An Error In Judgment by Susan Schreyer

Author:Susan Schreyer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: mystery, romantic thriller, northwest mystery, thea campbell mystery, mystery with romance
Publisher: Susan Schreyer

Chapter Eighteen

Eventually exhaustion took its toll and I fell asleep. When I woke I was still curled on my side, my back still to Paul, the ache still in my heart. It was a little after seven. I glanced over my shoulder. Paul was on his back, one arm thrown across his eyes. Asleep, from what I could tell. Suppressing the desire to reach out to him, I eased out of bed and went into the bathroom, showered and washed my hair. I half expected, half hoped, he'd join me, or at least let me know somehow that whatever drove him away last night was made less distressful with sleep and daylight. But he didn't come in. And when I left the bathroom the bed was abandoned and the room vacant. The emptiness that was with me when I awoke grew. It overflowed my heart and sent the pain all the way to my fingertips. If I was ten, I would have cried. He was punishing me, and I didn't know why.

In the middle of all this misery my stomach growled. Trust my stomach to want food when I was upset. However, the idea of going to breakfast in the morning room and possibly running into him in front of a bunch of people I didn't like or trust had no appeal. I phoned the kitchen.

"Has Andrea called down for her breakfast yet?" I asked when Richard answered.

"I was just preparing a tray for Mrs. Paalmann."

"Can you take something up for me, too? Cereal, coffee, nothing much. I thought I'd join her for breakfast."

"Would Dr. Hudson care for something?"

"No, thanks just the same."

Paul wasn't in the morning room. Richard would have known. The fossil room? Most likely. I pulled on my skinny jeans and the red cashmere sweater with the deep V I'd splurged on last year. Paul couldn't keep his hands off it, and he couldn't avoid me forever. A couple extra swipes of the mascara wand, stilettos for overkill, and I was off for breakfast with Andrea, but prepared for Paul.

"I was going to give you a call and invite you up for breakfast, but Richard said you already called the kitchen," Andrea said when she answered my knock. Her gaze shifted to the empty corridor behind me. "Is Paul still sleeping?" She took a second, distressed look at me. "What's happened?"

"Nothing," I said, walking in. Dark circles had set up permanent residence under Andrea's eyes, and she was too pale. She didn't need my drama piled on top of her own. I sat in a chair at the little table Richard had already laid with juice, cereal, a pot of coffee, and pastries. My breakfast. A porcelain tea pot sat near a matching cup and saucer. Andrea's breakfast.

"Thea." She eased herself into the other chair. "Don't tell me there's nothing wrong when I know you so well. You're dressed like bait, but your eyes are puffy."

I laughed. Sort of. More to reroute a small inclination to sob. It worked.

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