Read Online In a Moon Smile by Sherri Coner - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Sherri Coner
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Yes, every eye was definitely focused on the ugly duckling daughter. Chesney felt powerful and interesting. She also felt nauseated. Under the table, she picked at her cuticles, willing herself to stay in the chair. “I saw the house again, after all these years,” she stuttered. “Everything is still the same. I fell in love with the place all over again.” She stopped talking for a moment and swallowed hard. The grand finale erupted crisply from her mouth for a second time. “So that’s my big news,” Chesney said with a victorious sigh. “I’m not getting married and I bought Grace’s place.”
“When were you in Bean Blossom?” Lyle carefully placed his knife in the middle of his perfectly roasted slab of dead cow. He stared at his oldest child with a puzzled look on his thin face. Where did he go wrong with Chesney? “When did you buy it?” he asked. “Why would you buy the place, Chesney? It’s more than a century old. When your grandmother lived there, all kinds of things were wrong with the house.”
“A week ago, I needed a few days away,” Chesney said. “I was working on chapter seventeen in my book. I was struggling a bit with the plot. I thought a few days away would do the trick.”
“I’d never consider a trip to Bean Blossom, Indiana as an inspiration for anything except depression,” Charlotte snorted.
“Cute,” Chesney sneered at Charlotte as if they stepped back in time with matching pigtails and missing teeth. Sibling rivalry was alive and well; Charlotte, the tall, skinny family favorite with long, thin pigtails, her perfect husband Cooper, and their goddess baby lined up next to the unmarriable odd ball with wild hair, short legs and no boobs.
Of course, Chesney hadn’t gone to Bean Blossom to work on her book. She went there to think about the best way to toss the latest emotional grenade at her family.
“When the place was auctioned a few years ago, you didn’t express an interest,” Lyle said.
“At that time, I thought I was happy splitting my time between Chicago and New York,” Chesney said. And that was the truth. That was what she thought because at that time, everyone else told her what she liked and what she thought.
I want to tell my family how my life began to change when I visited my grandmother's house again. After living all these years away from the dilapidated two-story wood frame house in the woods, the place just seemed to call my name. I felt connected to it. So I bought it. On a whim. Doing something so spontaneous is totally out of character for me, the predictable, weak-willed Chesney Blake, the overly responsible daughter of middle-class America. Maybe that's the part I liked most about the day I bought the house. I love this moment. I did not ask anyone’s opinion, advice or permission. For once, they didn’t know my business. I shocked the pants off every single person seated around the table, even my crisp, cool mother. I would never admit to the secret that my decision also shocked me. I cannot recall when I last did anything even slightly drastic or spontaneous.
After passing the bread to her brother-in-law, Chesney sat back in her chair, smiling at her wonderful streak of free-spiritedness.
“You did two stupid things. You gave that giant diamond engagement ring back to Jack and then you bought a money pit, which happens to be in the middle of Loserville,” Charlotte said.
The air around Chesney’s head began to cloud. Her nose was stuffy. She zeroed in on Charlotte’s perfect face, wishing she could reach across the table and smack her head off.
“I always loved Grace’s place,” Chesney said stiffly.
“You were a child when you spent so much time there,” Charlotte said. “And because you were a child, you didn’t pay attention to the upkeep involved with that size of a home or the grounds around it.”
Chesney wanted to point out that Charlotte had no business offering an opinion. She wanted to say that Charlotte and
“When were you in Bean Blossom?” Lyle carefully placed his knife in the middle of his perfectly roasted slab of dead cow. He stared at his oldest child with a puzzled look on his thin face. Where did he go wrong with Chesney? “When did you buy it?” he asked. “Why would you buy the place, Chesney? It’s more than a century old. When your grandmother lived there, all kinds of things were wrong with the house.”
“A week ago, I needed a few days away,” Chesney said. “I was working on chapter seventeen in my book. I was struggling a bit with the plot. I thought a few days away would do the trick.”
“I’d never consider a trip to Bean Blossom, Indiana as an inspiration for anything except depression,” Charlotte snorted.
“Cute,” Chesney sneered at Charlotte as if they stepped back in time with matching pigtails and missing teeth. Sibling rivalry was alive and well; Charlotte, the tall, skinny family favorite with long, thin pigtails, her perfect husband Cooper, and their goddess baby lined up next to the unmarriable odd ball with wild hair, short legs and no boobs.
Of course, Chesney hadn’t gone to Bean Blossom to work on her book. She went there to think about the best way to toss the latest emotional grenade at her family.
“When the place was auctioned a few years ago, you didn’t express an interest,” Lyle said.
“At that time, I thought I was happy splitting my time between Chicago and New York,” Chesney said. And that was the truth. That was what she thought because at that time, everyone else told her what she liked and what she thought.
I want to tell my family how my life began to change when I visited my grandmother's house again. After living all these years away from the dilapidated two-story wood frame house in the woods, the place just seemed to call my name. I felt connected to it. So I bought it. On a whim. Doing something so spontaneous is totally out of character for me, the predictable, weak-willed Chesney Blake, the overly responsible daughter of middle-class America. Maybe that's the part I liked most about the day I bought the house. I love this moment. I did not ask anyone’s opinion, advice or permission. For once, they didn’t know my business. I shocked the pants off every single person seated around the table, even my crisp, cool mother. I would never admit to the secret that my decision also shocked me. I cannot recall when I last did anything even slightly drastic or spontaneous.
After passing the bread to her brother-in-law, Chesney sat back in her chair, smiling at her wonderful streak of free-spiritedness.
“You did two stupid things. You gave that giant diamond engagement ring back to Jack and then you bought a money pit, which happens to be in the middle of Loserville,” Charlotte said.
The air around Chesney’s head began to cloud. Her nose was stuffy. She zeroed in on Charlotte’s perfect face, wishing she could reach across the table and smack her head off.
“I always loved Grace’s place,” Chesney said stiffly.
“You were a child when you spent so much time there,” Charlotte said. “And because you were a child, you didn’t pay attention to the upkeep involved with that size of a home or the grounds around it.”
Chesney wanted to point out that Charlotte had no business offering an opinion. She wanted to say that Charlotte and
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