Shadow Creek by Joy Fielding

Author:Joy Fielding [Fielding, Joy]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, Thriller
Publisher: Doubleday Canada
Published: 2012-12-04T05:00:00+00:00

SIXTEEN

JENNIFER TURNED OFF HER tiny flashlight and closed the book she’d spent all evening pretending to read, wondering if she’d fooled anyone. She shook her head, deciding she was no different than the others. They’d all spent the night pretending: Melissa and James acting as if they were having a grand old time singing show tunes and sharing ghost stories around the campfire when they’d undoubtedly rather be in Manhattan, sharing a luxury suite at the Plaza; Brianne playing the role of obedient daughter while, all the while, her eyes were hurling invisible daggers at her mother; Val going off with some guy she’d known from high school when it was painfully obvious to anyone with half a brain that she was still hung up on her soon-to-be ex-husband. Not to mention that ridiculous kiss. In clear view of everyone. What was that all about? Was Val challenging her to report it to Evan? Did she really think it might make him jealous? Did she really think he’d care?

Would he? Jennifer wondered, trying to erase all such thoughts from her mind.

Go ahead, make a fool of yourself, she told Val silently, glancing toward the campfire through downcast eyes to where Val was now not so comfortably lodged between her two friends. I’m not going to be the one who reports your adolescent maneuverings to Evan. What you do is of no concern to me. Or him.

Hopefully he got the message she’d left for him after they were forced to vacate their suite, telling him where they’d be and asking him to contact her through the campground office, since her cell phone was pretty much useless out here. So far, nothing. Jennifer glanced in the direction of the entrance to the camp, praying to see Evan striding purposefully toward her, a big smile on his handsome face, his arms open wide to embrace her, but all she saw was Val in animated conversation with Melissa and James. Go ahead—pretend to ignore me, she thought. Pretend you aren’t acutely aware of my every move. Pretend you aren’t enjoying my discomfort. Pretend you’re not loving every fucking minute of this whole awful, ridiculous sideshow of a weekend.

Jennifer’s eyes dropped toward the ground. They were no better than the unruly children they’d watched running around the campfire earlier in the night, waving long sticks and shouting, “Bang! Bang! You’re dead!” as they pretended to mow one another down with machine guns. She’d breathed a deep sigh of relief when their parents had finally, mercifully, sent them off to sleep, although one little girl continued to cry out, at regular intervals, for her mother.

Sudden tears swam into Jennifer’s line of vision, catching her off guard. Do we ever stop needing our mothers? she found herself wondering, watching as an image of her once-vibrant mother filled the dark sky, only to start breaking up and disintegrating in the cool air, shrinking and caving in on itself, her cheeks hollowing out, her eyes retreating inward, as if seeing only pain.

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