Women on the Edge of a Nervous Breakthrough by Isabel Sharpe Page B

Vivian thought she was the center of the universe itself. Like an adolescent. Like Sarah's daughter, Amber.
      Sarah had been feeling recently that Amber needed to see people less fortunate than herself. Maybe she needed to vol unteer in rural Appalachia or inner-city Chicago or the Deep South. Or maybe she needed to go to Europe and experience cultures that had existed so much longer than hers.
      Since Amber would need adult company on this voyage of self-discovery, Sarah favored the last option.
      She eased the Windstar into their garage, back much later than usual after her meeting. She opened the lift gate and got out the bag of groceries from Pick 'n Save, and the bag from Bed, Bath & Beyond, and the bag from Granley's Stationers, which made her smile. If anyone were watching, he'd want to know what made Sarah's smile that intriguing.
      She let herself into the house and heard hammering out back where Mike was working. Too bad she hadn't been here at lunch to offer him some of her homemade goulash soup or a sandwich, the kind men liked with lots of meat. He'd enjoyed her cinnamon rolls this morning from what she could tell.
      "Hi, Ben, sweetheart, I'm home." She set the groceries on the counter and started unpacking. Maybe Ben would come in and hug her, ask where she'd been all this time. That would be awfully nice.
      When not even an answer came, she got worried and left the groceries half unpacked on her beautiful granite counter.
      "Ben?" She walked into his study and stopped short when she saw him at his desk. Not a blessed thing wrong with him. Thank goodness.
      "Mm?" He frowned and tapped impatiently at a key.
      "I'm home, honey."
      "Oh. Yes." He glanced at her over the tops of his reading glasses, gave a little wave, and went back to work.
      She put on a sweet smile in case he decided to glance at her again. "I hope you didn't worry that I was late?"
      He kept typing, and she had to repeat the question a little louder. Her voice sounded strained when it got louder like that.
      "I didn't notice, actually. Is lunch ready?"
      Sarah laughed to dispel a sudden tight feeling in her stomach and moved forward, put her hand on his shoulder. "It's way after lunch. Didn't you eat?"
      "I must have gotten distracted." He patted the hand on his shoulder. Sarah saw the words bloody dismembered corpse on the monitor and shuddered.
      "I'll fix you something now." She left the room, the tight feeling still in her stomach. She'd had lunch at Denver's today, all by herself, which she never did, a Cobb salad, which was unusually fatty for her. But today hadn't felt usual. Vivian had turned everything "topsy turvy," as Sarah's mom would say.
      She started leftover goulash soup heating and pulled bread down from the cupboard for his sandwich. The bread hit the counter fairly forcefully, and she nearly tore the bag getting the slices out. Ben wouldn't eat the ends of the loaf, nor would Amber. Sarah always ate them, because she couldn't bear the waste. It would be nice if Ben would eat them once in a while so she wouldn't have to.
      She poured Ben's soup into a bowl a little too vigorously so it sloshed over the rim and she had to wipe the bowl and the counter. She took him the soup and the sandwich and a large glass of skim milk, and set it on his desk with a thud that nearly made the soup spill again.
      "Thank you." He didn't look up from the monitor or pat her hand again, which would have been nice since she went to the trouble of making him a sandwich and heating the soup. Though probably the soup would sit and get cold and she'd have to throw it away in case of invading bacteria.
      "You know, Ben, I've been thinking that we've never taken Amber to Europe." She pulled a woolen pill off Ben's sweater and rolled it between her fingers. "She's sixteen and barely been outside of Wisconsin since we moved back here. I want her to have broader horizons. Besides, it would do her good