In part two of this episodic psychological thriller, Nicole Jeffords. convinced that healer, Victor Goodlove, who disappeared ten years earlier is buried under her studio, continues her search for him, contacting old patients all over Austin and dis...
At dinner that first night, Roy took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves. Janet could see how trim and strong his body was, no old man paunch, no sag at the shoulder or chin, nothing to indicate he was a man in his sixties. His hands and forearms were finely muscled, nicely shaped, and she found herself watching as he cut into his chicken, lifted his fork, broke a piece of bread, every movement smooth and efficient. Definitely he was fun to look at and she was glad she had put on a nice dress and lipstick, but his personality was terrible, no getting around that. All through dinner he barked orders and asked personal questions — who were her parents, where did she come from, why was she here, did she have children. She would have told him to go fuck himself except for one thing: under the brash behavior, she sensed he was genuinely interested in her answers. When she spoke, he listened closely, eyes narrowed and dubious, a person trained to disbelieve, to need every fact before he could accept the truth of what was being said. That made dinner with him a stressful event, but oddly she enjoyed it. She had questions for him, too, and felt as if she was playing a very strategic game of chess because he knew how to parry, counter, hold her off.
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Roy
What did she learn about him that first night? Not much. He was used to getting his way, had poor social skills, no filters, no care about saying exactly what he thought even if it was offensive. He loved dogs (he fed Scout bits of chicken from the table, a no no). He lived by himself in Dallas, was divorced after a ten year marriage, had a twenty-seven-year-old daughter, Ginger, whom he rarely saw. He worked as an architect, though that had slowed down (she learned that he'd built a hotel for Trump and been screwed). Now mainly he did strategic planning for a family foundation. When she asked him the name of the foundation, he became evasive and changed the subject. They had one thing in common: neither drank alcohol. But they did both smoke pot and after dinner he lit up a joint, and without being asked loaded the dishwasher, and announced he was taking the dog for a walk. Janet's nerves were humming by then. The pot had relaxed her, but her brain was racing and she felt emotionally on edge, filled with yearning and scared of something she couldn't name. When Roy went out with the dog, she was relieved. But the house immediately felt empty and all she could think of was the dinner she'd just had with him and what would happen next.
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Girl staring out the window (cropped), Ashley Webb, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
