All Those Things We Never Said (US Edition) by Marc Levy

Author:Marc Levy [Levy, Marc]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
ISBN: 9781542045926
Publisher: Amazon Crossing
Published: 2017-11-14T05:00:00+00:00

As morning faded into afternoon, Julia left her room and went downstairs to the pantry. She opened the cupboard where they kept the jam, grabbed a pack of melba toast and a jar of honey, and sat down at the kitchen table. She saw the mark of a spoon left behind in the thick honey. It was a strange indentation, probably made during Anthony’s last breakfast in this house. She imagined him sitting in the place where she was sitting now, alone in that enormous kitchen with his coffee mug in front of him, reading his newspaper. She wondered what thoughts had filled his head that day. The mark was a curious echo of a past that was gone forever, never to return. This harmless detail struck Julia—for reasons she could not understand, she suddenly came to the full realization that her father was dead. At times all it takes is a little something, a trinket or a familiar smell, to bring back the memory of someone who is gone. For the first time, in the middle of that huge room, Julia felt the sting of her lost childhood, miserable as it had been. She heard her father clear his throat and looked up to see him standing in the doorway, smiling at her.

“May I come in?” he said, sitting down across from her.

“Make yourself at home.”

“I had that sent over from France. It’s made from lavender blossoms. Do you still have the same passion for honey?”

“Guilty as charged. Some things never change.”

“What did the letter say?”

“That’s really none of your business.”

“Have you come to a decision?”

“A decision? About what?”

“Oh, I think you know. Are you going to write back to him, Julia?”

“Twenty years later? Don’t you think it’s just . . . too late?”

“It seems that’s a question you must answer for yourself.”

“What right do I have just barging in on his life? Thomas is probably married with children.”

“A boy and a girl? Twins maybe?”

“What?”

“Well, with your newfound psychic powers, maybe you can also tell me just what his charming family looks like. So what is it, a girl or a boy?”

“Okay, okay. What’s your point?”

“This very morning you thought him dead. Best not to jump to conclusions about what he’s done with his life.”

“Twenty years! For Christ’s sake, it’s not six months.”

“Eighteen years, to be exact. Enough to get married, divorced, married again—unless your Thomas has switched teams, like your antique-dealer friend. What was his name again? Ah, yes. Stanley. Maybe he ended up like Stanley.”

“You have a lot of nerve making jokes.”

“Humor can be like a coat of armor when reality takes a stab at you. I don’t know who said that, but I know it’s the truth. Let me ask you again. Have you come to a decision?”

“I’m not making any decisions. It’s just too late. Probably comes as a relief to you.”

“Too late only happens when things become definitive. It’s too late for me to tell your mother all I wanted her to know before she passed.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.