Retribution by Regina Smeltzer

Author:Regina Smeltzer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: christian Fiction
Publisher: Pelican Book Group
Published: 2016-08-22T04:00:00+00:00

15

Cleveland hadn’t changed much in six weeks.

Lillian felt different, and had expected her environment to be different too.

The big city felt cold and rushed. Definitely more traffic than Darlington.

The tension that had driven her south in the first place remained. Both with her parents and when she sought out friends, the dance of pretense scraped against her nerves. She found herself cautious, as though some sense within her remained on high alert lest she do or say the wrong thing.

The kitchen smelled of roasting turkey. Every burner on the stove held a stainless steel pot, the moist heat reminding her of the homeless shelter. Her chest tightened with longing. But then memories of Roger’s behavior erased the joy. She had been unable to see him before she had come home. The crack in their friendship caused her to be even more unsettled.

Sitting on a kitchen barstool, elbows propped on the white marble slab, she watched as her mother cut the apple and pumpkin pies bought from the Frazier Bakery. Their holiday pastries always came from Frazier’s. Her mom declared them the best.

Lillian had agreed—until she ate Sandra’s.

What were Trina and Ted, Bill and Sandra, and little Jimmy having for Thanksgiving dinner? She missed them, but tried to squeeze the thoughts of Darlington from her mind. After all, she was home with her family, her real family. She belonged in Cleveland, not in Darlington.

“Lillian, are you listening to me?” Her mother’s voice cut through her musings. “You don’t seem yourself.” Martha Goodson wiped her hands on a white towel with a large, colorful turkey appliquéd in the center. The Thanksgiving towel always came out the day before the holiday and was returned to storage the day after. Her mother folded the towel into exact thirds, and placed it, turkey facing out, in the center of the bar by the sink. “Are you sure living in the south is good for you?” Her lips puckered as she stared at Lillian, her gaze a challenge.

Lillian offered a wisp of a smile. How could she possibly describe the past six weeks when she couldn’t wrap her mind around them herself? As an attorney, she had condensed the basest human actions into simple words, explainable to a jury. But now she couldn’t define her own life for her mother. “I’ve made some good friends, and I love my job.” No need to mention the fires, or the fact that her heart had awakened. Why spawn questions she was unwilling to answer?

Her mother’s stare drilled into her face. “Well, your dad and I think you are being foolish. But then, you always have gone your own way.”

The words stung as though she had been slapped. At the sound of rattling on the stove, her mom turned, lifted the lid off the front pot, stabbed at the potatoes with a fork, and then replaced the lid.

Simple actions completed through habit and routine. Should life be like that: a routine that one lived by, no matter what?

Nothing shook

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