The Senator's Wife by Julia Gabriel

Author:Julia Gabriel [Gabriel, Julia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B07MFKYTS7
Goodreads: 43502892
Publisher: Serif Books
Published: 2019-01-06T00:00:00+00:00

When she awoke, it was grey outside, the morning’s bright sun gone. She squinted at the alarm clock. Three pm. Her stomach rumbled. She was starving. She had skipped both breakfast and lunch. She stretched her arms and legs, listening to the rest of the house, trying to determine whether Richard was home yet. But all was quiet.

She had to go out for food. If she waited any longer, the Christmas Eve panic shopping traffic would make it impossible to get anywhere. She changed out of her sleep-rumpled clothes into more presentable jeans and a red sweater—her one nod to the holiday—then hit the road. The sight of T. Rex’s head snapping up as she drove past him on the street drew a smile from her. He must have been napping if he had missed the sound of the garage door opening. He recovered quickly though—she gave him credit for that— and easily tailed her to the gourmet grocery store.

The store buzzed with a mixture of holiday cheer and holiday stress. She hurried past people picking through the turkeys and hams, squeezing freshly-baked loaves of bread, and trying to make up their minds about cookies and pies. Christmas carols floated through the air, while the red-coated Salvation Army folks rang their cheery bells just inside the door.

Marie headed straight for the salad bar, where she built a huge salad with all the toppings. Chicken, bleu cheese, avocado, walnuts, olives. She piled it all on. At the flower shop, she picked out two large bouquets of flowers—one for her parents, one for Richard’s. They would serve as her gifts, even though they all deserved lumps of coal this year. A dump truck’s worth of coal, in fact.

At the bakery, she perused the stacks of cakes frosted in red, green and blue; cases of neatly-arranged muffins in every imaginable flavor; and exquisite chocolates, dark and gleaming like that one last chance to be naughty. She selected two tarts laden with berries and carefully set those into her cart with the flowers. Her mother would be mildly offended by the gift. Eileen Witherspoon prided herself on her holiday desserts, but Marie was mindful of the facade she needed to maintain tomorrow. Both families would be watching her like a hawk. Normal. Everything has to look normal.

She was at the very edge of the bakery department when she suddenly pulled up short, causing T. Rex to bump into her from behind.

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

She ignored him. Cupcakes. Cupcakes were like a third party in Washington, practically. Georgetown Cupcakes. Cake Love. Baked and Wired. She and Nishi considered themselves to be connoisseurs of them all.

The store had a decent selection: salted caramel, lemon coconut, strawberry buttercream, red velvet. She stood there for a moment, trying to choose.

What the hell. It’s Christmas.

She had the girl behind the counter package up a dozen, six to a box. She would eat one box after her not-so-healthy salad and then ... champagne. She would drink a glass or two of champagne tonight and gaze upon an imaginary Christmas tree.

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