When I'm not writing I'm doing something else. Here I'm resting in the middle of staining my wood floors last fall. That job took as long as writing a book, but was a thousand times quicker than editing a first draft. I'm so glad I found a good WIP of this novel. I love creating, but I'm delighted I can keep the creation of editing this novel to a minimum!
Hidden Secrets
Leona Palmer Haag
Chapter 4
Jenn wanted nothing more than to stretch out on the
bed and sleep for a week. When she awoke it would be Saturday and Nick would be
walking through the door with his bag in one hand and his arms stretched out to
greet her and Katie. In a one-arm giant bear hug he'd lift them both off their
feet and swing them around. He'd toss in dozens of warm kisses for good
measure.
It was a wonderful daydream but wasn't going to
happen. Jenn plopped down in the middle of her bed, sitting cross-legged, and
began folding clothes. First Katie's tiny sun dresses, shorts and tops. Next a
pile of her own undies, cammies and blouses. Finally she reached for the towels—the
easy stuff she liked saving for last. She flipped them out and as they came
back at her, she caught them in a neat fold. Stacks grew. Last came kitchen
towels, hand towels and washcloths.
Wearily, Jenn slid off the bed and loaded the laundry
basket with tidy piles and pulled it onto her hip. She started unloading her
wares in the kitchen, filling the drawer with dishcloths. The linen closet came
next. She tip-toed into Katie's bedroom and put her things away without waking
her. She returned to her bedroom and grabbed a stack of clothes from the foot
of the bed and opened her top drawer and set a neat pile of undies inside next
to Nick's short stack of boxers.
That's when loneliness consumed her. Not one piece of
laundry had been Nick's. Not one sock, shirt or pair of shorts. He'd been gone
for nearly two weeks. She'd washed all the dirty clothes he'd left behind days
ago.
Jenn sat on the edge of her bed and frowned. More than
anything in the world she wished her husband sold life insurance and was at a
meeting in Milwaukee. He'd be telling a business client he had an important
phone call to make and would excuse himself. He'd pull out his cell phone while
riding the elevator up to his room in some swanky hotel. She'd answer before he
got to his floor. He'd say, "Hey, Jenn, I've been thinking about you,
honey. How are you and my little baby cuddle bear doing tonight?"
Jenn choked back a sob. She was doing terrible. Her
imagination took off in another direction and ran wild. Nick was probably in
some flea-infested dive someone claimed was a hotel. He'd be wishing for air
conditioning, a decent meal and something to take away the itch from all the
no-see-um's that had crawled under his skin and were eating him alive.
Or maybe he was really entertaining some curvy senorita
who thought he'd be her lover when all he wanted was to find some way to get
her to take him home so he could meet her evil drug-dealing brother so he could
discover some piece of information about him that would put him away for a long
time—perhaps forever.
Jenn wondered if Nick was really sitting in some ritzy
resort hotel on the twenty-first floor with his laptop open as he surfed,
trying to find a company that could take him and his buddies deep sea fishing
in the morning. Of course, he'd come home from wherever he was in the Bahamas
and tell her he'd been roughing it and eating raw coconut—but his tan would
testify he'd been having fun.
Jenn let sobs escape.
One.
Two.
Dozens.
Her shoulders shook. If Nick were home he'd take out
the trash, double check the locks, saunter down the hall and lean on the door
frame and smile at her. "What is that smile for?" she'd ask.
He'd shrug. "Just looking at you. Thinking maybe
you're ready to abandon those clothes and call it a night."
She'd hand him a pile of his clean shirts and say,
"Hang these up, baby, and I'll get the light."
He'd laugh and say, "I don't think you heard me
right."
Jenn slowly got up and walked to the closet and opened
Nick's side. "Nope, I didn't hear a thing, except an over active
imagination," she muttered as she stared at several bare hangers. She slid
the door shut and said a few choice words under her breath, feeling guilty
because she'd mostly cleaned up her language years ago. She opened her side of the closet. The hamper was empty. Nick
wouldn't fill it until he got home, which felt like an eternity away. She stripped
and tossed her clothes into the hamper and slammed the lid shut. She pulled her
nightgown from the shelf and pulled it on over her head. There wasn't anything
left to do that night but go to bed.
Alone.
Again.
Like she did more than she wanted to. More than she ever
planned to.
End Chapter 4
Thanks for visiting. I hope you're enjoying Hidden Secrets.
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