The Farmer's Wife by Lori Handeland

Author:Lori Handeland [Handeland, Lori]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Romance, Erotica, General, Contemporary, Fiction
ISBN: 9780786279654
Google: A-mwokJBd2QC
Amazon: 0373710992
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2002-12-01T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

The kitchen door swung open behind Eleanor. She swallowed her tears, scrubbed her palms over her face and turned.

Her eyes widened. Eleanor had expected Aaron, maybe John, though truly she knew better. Instead, Kim studied her with a wary, concerned expression.

“I’m fine,” she said, and turned around again.

Eleanor plugged the sink, twisted the taps and squirted dishwashing liquid in a long, steady, wasteful stream. Then, because she felt like it, she started tossing silverware and plastic cups into the water so the suds flew up like flakes of snow before floating downward once more.

The muffled clip of Kim’s heels on the vinyl floor announced her approach seconds before she grabbed a dish towel. “You wash—I’ll dry,” she said. “You can talk, and I’ll listen.”

The offer was more tempting than it should have been. Eleanor wasn’t a talker. She was of the “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” generation and geographic location Illinois farm wives did not whine; they did not go on Oprah and tell their secrets; they did not need to discuss every blasted twitch and twinkle in their lives.

But right now Eleanor wanted to share all the jumbled feelings and fears inside her with another woman. And in Luchetti land, Kim and Eleanor were all the women to be had.

Even though she wanted to talk, Eleanor wasn’t sure how to start. So while they washed and dried, the clink of silverware and dishes were the only sounds in the room. After a few minutes Eleanor realized those were the only sounds in the house.

“Where did everyone go?”

“Brian took Dean for a walk.”

Eleanor smiled. No matter what had happened between Brian and Kim, he had always been a good friend to Dean, and that wasn’t easy.

“Evan said he had an appointment.”

“Hmm.” Evan had been having a lot of appointments lately. Knowing her son, that meant a woman.

“Aaron went to bed.”

“And?”

“Daddy’s on the porch.”

Stiffening, Eleanor removed her hands from the dishwater, planning to sneak a peek out the front window and make sure he wasn’t smoking.

Then she remembered. She’d taken every cigarette she could find and methodically broken each one in two before lighting a nicotine bonfire in the fire pit behind the house. While that burned, she’d upended all the beer into the sink and rinsed it down with the last of the liquor. She hadn’t had so much fun in a long, long time.

“He’s worried about you,” Kim continued, “and I am, too.”

The idea of having someone worry about her for a change was such a novelty Eleanor snickered.

“Mom?” Kim was staring at her as if she’d just belched or farted in church. The image made her choke on another laugh.

“Sorry,” she said.

“You aren’t yourself. Or at least the self I know. One minute you’re crying, the next giggling.”

“Is that a crime?”

“With you? Maybe.”

She peered down her nose at her daughter. Kim grinned. “That’s more like you.”

Eleanor had perfected her evil eye over many long years of raising little boys. Unfortunately, the same look had only made Kim laugh.

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