Since She Went Away by David Bell

Author:David Bell
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2016-05-18T15:34:01+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

When she came in the door, Jared was at the kitchen table, doing his homework. He had books and papers spread all over and headphones covering his ears. He slipped them off when he saw her and offered a small smile.

He still looked as if someone had run over his puppy.

“How’s it going?” she asked, trying not to sound falsely chipper.

“I’m fine.”

“I thought I’d make spaghetti. Are you hungry?”

He nodded. “Sure.”

“Clear your stuff and I’ll get it going.”

He ate quickly and didn’t say much. Jenna wanted to give him his space, let him lick his wounds over being dumped by Tabitha. Jared was more outgoing than Marty, better able to express himself and open up. It was likely a consequence of growing up with a single mom. She edged toward bringing up the elephant in the room rather than ignoring it, but before she said anything, Jared spoke up.

“So Celia was really having an affair before she disappeared?” he asked.

“It looks that way.”

“And she kept it hidden from everybody?”

“People usually hide affairs.” Jenna pushed the food around on her plate. At least he was talking. Not what she wanted to talk about, but at least the boy was talking. “For all I know, she has friends who knew. Just because we were close for a lot of years doesn’t mean I knew everything about her.”

“Yeah.” He nodded as though he were listening to music. He wasn’t. The headphones were off. Jenna could tell he was absorbing the knowledge about Celia, processing it, learning some things about the adult world. “And this weird, random guy shows up trying to pawn her earring?”

“He’s a suspect,” Jenna said. “Or he might be. We went to high school with him.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. He was a total oddball back then. Just thinking about the way he used to creep around the school in his army jacket makes my skin crawl. Even after all these years. I need to call Detective Poole and see if they’ve learned anything.”

“I guess it takes a lot of trust to be in a relationship.”

“It does.” She twirled spaghetti on her plate. “Do you think you trusted Tabitha that much?”

He grew defensive. “She didn’t betray my trust.”

“I didn’t say she did.” They ate in silence for a few minutes. “Who am I to talk? I don’t think I’ve ever trusted a man that much in a relationship. Not your dad. Not anybody else.”

Jared looked up, his face showing surprise. And not just at the content of the revelation, but also the raw nature of it. They were moving into that territory where parent and child found themselves standing on the same level for a short time, sharing the same view. It could be invigorating and unnerving for both parties.

“I just thought Tabitha and I would go on and be together. For a while. And you know what the really frustrating part is?”

“What?”

“I don’t know why she did it. I don’t know if I did something wrong or what it was.”

“I doubt it was you.

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