Discovering Normal by Cynthia Henry Read Free Book Online

set the cup down on the nightstand. “I’m not discussing this tonight, Mother. I’m too tired, too confused--”
    Greer raised a sculpted brow. “Confused? You shouldn’t be confused, Elizabeth. This was as predictable as the wind.”
    Beth sighed and massaged her temples. “And why is that?”
    “Because you and Christopher were so very mismatched from the get go. We can’t change who we truly are, Elizabeth.”
    “Mother, our problems developed. They weren’t always there.”
    “Christopher was from one walk of life, you from another.”
    Beth stuffed her feet beneath the covers. “I’m so tired, Mother.”
    Her mother stood and gave Beth’s forehead a feathery kiss. She trailed her fingers through the wet strands of Beth’s hair and she felt herself almost doze until her mother spoke again.
    “I’d always feared that the day would come when your incompatibility would become evident, but I knew it for sure when I visited you after Audrey’s birth.”
    Beth opened her eyes.
    “You were propped in your bed, nursing Audrey . Noah was curled at your side. I was trying to speak with you, but Christopher appeared and leaned on the doorframe. He stood with his hands in his pockets and that charming smirk on his face. You ignored me, my dear, and focused your attention on your husband…on the life you’d made. At that very moment I knew the end was insight.”
    “What in the world are you talking about?”
    “It was too perfect, Elizabeth. Too extraordinary. Nothing in life is that unblemished. You found that out soon enough.”
    Her mother flicked off the Tiffany lamp and the room was dark.
 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    C hapter 5
     
     
    Chris rolled over, squinted, and tried to decide if it was I Can’t Get No Satisfaction by The Stones, or Teenage Wasteland , by The Who, pounding through his brain. He did his best to hoist and find the alarm clock only to realize that he had somehow ended up with his head at the foot of the bed and his feet near the headboard. He got his bearings and made out 7:50 on the clock. Shit!
    No matter how he felt, there were cows to be milked.
    The unmistakable smell of bacon wafted through the heating grates and hit his nose. He beat back the nausea as he remembered. Anita Borden--redheaded waitress at Flaherty’s Pub with a chest bigger than her brain, suggestive looks and messages for three years now and wild sex in his bed until 4 a.m. when he’d finally said enough a nd crashed into sleep.
    Chris pulled himself up, snatched the jeans that he’d managed to locate and stumbled his way to the bathroom and then down the stairs. Anita stood in the kitchen--Beth’s kitchen--wearing a bra, panties and an apron that lettered with  EVOO . A pparently she didn’t care that a half dozen farmhands and herdsman were wandering the property. She smiled when she saw him, flipped an omelet and turned down the flame beneath the bacon.
    “Hiya,” she said with a grin.
    “Morning.” Chris wandered to the coffee that she’d set to brew and poured a stiff black cup.
              “There’s orange juice in the pitcher on the table. Fresh squeezed.” She wiped her hands right over the EVOO . “Your wife has lovely things. I couldn’t resist looking through the cupboards. ”
    Goddamn.
    Chris slid into a wooden chair. The scratch of the leg against the floor set his head flipping yet again. What the hell was he doing? Why the hell was Anita Borden-the-barmaid going through Beth’s cupboards and flipping an omelet that he could see contained green pepper? He hated green pepper.
    Beth always knew that though he didn’t remember ever telling her.
    Anita slid the omelet onto a plate she’d decorated with little curls of oranges. She plucked two pieces of bacon and arranged them around the top. “Hope you’re hungry. I thought after all of the…” she turned with a coy grin. “ Hard work you did