Monarch Beach by Hughes Anita

Author:Hughes, Anita [Hughes, Anita]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2012-06-19T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

I woke the next morning with a throbbing headache. The mix of chardonnay and caviar had left a jackhammer in my head. I couldn’t tell how late it was because the shutters in the suite were closed. I fumbled for my phone to check the time. I had two missed texts from Edward. The first read: “Good morning, sunshine.” The second: “Tell Max barbecuing ostrich meat, Thursday night.” I texted him back: “Had fun. Max will be thrilled.” I put the phone down, pulled the goose-down comforter up to my chin, and went back to sleep.

Max was already at Kids’ Club when I opened the door to the living room. I had showered and put on my most conservative Ella Moss sundress. It was yellow with puffy little-girl sleeves. I tied my hair in a bun and wore my Tiffany heart necklace. I wanted to prove to my mother, and maybe to myself, that I was still a respectable married matron.

“How was your evening? You got back so late I didn’t wait up,” my mother said in a deceptively neutral tone.

“I sat in the lobby talking to Stephanie on the phone. She keeps calling and I haven’t returned her calls.”

“Really,” my mother said.

“Really,” I replied.

“How is Edward?” my mother tried again.

I poured myself a cup of coffee from the silver coffeepot. I put some grapes, kiwi, and cantaloupe on a plate, and took two bites of a blueberry muffin while I decided how to answer my mother.

“We had a lovely time. He brought a picnic basket with caviar and camembert and a delicious chardonnay.” I knew she would be impressed. My mother loved caviar almost as much as chocolate.

“It’s hard to enjoy a good chardonnay unless it is adequately chilled,” she replied.

I put down my coffee cup and laughed. “Mom, I know this is hard for you, but it’s hard for me, too. I haven’t dated since senior year in high school, and that was with Jerome Baskin. You forced me to go to the prom with him because his mother was on the board at the Asian Art Museum.”

“I didn’t force you, Amanda. I thought he would be a suitable date. You had an interest in Japanese design and so did he. Plus he had that head of beautiful curly blond hair. You looked so cute together.”

“Yes, well, ‘looking cute together’ hasn’t done very well for me. I’m going to try to stay away from ‘cute’ and look for ‘mature’ and ‘faithful.’”

My mother hugged me. She was wearing a vintage Diane von Furstenberg wrap dress and her “daytime” pearls. Even though she never ventured farther than the Grand Lobby, she was always perfectly dressed and coiffed.

“You can have both. The first time I saw your father I thought I was looking at Cary Grant.” She smiled. “He breezed into the Opera House wearing white tie and tails, like he just stepped off the set of Philadelphia Story.”

My parents had been huge movie buffs. They were regulars at the

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.