A Beach Wish by Shelley Noble

Author:Shelley Noble
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2019-06-24T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

Eve wiped sweat from her forehead and brushed it off on her shorts. It wasn’t that hot outside, it wasn’t even that hot inside the basement laundry room, but her back hurt, her head hurt, and her eyes were still swollen and gritty from crying. She’d slept late at Mike’s, had been tempted to spend the rest of the day there, but he worked at the local brewery on Mondays helping with their books, and she didn’t want to be alone.

She might as well be alone now. Her children were barely speaking to each other and Mel wasn’t talking to Eve at all.

She tried not to think. To just concentrate on the rhythmic folding of hotel linen as the dryers thump-thumped in the background. It wasn’t easy. She hadn’t had to fold laundry for thirty-six rooms in a long time. She was getting soft.

Mondays were their changeover days. They’d had a full house over the weekend, and things had backed up. She’d already lost some of her summer staff to college preparation. Two of her usual laundry ladies had had family emergencies. Another was on a scheduled vacation.

Eve thought she and Mel and Noelle could handle the extra work, but it was not going well.

All machines, washing and drying, were running at capacity. She pulled a sheet out of the dryer. Noelle took the other half, both feeling around the edges of the fabric while stepping back until the sheet was taut. Noelle brought her corners to Eve, grabbed the bottom edge and handed it to Eve. Eve folded the last section while Noelle reached into the dryer and pulled out the next sheet. Eve placed her folded sheet on top of the pile on the table and reached for her half of the next sheet.

And felt like screaming.

None of them wanted to be here today. Mel was on towel duty and was going about her task as if she was the only person in the room. Eve knew she was still smarting over their morning argument.

She didn’t appear to be speaking to Noelle either, which was unusual. They fought like most sisters . . . at least, Eve imagined they did. Would she and Zoe have sister spats if Zoe stayed long enough to get to know her?

She handed her half of the sheet to Noelle, who went through the folding process, while Eve reached into the dryer for the next sheet.

This was mindless work, which she didn’t always resent. It could be very Zen-like, folding laundry, but today it just made her more agitated.

She should be getting to know her sister. Trying to glue her family back together, so they could be a family and accept a new member. Hell, she could be out seeing the world. All those places she’d meant to visit.

She stuffed that thought neatly back into the recesses of her mind. She’d given up that plan decades ago and couldn’t imagine why it had chosen to pop out now.

Maybe because of all the angst over Mel going to college.

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