Page 29 (1/2)

“Of course ”

She sa easy it was to uilt She wanted to lean down and kiss hi hiely bold, and she couldn’t quite make herself move toward him She mentally added Read Jeff’s Book to her To-Do list

He leaned back in his chair The sood effort; only their twenty years together allowed her to see the vulnerable underside to it “Let’s go to dinner and a ht You need a break ”

“Maybe toht I need to pay Mom’s bills ”

“You’re burning the candle at both ends ”

Meredith hated it when he said ridiculous things like that What exactly was she supposed to stop doing? Her job? Caring for her mother? The chores at home? “It’s only been a feeeks Cut me some slack ”

“Only if you cut yourself some ”

She had no idea what he o See you tonight ” She bent down, patted his shoulder, and left the house She put the dogs in the fenced part of their yard and then drove down to her parents’ house

Her mother’s house

The rerief that she pushed aside

Inside, she closed the door behind her and called out for her mother

There was no anshich was hardly a surprise

She found herto herself in Russian On the table, spread out in front of her, were all the pieces of jewelry Dad had bought her over the years, as well as the ornately decorated jewelry box that had been a long-ago Christhters

Meredith saw the rief had made of her mother’s beautiful face: it had sucked in her cheeks and made her bones appear more prominent; it had drawn the color from her skin until her flesh nearly ainst all that pallor—held any seo

“Hey, Mo?”