Foggy with a Chance of Murder by G. G. Vandagriff

Author:G. G. Vandagriff [Vandagriff, G.G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, LDS, Mormon
Publisher: Deseret Book Company
Published: 2011-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Luke had insisted on accompanying Chloe home and seeing that she was settled in the recliner with unnecessary blankets heaped on her, the TV remote to hand, and even a glass of hot milk with honey next to her pain medicine.

She would have been spared these ministrations had her mother not turned up at the hospital still suffering a hangover. Chloe knew her mother was sufficiently ashamed and didn’t want to add to her guilt in front of Luke. Chloe had refrained from scolding her, telling her simply that she was glad to see her, kissing her cheek and telling her Luke was going to drive her home later, after the hospital released her. When they arrived at the beach house, she assumed her mother was lying down in her room because the door was shut.

The morphine had dulled her reactions to Luke, which was undoubtedly a good thing. He had stayed with her all night. She didn’t even know if he’d eaten dinner the night before or breakfast or lunch earlier that day, as she had been asleep almost all the time.

Now, to his annoyance, she was clutching the purple monkey Rob had given her and was trying to figure out how she felt about Luke. It was certainly odd, but when Rob had appeared in the doorway that morning, a curtain had risen on the day. Pain and the remnants of terror had fled. It had been as though her knight in shining armor had arrived.

Looking out at the sea, she watched the waves breaking. Rob is emotionally unavailable to me. Luke is miraculously free and more than anxious to make amends. Once I loved him with a passion that made colors brighter, emotions deeper, and the slightest touch a caress. Could we ever get that back?

First, she had to find a way to forgive him and reassemble the pieces of her heart. She hadn’t trusted anyone in three years. How was she supposed to trust Luke, of all people? And another question had begun troubling her: If I loved him so much, why did I leave him every year in order to write my books? Was there a part of her that was “just Chloe,” that needed to be alone in order to sort through her own impressions, free of Luke’s overpowering presence?

“If you’re planning to stay,” Chloe told him, “you’ll have to stop pacing and do something useful. As I recall, you’re a great cook. I’m not hungry, but Mother must be. Can you still do that great stir-fry? I make it occasionally, so I keep all the stuff on hand. I even have frozen shrimp.”

“It’d be a relief to have something to do, Chloe love. Stir-fry it is. Do you have cashews, too?”

She nodded and realized she was due for another pain pill. But the pain was easing on its own. She’d just take a half. Partly due to her mother’s proclivities, Chloe had a horror of addiction.

At the smell of shrimp frying with coconut, vegetables, and cashews, her appetite woke up.

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