Hometown Girl: The Chesapeake Diaries by Mariah Stewart

Author:Mariah Stewart [Stewart, Mariah]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Romance, Suspense, Contemporary, Fiction
ISBN: 9780345531216
Google: L8g8i1x4OLQC
Amazon: 0345531213
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Published: 2011-09-26T14:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

VIOLET backed up the file she’d named Curtis’s 85th, saved it, and turned off the computer. She wasn’t so very far from her own eighty-fifth, she reminded herself. Today she was feeling every bit her age.

It had certainly been a day for surprises. It started when Curtis had shown up at seven forty-five that morning. In the old days, he’d always walked through the door at that same time, never earlier, never later. Rose used to say that Curtis had a clock in his head and it was set to do certain things at certain times. He definitely was a creature of habit, and he’d made one out of Violet as well. She’d unlocked the office door at seven thirty every morning for almost sixty years, went straight back to the kitchen, and got the coffee ready. Curtis always said knowing she’d have a perfect cup waiting for him when he arrived made up for the fact that Rose had never learned to brew a decent pot. Even now, on those days when she was scheduled to work, she still arrived at the same time.

No one should follow the same routine for sixty years, she admonished herself. If she were wise, she’d follow her boss’s lead and retire this year.

Old habits indeed died hard.

That morning, when Curtis came through the front door, she had a déjà vu moment. For just a flash, she remembered how it used to be, and she got up from her desk apologizing for not having his coffee ready. Now she was trying to be honest with herself—had it been memory, or confusion, that had caused her to hurry into the kitchen and begin to fill the pot with water?

Maybe it was time to retire. She rolled her eyes at the thought. Who in their right mind wanted to be working at her age?

And since she was being honest with herself, she had to admit that the real reason—the only reason—she insisted on coming in was to keep an eye on Jesse Enright.

When he arrived in St. Dennis that first time, she’d been convinced that he was up to no good. After all, hadn’t she known his father from the day he was born until the day he cut ties with his family? She knew the havoc he’d caused. Havoc and heartbreak, that was Craig. He’d been such a sweet little boy, she recalled. Up until he entered his teens, that is. She’d watched along with his family as a sort of restlessness had begun to take over the boy. What had caused it, she’d never known, and she suspected no one else did either. Maybe not even Craig.

The real sin of it all, in Violet’s eyes, was Rose dying so suddenly before she had a chance to reconcile with her son. Oh, they’d tried to track Craig down, but hadn’t been able to locate him until his mother was already buried. By then, Curtis had nothing left to say to his firstborn, and he’d never forgiven him.

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