AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m working that night,” she said. “I’ll be sleeping during the day. Maybe next year, but not this year.”
She’d been thinking of the holidays and what to do and then told herself that she wasn’t used to big family affairs anyway so it wasn’t a big deal.
She was positive Christian was and he’d be doing something with his family.
“It was worth a try, Dad. Guess it’s just you cooking again.”
Liz smiled at her father. He’d never had a problem cooking for the family before.
“Speaking of food. What’s for dinner tonight and what is the occasion?”
“I’m going to use the grill on the stovetop and try some fish on it. Nice and easy and fast. I’ll start it now. Salmon. I’ve got a baked rice dish in the oven that will be done soon too.”
“Sounds good,” Abby said. “I love fish and don’t eat it much. It stinks too much to cook in the house.”
“It does and I haven’t made it once here, but I’ve got that fancy grill top and industrial vent that Christian talked me into.”
Seemed like Christian was talking her into a lot lately.
The three of them went down the stairs and returned to the kitchen and she started dinner.
“What did you want to talk to us about?” Abby asked. “I’m going to start on the salad if you don’t mind. I’m starving.”
“Go ahead,” she said. “But get the bowls out for it.”
“I figured you wanted to talk about something,” her father said. “Is everything okay with Christian?”
“Yes,” she said. “Things are great. I wanted to tell you that Tanner showed up at my job two nights ago.”
“What?” Abby said, turning her head sharply. “Did he hurt you?”
“Hurt?” her father asked.
Abby put her hand to her mouth. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be,” she said. “Dad, I need to tell you what happened in my marriage to Tanner and why I left.”
She spent the next twenty minutes while she cooked dinner telling them most of what she’d told Christian.
It was hard to relive it again, but she needed them to know.
She’d even told them about the money Donna gave her that night.
“I wish I’d known,” her father said. “Why wouldn’t you tell me this?”
“I didn’t tell anyone for a long time,” she said.
“I figured it out,” Abby said. “Right?”
“Abby is right. Living that far away it was easy to hide, but Abby came to visit that second year of my marriage. She saw things I wished she hadn’t. Tanner was even on good behavior, but looking back I guess his remarks were still pretty harsh.”
“It wasn’t just remarks and how he treated you and tried to laugh it off, but it was your reaction to them,” Abby said. “If you laughed them off or joked back I might have thought it was just your relationship. But you didn’t. You didn’t say much and that wasn’t like you.”
“No,” her father said. “You always were vocal and stood your ground.”
“Not always,” she said.
“When it mattered,” her father said.
