Thorne's Wife by Joan Hohl

Thorne's Wife by Joan Hohl

Author:Joan Hohl [Hohl, Joan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781460345559
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 1988-09-14T16:00:00+00:00


Chapter 6

The weather in San Francisco was miserable. It had rained, at times in pouring sheets, at others in light drizzles, throughout every one of the seemingly endless four days Val had been on the West Coast.

Val’s mood was in perfect harmony with the prevailing weather conditions. The rally for the protection of artistic individuality, over which she had fought with Jonas to attend, was, at least for Val, a complete farce.

Bright-eyed and eager, Val had set out the morning after her arrival in San Francisco to be a part of the opening event. Disillusionment had set in minutes after she entered the designated display room.

The garish, childishly executed paintings on the sitting-room walls in the elegant home of one of the rally sponsors had nothing whatever to do with individuality, and even less with artistry. In Val’s opinion, the general public deserved protection from the crude, overbearing idiot who had the temerity to refer to himself as a working artist.

Nevertheless, reserving judgment, Val sought out the sponsors she had corresponded with. They were not difficult to identify. Never before in her life had she encountered such a group of dilettantes, sycophants, pseudointellectuals and just plain phonies.

Edging away from the group, she unobtrusively drifted toward the front door. Slipping out of the house, Val went sightseeing in the rain.

When she got back to the hotel late in the afternoon of that first day, Val considered returning home. She felt foolish for making the trip in the first place. She was discouraged and depressed. Not even sight-seeing in the city she had longed to explore had managed to lift her spirits.

And, irascible as he often was, Val missed Jonas even more than she had three years before, when she’d left him, ostensibly to visit her mother in Australia, but with every intention of not returning. After only one day away, Val ached for the sight of Jonas. Yet she knew that if she went home, she would have to explain to him why she had cut short the trip. There was no way she could lie to him about it. And, though Jonas might not say “I told you so,” Val knew he would definitely think it. Unwilling to admit he’d been right, Val decided to remain in California.

During the remaining three days of her stay, Val followed the same routine. After breakfast, she made her way to the first scheduled rally event of the day, each of which grew successively worse. Then, having put in an appearance, she escaped to spend the day on her own.

By the end of the third day, Val concluded that being on her own, even in a city as interesting and varied as San Francisco, was not her idea of a fun time. If only she and Jonas had resolved their differences…

But they hadn’t. Trudging along the sidewalks, all of which seemed either straight up or straight down, Val chastised herself for the aloof, withdrawn attitude she’d maintained with Jonas during the week between the wedding and her departure for the coast.



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