Stars Over Clear Lake by Loretta Ellsworth

Author:Loretta Ellsworth
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Twenty-six

2007

I sit across from my daughter and son-in-law in a booth at Perkins and stare down at the oversized plate in front of me. Eggs over easy, toast, hash browns, and bacon. Our monthly Sunday brunches have been a staple of our lives for the last ten years, interrupted only by Daisy and Harry’s busy summer schedules, and have resumed today.

Daisy holds up her fork. “So where did you go the other day after I dropped you off from your appointment? I thought you were going to take a nap.”

“I did. Then after I woke up, I went for a drive.”

“Where in God’s name did you go?”

“Around the lake. Do you remember how we used to do that when you were little? We’d go for a Sunday drive around the lake after mass, look at all the fancy houses, see who was out fishing, then we’d stop at the state park and you and your father would try to skip rocks across the water. Afterward, we’d get ice cream at that little shop, I forget the name of it now; it went out of business. That used to be the thing to do on Sunday afternoons. Cheap entertainment, I guess.”

“Right. But you weren’t home after dark when I called. There isn’t anything to see at night, is there?”

Daisy is very perceptive. In my opinion, an outright lie is worse than a sin of omission, so I shrug my shoulders and look down at my runny eggs.

Her eyes narrow. “You’re keeping something from me.”

“You know what, honey?” Harry says as he motions to the waitress for more coffee. “Maybe you should lay off those pills.”

“Don’t try to distract me.”

I look up. “What pills?”

Daisy waves her fork in the air. “With work and going through menopause, I needed something to help me make it through the day.”

“You told me they helped you with anxiety,” Harry says, which earns a glare from my daughter. He stands up. “I’m going to the restroom.”

Daisy picks at her fruit like she’s mining for gold. “Everyone I know takes something,” she says defensively, as though she’s talking to her fruit.

“I think it’s great that you’re getting therapy.”

“Who said anything about therapy? My doctor gave me the pills.”

“Oh. I just assumed.”

“How is your food tasting?” a young girl with a long ponytail asks as she pours more coffee in our cups.

Daisy pushes her fruit plate away. “I’m full, thanks.”

As soon as the girl leaves, Daisy says, “The honeydew melon tasted like brick. It’s obviously not ripe. And last time the plate had raspberries.”

“Why don’t you try some of my hash browns?” I suggest.

Daisy recoils. “Do you know how many carbs are in that?”

“You’re just as thin, if not thinner, than you were ten years ago.”

“And I intend to stay that way,” Daisy says, sipping her coffee.

“How do you make it through the day?” I ask her. “You barely eat and you work so hard. You need to take care of yourself. I worry about you.”

“I’m fine, Mother.”

“I thought you were cutting back on your design business.

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.