’ve lost the argument.

“Yeah. The beach. Are we really those people who go to a country with an extraordinary culture and history and never leave the beach? What about the temples? The night markets? Bangkok?”

“Why can’t she come with us too?”

“She’ll be hot, bored, and hell on wheels. People who go to places like that with toddlers are only doing it for themselves, not the kids. I think it’s selfish.”

Just like that, my own argument has been snatched away from me—not only that but it was used against me. I stand there, knowing that I have nothing to say.

“Beach beach beach!” Taryn singsongs. And here I thought she was absorbed in her cartoon. “I want to go to the beach, Mommy!”

As if to prove his point, Scott makes a grimace over Taryn’s head. See? I told you so. And now, of course, I have to deal with this myself. I have to explain to her why we’re not going to the beach—because she’s going to day care as usual. And it’s my own fault.

Scott shrugs. “Your mom could watch her,” he says. “I’m sure she’d be happy to.”

“Therese?” I ask, appalled.

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