Clowders by Vanessa Morgan

Author:Vanessa Morgan [Morgan, Vanessa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B078GTVF7Z
Goodreads: 36688136
Published: 2018-03-01T05:00:00+00:00

***

Jess had a hard time concentrating on her French lessons, so she decided to bury herself in the kitchen, preparing a recipe of her own composition as a way to unwind. She started by slicing potatoes and chopping fresh parsley and garlic. She added everything in a locally fired faience dish, sprinkled the food with olive oil and lemon juice, and added some freshly cut sprigs of rosemary.

Once the potato dish was in the oven, she treated herself to a glass of red. For some reason, cooking and drinking wine were two activities that went well together. They both relaxed her, as did the delicious smells coming from the oven and into the kitchen. It was what she needed. Little by little, the stress of the day slid off her shoulders, and she no longer thought about the strange behavior of her neighbor, Avalon's disappearance, and the difficulties with finding a job. Even though Jess still regretted having come to Europe and wasn't happy here, she would do anything in her power to give her marriage a chance.

But Aidan didn't show up that evening. He didn't even bother to call or text her to say he was running late. After waiting at the kitchen table for two hours, Eleonore appeared with a question for her mother. “Mo-om,” she singsonged. “Can you make me something to eat?”

“I wanted to wait for your dad.”

Eleonore let out a sigh. “When will he be back?”

“I don't know, E. He said he'd be back two hours ago.”

“Well, guess it's just you and me then.” Eleonore sounded like an adult.

“I guess it is.”

“I'm hungry,” she complained.

“You can already start eating if you want to,” Jess said. She quickly fried up one of the three onglet steaks she'd picked up at the butcher's that afternoon, took the potato dish out of the oven, put a small scoop of the food on a plate, and put it in front of Eleonore.

“Won't you eat with me?” Eleonore asked, a tiny forkful of potato pausing halfway to her mouth.

Jess gazed at the dish morosely. “Okay,” she said, picking up a fork and jabbing at a sprig of rosemary, before taking a few quick bites out of her meal. The bitter anger in the back of her throat made it painful to swallow.

Why wasn't Aidan home? Was he with Lorenza? For what other reason would he stay away so many hours and leave her with food on the table without even calling her? She couldn't tell for sure he had cheated on her with that woman, but it was obvious that the idea was playing in his head.

Your intuition always knows, her best friend, Michelle, once told her.

And Jess knew.

Aidan was interested in someone else.

She wished she could go to Michelle right now to tell her about her suspicions. Michelle always had the best advice and a way of making Jess smile again, even when things were going sour.

For the sake of her daughter, Jess ate at least a little and pretended she was enjoying her food.

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