The Mill River Redemption by Darcie Chan

Author:Darcie Chan [Chan, Darcie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-345-54156-7
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2014-08-25T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 21

AN HOUR AFTER SHE AND ALEX HAD FINISHED SUPPER, Rose was still seated at the kitchen table, nursing a bottle of white wine and staring at the empty Stouffer’s packages that had contained their meals. Although Alex had dutifully cleared his place after he’d finished eating, she hadn’t gotten around to doing the same. When her phone rang, she glanced at the number and rolled her eyes before answering it.

“Rose?” Sheldon spoke before she had a chance to say anything. “Rose, what in the hell is wrong with you? How many times have I told you to be careful about what you post on my wall? You know I’m keeping my profile totally public while I’m looking for work.”

“Hi, honey, so nice to hear your voice, too,” she said in an overtly genteel tone before continuing in her normal voice. “I called you earlier, several times, actually, and you didn’t answer. Sometimes I think Facebook is the only way to get in touch with you.”

“I was out running errands. Actually buying a new toner cartridge, if you must know, and my phone battery went dead. And then I come back and find your little post for God and everyone to see.”

Rose tried to remember exactly what she’d written on Sheldon’s Facebook page earlier in the afternoon, but it was a bit of a blur. All she could remember was crying over her laptop and typing the words “bald,” “unemployed,” and “George Costanza.”

“It wasn’t a big deal, Sheldon. I was just pissed because you didn’t pick up.”

“It was a big deal, Rose. A potential employer might’ve seen what you wrote and decided against considering me for an opening. Why would you do something like that? Were you ‘drunk Facebooking’ again?”

Rose remained silent. She didn’t have a rational answer for him. In fact, although she truly didn’t remember what she’d typed, she now felt ashamed to have done anything that might jeopardize Sheldon’s finding a job.

“Rose, are you there? Rose?”

“Yes.” Overwhelmed by emotions, Rose felt her face crumple.

“Rose, how much are you drinking?”

That question, and especially Sheldon’s tone in asking it, sparked enough anger to stanch her despair and allow her to regain her composure. She had every intention of cutting back, as she had resolved to do the previous evening. Tonight, though, she’d really needed something to take the edge off.

“I’m not drinking,” she said. She swigged the last of the wine in her glass. “But I am miserable. Isolated, stuck up here in a matchbox of a house with no air-conditioning. Did I mention that the house is full of junk, and I can’t stand being around my sister? Neither of us has any idea what my mother meant for us to find, and there’s so much crap to go through that we may never figure it out. I just want to come home.”

“Well, I’m not exactly a happy camper, either. I had a consulting job fall through today, and your little stunt didn’t improve my prospects at finding more.

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