“We still have food left. We may as well finish it,” Louise said to Zona. “Except it’s been sitting in the sun.”
Yes, let’s have a picnic, Zona thought sourly. “I’m tossing the quiche. How about peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?”
“That sounds perfect.”
“Let me just dry off first,” said Zona, and went upstairs to shed her wet clothes.
Once she was dry, she cleaned up the leftovers from the interrupted lunch and made her mother a sandwich.
“You’re not having one?” Louise asked, when Zona joined her at the dining room table.
Thinking about what had happened and what would no longer be happening had stolen Zona’s appetite. “I’m not hungry,” she said.
She looked out the window at the house next door. The cop car was gone, and Alec’s truck was still in the driveway. What was he doing? Probably patching up his back. Had Angela broken a rib?
Louise laid a comforting hand on Zona’s arm. “I’m sorry, sweetie.”
“He’s not a bad man,” said Zona.
Louise nodded. “But we’ve both seen what he comes with.”
Zona sighed deeply. If she truly loved Alec, would it matterwho his family was? In novels it wouldn’t. The couple always overcame any obstacles so they could be together.
But that was novels. Zona’s love life had to be a shared love one because she had a very scarred daughter to consider. It wasn’t fair to Bree to bring more chaos into her life.
It wasn’t fair that Zona had to make that choice, either. It wasn’t fair that it had taken her two love losses to find Alec. But life wasn’t fair. She wanted to cry. She was going to cry. She deserved to cry.
“Maybe it’s all for the best that this happened,” said Louise.
What a stupid saying that was. Zona vowed then and there never to use it on anyone.
“I’m going to go upstairs and lie down for a while, Mom. Will you be okay?”
Louise’s eyes were filled with sympathy. “Of course, dear.”
Zona went upstairs to her bedroom, shut the door, then flopped on the bed, buried her face in her pillow, and howled.
But self-pity was a waste of time and crying was giving her a headache. She gave up, got up, washed her face, and went back downstairs, determined to be a new woman. No more rushing into love, no more needing a man to prop herself up emotionally. Her daughter was right. She was strong enough on her own.
And she wasn’t going to think about how much she’d been enjoying being with Alec. Or how his kisses had been fire. He was fire.
Fire was dangerous. She owed it to both her daughter and herself to level out her life. No more crazy ups and downs. Just a nice straight line.
Like what appeared on the heart monitor when you died.
She frowned. She’d been doing fine on her own before she got involved with Alec. She’d be fine without him. Eventually. As long as she didn’t think about him.
Her cell phone rang. Alec.
“She’ll go to jail, Zona.”
“For what, a couple of months?” Zona scoffed.
“A couple of years at least. More time once assault is tacked on.”
“But then she’ll be out, and she’ll be back.”
“I’ve already talked to her sister. After she gets out, Ariel will take her to live with her in Montana. She’ll be far out of the picture.”
