Chapter 5: Sunday Brunch

I stood on the corner with that sentence ringing in my ears.

You were never there at all.

"Send me that," I said.

Ezra sent it before I finished asking.

"What are you going to do?"

"His mother owns forty percent. She'd never let him erase her."

"And if she already knows?"

"Then I'll find out Sunday."

Lorna Ellsworth held brunch every Sunday at her house in Lake Forest.

Seven years married, and I'd been invited twice.

Both times she'd asked me to help in the kitchen.

I drove up Sunday morning in Katie's car because Neil had cancelled the insurance on mine.

The house was white brick with black shutters.

There were six cars in the circle drive.

One of them was a little white Jeep.

COOK WITH BRITTANY.

I rang the bell anyway.

The housekeeper let me in and looked sorry for me before I'd said a word.

The dining room was full of Lorna's friends.

Pearls, cashmere, mimosas in crystal flutes.

At the head of the table sat Lorna, silver-haired and straight-backed.

On her right sat Neil.

On her left sat Brittany.

Brittany was wearing a pale pink dress and Lorna's own grandmother's brooch.

I knew it was the grandmother's brooch.

Lorna had told me I wasn't the kind of girl who could be trusted with it.

"Holly," Lorna said, not getting up. "We weren't expecting you."

"I need five minutes."

"You can have them in the kitchen. I'll have someone get you a plate."

Keep reading free with an account. Start He Gave Her My Kitchen. I Took Everything. from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.