Every day comes to a close, and so does every novel. But the impact of a day may never end in a life, and the hidden messages of a novel may do the same.
I hope I've given you more than a story.
Secrets at Midnight
Leona Palmer Haag
Chapter 64
Monica looked ravishing in a little black dress and
sparkling diamond earrings dangling against her neck. Jenn always felt diluted
next to her. “Jenn, ” Monica said. “I'm amazed you and Katie didn't fall to
your deaths on that mountain—or scream loud enough to wake the dead.” She
swirled her wine glass and smiled—taunting?
“Don't needle her,” Matt scolded.
Monica laughed. “She can’t invent punishment severe enough
to scare me.” Then she sobered. “Thanks for saving my husband's life. Men think
they’re heroes, but usually it's a woman who saves the bacon.”
Jenn laughed and lifted her wine glass. “To the men who
bring home the bacon—and to the women who save it when all they want is to
spend it.”
Nick joined in the toast, laughing, but beneath the table he
grabbed Jenn’s knee before whispering in her ear, “Do you mind how I earn it?”
Lifting her glass again, Jenn said, “And here’s luck to Nick
in his job hunt. May he soon be selling shoes or insurance.” The others
laughed, but she alone sipped wine.
Matt lifted his ice water. “To our partnerships, friendships
and marriages—may they continue.” Everyone lifted their glasses.
As Monica lowered her Merlot she turned to Matt.
“Sweetheart, you’re missing out.”
“Not really,” he said, lifting his ice water higher. “It’s
between me and God. I’m not incredible all on my own, so to keep my super
powers, I pray and keep promises.”
“And I spend Sunday mornings alone,” Monica pouted.
In a different setting at another time Jenn might have
called Matt a snob and self-righteous for mentioning religion and abandoning
alcohol, but not tonight. The changes hinted the old, sane, capable, pre-Monica
Matt was returning.
Monica said, “Sorry about bringing up shop-talk Jenn, but
you might be interested in knowing Natalie is enjoying physical therapy and
will fully recover. She’ll never thank you personally, I’m sure, but she
is grateful to you.”
“I’ll never give a drugged woman a loaded weapon again,”
Jenn said.
Matt burst out laughing. “Sure you will. You’ve got more
good gut-instinct than anyone I know. Follow that gut or brains or conscience
or whatever it is that prompts you and things will always work out.”
Jenn pointed at the kid who had hauled her around in a wagon
when little, and hauled her around the country when grown. “Next time—and there
won’t be a next time, and don’t forget it—don’t try to follow your off-kilter gut if I’m in tow. No
more dust-infested cabins—got that? Remember, I love electricity, hot baths and
luxury—and having Nick nearby.”
Matt lifted his ice water. “To no more running and hiding.”
Everyone lifted their drinks and laughed. As glasses
lowered, Matt said, “Thanks for the new car, Jenn.”
“How else could you keep up with Monica?”
“Hers is still faster, but she likes being chased,” he replied.
Conversation drifted from cars to basketball, leaving
work—the office and everything it
meant—behind. As they left the restaurant that evening Matt unconsciously
rubbed his side where a chunk of metal from the blast had sliced him open.
Visions returned to Jenn of Nick pushing her down next to him as he lay half
dead near the hanger. She had pressed her palms firmly against his side to hold
back a dark sticky tide that dripped between her fingers. Nick’ shirt was his
only bandaging.
Like a phantom, Kevin Curtis had stood up, scaring her to
death, before he stumbled a few feet and collapsed again. He curled up and died
for good—although she didn’t know until later that he actually hadn’t. Natalie,
another corpse that fateful night, had moaned. Bare-chested, Nick looked like a
shadow of death as he bent over her and breathed life. When she revived again
he rasped through smoke-scorched lungs, “The office is sending help.”
But Katie was worse off than them all. She sat in a puddle
from an overflowing diaper and howled above the fire's roar with tears
streaming down her cheeks in charcoal rivers. She witnessed death, destruction
and fire because her parent’s couldn’t prevent it.
Monica’s voice returned Jenn to the present as they reached
their cars and Nick held her door open for her. “Now that we’re back to our boring
normal lives, should I teach you jungle survival, Jenn?”
Jenn shook her head. “It's my turn to torture you. Have you
ever preserved peaches? They stain fake fingernails.”
Monica grimaced.
For once Jenn hit the bull’s eye dead on! “Be at my home on
Friday at 9:00 am. The office might
need you, but Marshall owes me a favor for not killing his entire staff, so
I’ll cash in if you try to make excuses.”
Monica’s head slightly nodded. “I’ll take a break from work
between 9:00 to 9:15.”
End Chapter 64
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