The Red Strokes - Chapter 5

Chapter 5 from my latest release, 'The Red Strokes', available on Amazon.

CHAPTER FIVE

 

 

Val looks out over the pasture behind Lilah’s house. The clouds threaten rain for the third day in a row, but she enjoys the quiet of being the first one up. She didn’t sleep well last night. She rarely does in a strange bed, but last night it was the argument between Lilah and her boyfriend that kept her awake. Lilah was trying to keep from waking those who may have already fallen asleep by keeping her voice no higher than a whisper. Although she tried her best not to hear, Val learned that George wouldn’t be attending the funeral offering no legitimate reason as to why and that he was upset by the fact that Lilah had requested he wear pajamas over his boxers while she had guests. Even now in the light of day, the thought of a naked George causes Val’s stomach to lurch.

It’s peaceful here. Unlike the bustle of their bed and breakfast in Provincetown, here she can actually have a stream of thought without interruption. Over the five years since she and Michelle bought the fixer-upper Victorian she had come to love the shore and the unconditional acceptance she never felt in Pennsylvania. There, like the landscape, she belonged. She had allowed herself to forget what it felt like to be different, but it came with a price.

As much as she couldn’t wait to leave her hometown and not look back, she never cut her ties to her childhood home or family. She kept in touch with Lilah by calling her weekly and sometimes more. Calls to her father had lessened with his illness for lack of anything positive to say that wouldn’t sound like patronizing fluff and calls to Mia were always on a need-to basis. That seemed to work best for both of them.

She closes her eyes and fills her lungs with the damp morning air. She misses the Cape already, but there’s something about being here that gives her a warm feeling she can’t explain. Maybe it’s having someone to share her grief. She’d be lost without Michelle’s support, but Michelle had never met her father and Val thinks that without having known the man and his complexities it would be difficult�"if not impossible�" for her to understand the depth of emotion.

“Why don’t you come in? I made breakfast.” Michelle says through the screen door.

“Is everyone else up?” Val asks.

“George left early, Lilah left about a half hour ago, and Doriah just came down.”

“Guess you didn’t sleep much either.”

Michelle shakes her head. “I felt so bad for you sister. If I didn’t think she would have found me intrusive, I would have given him a piece of my mind.”

“Lilah’s a big girl. As badly as we may feel, we can’t interfere. She’s the only sister I’ve got and I don’t want things to get weird between us.”

“Would you please stop it? Mia is your sister whether you like it or not.”

“Listen, we’ve been here just over twenty-four hours and already she’s challenged my father’s dying wishes and left my happy a*s stranded in the city. And you’re telling me to stop?”

“I would have given anything to have a sister. Even one like Mia.” Michelle’s voice fades as she walks away from the door.

Val hangs her head over the railing. Damn. As happy as she and Michelle are�"have always been�"she should know better than to bring up Mia issues in front of her. Venting makes her feel better, but it also reminds Michelle of her own lonely childhood and re-inflicts old wounds. She hates the trade-off.