The Book of Etta (The Road to Nowhere 2) by Meg Elison

Author:Meg Elison [Elison, Meg]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781503941823
Publisher: 47North
Published: 2017-02-20T18:30:00+00:00

When Alice and Flora returned to Alice’s house, it was clear they had not expected to see Etta there.

She stood against the front door, one leg folded to put her foot flat against it, head down. When she heard them approaching, she did not look up.

“Etta?” Alice sounded a little worried.

“You told me I had to knock next time, so here I am.” Etta looked at Flora, not at Alice.

Alice flushed beneath her freckles and moved toward the door. “Please come in, Etta.”

The three of them went inside and Etta fought the urge to grab Alice by the shoulders and kiss her while staring Flora down.

Instead, she sat on the low couch in Alice’s front room, just off her laboratory with a view of her greenhouse.

Flora stood against the wall with her hands clasped behind her.

If she could fade into the wall, she’d do it.

“I just wanted to come over and thank you for running straight to your mother with my report. Saved me some trouble.”

Alice poured water into a tall glass. “Thirsty?”

Etta kept her eyes on Flora as she answered. “Yeah, I am. Every time I try to get a drink, someone else seems to get there first.”

Flora blushed and looked away.

I don’t believe this. I’m out of sight for less than a day and they’re fucking.

She took the glass of water, and Alice sat across from her on a hassock. She motioned to Flora, who sat on the floor beside her.

“So, are you part of her Hive now?”

Flora would not meet her eyes.

Alice reached up calmly and snapped her fingers in Etta’s face.

Etta was so shocked she nearly dropped her glass of water.

“You can’t keep coming here and acting like a little boy, Etta. I won’t have it. I don’t owe you anything. And yes, I went to my mother with useful information. And yes, Flora is staying with me. Indefinitely.”

“I’m a little boy? I’m acting like a man? How can you say that to me, when you’re sleeping with a—”

Etta grasped for the words.

“Horsewoman?” Alice arched one perfect golden eyebrow. “Are you angry because everybody already knows your stories, or because you’re not getting what you want?”

For a moment she could see herself clearly throwing the water in Alice’s face. She gulped it down instead.

Flora spoke first, laying a hand on Alice’s shoulder. “You’d never be able to take the Lion’s harem, Etta.” She said the name a little too hard, landing on the t’s like d’s, and Etta knew she had nearly called her Eddy again.

“You’ll just make things worse,” Flora continued. “Things can work as they are, and you can do good within it.”

Etta clenched her jaw and counted her breaths.

Alice nodded her chin toward the greenhouse outside. “I can make you enough som to clean him out. You can have gallons of the stuff, more than you could carry. I never run short, and the bees are doing so well this year I have enough wax to seal up every bottle I’ve got. You can bring home all of them, and nobody gets hurt.

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.