The Secret of Everything A Novel by Barbara O'Neal

Author:Barbara O'Neal
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Romance - Contemporary
ISBN: 9780553907391
Publisher: Bantam
Published: 2009-12-29T06:00:00+00:00

Vince tried to give his attention to his girls, since it was supposed to be a treat afternoon. They were happy, coloring in the coloring books they brought with them, choosing crayons out of a giant box of ninety-six Crayolas he had for once remembered to bring with him.

Even Natalie, dressed up in the new outfit she loved so much, was relatively cheerful. She loved the eggs Benedict and devoured it with devotion in tiny, reverent bites, taking time to look at the food, the colors, the textures. She understood more about ingredients than twenty adults combined. She noticed him watching her. “Want a bite?”

“Sure.”

She carefully cut a triangle of egg, Canadian bacon, and English muffin, swirled with Vita’s very good hollandaise, and offered it up to her father. He bent and took the bite from her. “Mmmmm,” he said, nodding. “That really is fantastic. I love the mix of egg yolk and sauce.”

“Me, too!” she said, her eyes wide.

He rubbed her back lightly. His little eccentric. He wanted to protect her from the world that would not take her passions seriously enough. He wanted to shove them all off a cliff when they judged her appearance, which was as eccentric as her approach to life. Eventually she would grow up and find her tribe and all would be well, but in the meantime she had to endure childhood. Tenderly, he smoothed a lock of curly hair from her forehead. “It’s so much fun to have meals with you, Natalie.”

“Thank you.”

When he glanced toward Tessa, he slammed right into her steady gaze, and he saw something stricken there, which lit flutters in his throat and set something burning down his spine. His lip throbbed, and he pulled it into his mouth, licking the swollen spot. He told everyone he had bitten it by accident, but as he tasted it, he felt her skin on his as acutely as if it were happening now.

Too much. He looked away. Hannah was struggling with the syrup dispenser and he lifted it for her, pulling back the sticky spout.

Tessa materialized at his side and put a napkin down on the table next to his hand. She said nothing, only stood there for a moment, her fingers on the paper, and then left.

He waited for a long, long minute, then picked it up. She had scrawled only two words:

I’m sorry

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