Slow Path to Peace by Juliette Duncan

Author:Juliette Duncan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Juliette Duncan

Chapter 24

When Serena turned her phone off flight mode after arriving at Darwin airport, an alert telling her that Jeremy had called popped up. She thought it strange. Although they were siblings, she and Jeremy weren’t in touch often. They were too different. He and Emma were the sugary sweet, perfect couple who’d met at church, dated for two years, probably waited until they were married to be intimate, and then had children. They lived in the suburbs in a nice four-bedroom home with a backyard, a pool and a dog, and they went to church every Sunday. Everything she wasn’t, nor aspired to be.

She’d never wanted that kind of life. She loved her career and the buzz that came with it. Travelling and living all over the world. Reporting on events as they unfolded. And then, when she came home, which she did several times a year, David would be waiting and they’d pick up where they left off until she went away again. It suited her fine. All the benefits without the commitment. But that was over. She still didn’t understand why he’d pressed her to marry him when he knew that’s not what she wanted, but she didn’t have time to dwell on that right now. She needed to find out what Jeremy wanted.

He’d left a voice message, so, wedging her phone between her ear and shoulder, she listened while she grabbed her bag from the luggage carousel. As she listened, a chill ran down her spine. Setting her bag on the floor, she quickly checked her newsfeed, and there it was, in black and white.

TEN-YEAR-OLD HIT AND RUN VICTIM, KATIE O’ROURKE, DIES. EX-POLITICIAN, CLIFF DONOVAN, CHARGED WITH MANSLAUGHTER.

But the next headline grabbed her attention before she could thoroughly digest the first.

NEW SOUTH WALES FIRES WORSEN AMIDST CATASTROPHIC CONDITIONS

A wave of nausea hit her. Forcing the bile in her throat down, she headed for a chair and took several deep breaths. This was crazy. Normally she wouldn’t have felt sick like this. The words spoken by the woman on the plane drifted through her mind but she quickly sent them packing. She was not pregnant. It was simply the news that had made her feel nauseous. Manslaughter… catastrophic conditions…

Her head swam. And then she couldn’t stop it. Vomit raced up her throat and exploded from her mouth like a spout and landed on the floor, splashing her sandals. Her chest heaved. No. No more. But too late. Another wave surged through her. As she leaned forward, someone, a man, handed her a paper bag. “Here, use this.”

She grabbed the bag and vomited into it.

Finally, she looked around. Everyone was giving her a wide berth. She didn’t blame them. Who wanted to be near someone vomiting? To add to the humiliation, her scarf had slipped and her scarred cheek was in full view.

She closed her eyes again and took some deep breaths. When she opened them, the woman from the plane was beside her, holding out a bottle of water.

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