Not a Good Enough Mother: A completely addictive and gripping psychological thriller (Grace Morton Book 1) by Nicole Trope

Author:Nicole Trope [Trope, Nicole]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2024-08-12T00:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-TWO

AVA

Ava wonders at Grace’s silence on the car ride home but she is soon swept up in the dinner routine. Once the girls are asleep, she cleans up as she thinks about how to speak to Finn about his phone. She would love to just leave it, but she can’t let it go.

Determined, she goes up to the loft, where Finn has his studio. Ava rarely bothers him while he works but she can’t wait another day to talk to him.

‘Okay if I come in?’ she calls, knocking lightly.

‘Fine,’ comes his reply but she can tell from just that one word that he is angry about being disturbed.

‘What do you need?’ he asks.

Ava had wanted to talk a little and broach the subject in an offhand way but she can see that Finn is not in the mood for a chat. He is standing behind a canvas that is almost life-sized, his paintbrush in his hand. Ava looks around the loft, where they have left the floorboards rough and bare and there is only a small window for air. The place is too hot in summer and cold in winter but Finn loves it because it’s just his space.

‘Ava, what do you need?’ he asks again, impatiently.

‘I didn’t know you’d changed your phone pattern,’ she says. ‘You should probably tell me what it is in case you forget it again.’

She keeps her tone light, non-confrontational.

‘You’re not actually snooping in my phone, are you, Ava?’ Finn says, dabbing lightly on the canvas and then stepping back.

‘No, I…’ She’s not sure what to say. ‘I wanted to use it at the bar the other night and I couldn’t get in, so I thought⁠—’

‘Why? You had your own phone.’ He sounds relaxed, not angry or accusatory, merely curious.

Ava shrugs. It was a stupid idea to ask the question.

‘Can I see?’ she asks, hoping to just move on, and before he can say anything she goes around the side to look at the canvas. It’s a huge portrait of a beautiful woman’s face, dark eyes and olive skin with a tiny scar near her eyebrow. ‘She’s beautiful. It’s very good. Who is she?’

‘You don’t usually come up here,’ says Finn in reply.

‘Do I know her?’ she asks. ‘She looks familiar.’

‘Sami’s mother, the little boy in Hazel’s class. They were in preschool together. You must have met her at least once. Or maybe not, I usually do the parties and things. I need to finish, if you don’t mind.’

‘I thought you were working on a portrait of your great-grandfather,’ she says, glancing around the studio, seeing the large canvas next to a wall, half finished. Finn’s art supplies cost an absolute fortune but he thinks nothing of abandoning a project halfway through if he is no longer feeling inspired.

‘I told you a few days ago I was resting the canvas and this one called to me,’ he says, looking at her. ‘I really don’t want to talk right now if that’s okay.’

Ava knows there is no way he has just started working on the new portrait.

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