Games of Chance (Leah & Sloan Book 2) by Cynthia Dane & Hildred Billings

Author:Cynthia Dane & Hildred Billings [Dane, Cynthia & Billings, Hildred]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Barachou Press
Published: 2021-10-24T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Nobody loved an awkward family dinner as much as Sloan. Which must have been why she subjected herself to the second one in as many months.

Only this time, Sloan stared into the face of the woman who might as well be her mother-in-law.

It had been several weeks since she last saw Janet, someone Sloan had never gotten along with. If for no other reason than she doesn’t believe in her own daughter. Whenever Sloan considered the source of Leah’s insecurities, she thought of this woman, with her joyless visage and the constant downturn of her shoulders as she went about her business in her own house. One would think that Janet Vaughn had destroyed her own life by getting married and having Leah, but the more Sloan investigated this woman, the more she realized that Janet had always been like this. Don’t feel sorry for her husband, though. Ray may not look upon his home with a smile and a fatherly nod of the head, but he got by the same way Sloan did – by smoking.

Now here they were. The Vaughns.

Or should Sloan say here she was? The house in Goose Hollow was doing well, at least. After two years of one weather event after another, the house had needed a few small repairs that came right out of Sloan’s pocket.

Janet always kept the place clean. Sloan could say that, anyway.

She also made decent dishes. While Sloan wouldn’t commend Janet for being where Leah got her cooking skills, she would admit that the turkey fajitas tantalized the tongue better than most of the neighborhood Mexican restaurants. The vegetables were particularly tasty that time of year. Sloan was never a fan of finger food, but she made do with a fork that cut through the turkey like butter.

“This is delicious,” Sloan said, breaking the silence at the family dinner table.

Janet was neither chuffed nor put out by the compliment. “Thank you. I didn’t grill the turkey quite as long as I usually do. Perhaps I should do that more often.”

Leah folded a small tortilla over a bed of rice, refried beans, and cooked bell peppers. “Sometimes you make me want to open my own restaurant,” she said with a generous smile. “If I didn’t already run a bakery. Something about savory dinners makes them the ultimate comfort food.”

“The margins on restaurants are thinner than bakeries.” Sloan took a break from making another fajita. While they were tasty, she had a smaller appetite than the rest of the family. “Trust me. I did all the research back when you opened the bakery. Felt relieved, too.”

For the first time all night, Leah’s father said something. “When I was a manager at the market, I was surprised to see how little money you actually make in food anything. It’s a miracle that most places stay open as long as they do, isn’t it?”

“Actually,” Sloan minded her tone in the hopes of not coming off as condescending, “most places do close within a year or two.

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