The Plan by Kim Pritekel

Author:Kim Pritekel [Pritekel, Kim]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Sapphire Books Publishing, LLC
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

Eleanor let out a heavy sigh, tired. For the tenth morning in a row, she was forced to get up at three thirty to get laundry started, then switch over to help her mother with breakfast. Laundry was something her mother used to do during the day while everyone was at the store or school, but Eleanor was now forced to scrub the farmhouse down to Ed’s approval. After that, she would be painting the entire inside, in his words “getting it ready for a nice May wedding.”

The painting had been skipped in haste of moving back in the house after the flood the previous August. Though it did need to be done, Eleanor was positive all this was nothing more than busy work for her and her mom. She was still going to school, and she was still working at the store, though now she was closing the store nightly, which got her home between six thirty and seven thirty—depending if she got a ride home or not—then she had to get any homework done, eat leftover dinner, and clean it all up. She’d drag herself to bed and start all over the next morning.

Her saving grace had been seeing Lysette at school. They’d only been back for a few days, but the times they were able to steal away to the bathroom for a lingering hug or when Lysette would steal a kiss or a look across the hall, it made it all okay for just a moment.

“Eleanor.”

Yanked out of her thoughts, she turned from where she was cutting up vegetables, amazed she hadn’t lost a finger yet. She met her mother’s gaze from where she stood at the stove, frying bacon. “What?”

“I need you to take a look at this recipe,” Emma said, indicating the recipe card on the counter near her with a nod.

Eleanor’s eyebrows drew, and irritation born of exhaustion reared its head; the attitude was evident in Eleanor’s voice. “Mama, I’ve made this same darn breakfast every single—”

“Eleanor, I need you to read this recipe,” Emma said again, her tone more forceful. The look in her eyes told Eleanor there was no room for argument.

“Okay,” Eleanor blew out, setting her knife down and accepting the card her mother pulled out of her apron pocket, which confused her. She glanced from the recipe card in her hand to that on the counter and to her mother’s eyes.

Her mind foggy to add to her confusion, she looked down at the card she held in her hands, surprised to see a handwritten message on it:

Give this note to your school principal, then come home with Lysette.

She studied her mother’s face for a long moment but said nothing as the card was taken out of her fingers and replaced with a folded piece of paper. She figured it was the note, so she shoved it into the pocket of her skirt and watched as her mother left the room for a moment, returning without the card. She figured she’d likely set it aflame in the fireplace.

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