Turning on the Tide by Jenna Rae

Author:Jenna Rae
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781594933929
Publisher: Bella Books
Published: 2013-11-11T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Three

Del was still in a fog when she walked into the kitchen. She couldn’t stop thinking about the woman she’d seen riding with Lola the night before. This was absurd, obviously. She’d spent the night hoping to recapture some sense of her relationship with Janet, maybe hoping Janet would just show up there at the motel. She should have followed Lola. Or at least called her to check in either last night or sometime over the course of the long day. Or actually talked to Lola when she called. Something. Because this too-little-too-late curiosity was frustrating and scary and made her stomach hurt. Who was Lola with? Why was she with someone else? Was she cheating?

That last one made her stop short. She looked at the clock. It was ten at night, but Lola’s new purse—the purse she’d bought on the sly, keeping the receipt out of the monthly budget file—wasn’t on the hook by the door. Del bounded up the stairs. No one was home. The closet door was ajar, and Del held her breath as she eased it open further. Del’s dress uniform hung in its plastic dry cleaner’s sheath. Del’s other clothes were arranged on wooden hangers. Lola had replaced the plastic ones months before, after asking permission, of course. Del didn’t have an extravagant wardrobe, just the essentials, but she still had more clothes than Lola owned. All were Del’s now. The other side was empty. In the back sat the camping gear and gun safe. Nothing of Lola’s. The top of the dresser held nothing of Lola’s. Del waited until she’d gone through every drawer in the dresser, the bathroom, the office. Lola’s stuff was all gone.

Several hours later, Del was sitting at the kitchen table, a mug of vodka in front of her. She’d finally noticed the envelope stuck to the fridge with a magnet, ripped it open, read Lola’s letter. She couldn’t do more than sit and breathe for a long time. She examined the letter again, but she couldn’t remember what the words meant. She tried a third time to understand. Still nothing. She pushed the letter away.

“What do you need?” Del glared at her wavy reflection in the chrome-plated toaster. Lola had replaced the battered yellow one, the one that used to smoke and burn the toast every time, no matter how closely Del watched it. It had never occurred to Del to replace it, had it? And of course Lola had asked permission. Just like always. She’d been a guest, hadn’t she?

Del spent her second consecutive sleepless night walking around the house and noting the ways Lola had made it a home with her thoughtful little gifts. She’d knitted the beautiful red throw tossed over the back of the couch, put plants in all the rooms. She’d been careful, always checking to make sure it was okay to do any little thing. But she’d kept at it, turning the cold, lifeless rooms into homey dens of warmth and comfort and companionship.

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