The Scarlet Thread Read Online Free PDF Page B

surprise.”
    Silence followed. Her heart picked up speed; she could feel his
    growing anger.
    Stop this now, an inner voice cautioned her. Stop before you go too
    far. . . .
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    C A L L
    She wasn’t interested in stopping. “You might have hinted
    what was going on, Alex,” she said, clutching the phone.
    “I’ve done more than hint. I told you about this company weeks
    ago. I’ve been telling you for the last four years what I want to do.
    The problem is you don’t listen.”
    “I listen.”
    “And never hear.”
    “I do too hear!”
    “Then hear this. You’ve had it your way for ten years. Maybe,
    just for a change, you could cut me a little slack.”
    Click.
    “Alex?” Dead silence filled her ear. Sierra blinked, shocked.
    She stared at the phone in her hand as though it had turned to a
    venomous snake. Alex had never hung up on her before.
    More distressed than when she had arrived, Sierra went
    downstairs. The tantalizing aroma of freshly ground caramel au
    lait decaf filled the kitchen. Her favorite. So, too, were the
    Tollhouse cookies her mother had put on a dessert plate in the
    sunny alcove overlooking the back garden. Clearly Mom wanted
    to cheer her up. Fat chance.
    She plunked the portable phone down on the pretty
    flower-embroidered cloth covering the small table and sank
    down onto the chair. “He hung up on me.” Her mother poured
    coffee for her. “He’s never hung up on me before,” Sierra continued, her voice breaking as she looked up at her mother. He’d
    made a decision he knew would tear her life to pieces, and then he
    hung up on her? “He said I don’t listen.”
    Her mother set the carafe on a sunflower trivet and took the
    seat facing her. “Sometimes we only hear what we want to hear.”
    She picked up her coffee cup and sipped, distracted.
    “You look tired, Mom.”
    “I didn’t sleep very well last night. I kept thinking about your
    father.” Her mouth curved faintly, her expression softening.
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    S C A R L E T
    T H R E A D
    “Sometimes I imagine him sitting in his chair watching the news
    on television. The house creaks and I awaken, thinking he’s
    coming along to bed.” She smiled sadly and looked down into
    her coffee as she set the cup back in its porcelain saucer. “I miss
    him.”
    “I miss him, too.” He might have been able to talk Alex out of
    going to Los Angeles.
    Her mother lifted her head and looked across at her with gentle humor. “Your father wasn’t an easy man either, Sierra, but he
    was worth it.”
    “If Alex insists, I’ll go, but I don’t have to smile and pretend to
    be happy about it.”
    “Maybe not, but it’d be better if you came to terms with his decision. Resentment and anger eat away at love as quickly as rust
    is corroding that metal lawn chair out there in the backyard. One
    of life’s great tragedies is watching a relationship unravel over
    something that could’ve been resolved in one intelligent, adult
    conversation.”
    Her mother’s words hurt. “One conversation isn’t going to
    change Alex’s mind.”
    “Then it depends on what you really want.”
    Sierra raised tear-soaked eyes to her mother’s clear hazel ones.
    “What do you mean?”
    Marianna reached out and took her daughter’s hand. “It’s simple, Sierra. Do you want your own way, or do you want Alex?”
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    S I E R R A L E F T H E R M O T H E R I N T I M E T O D R I V E T O
    Windsor and pick up the children from school. They slammed
    into the car and immediately began vying for her undivided
    attention. She was often amused by their antics. Today their
    youthful exuberance and competitiveness irritated. As she drove
    along Brooks Road toward the foothills, she heard only bits and
    pieces of their day, distracted by her own turbulent thoughts.
    She longed for a quiet place to lick her wounds.
    Her heart began beating a battle rhythm when she saw Alex’s
    Honda in the driveway. He never came home before