Chapter 101

• The next morning, Jessica came into the kitchen while I was reading the paper and having my morning coffee. She flounced past me, still wearing her panties and tank top, and snatched a box of cereal out of the cabinet. Noisily, she stormed around the kitchen, banging drawers and cabinets, rattling the silverware, and clanging her dishes angrily on the table.
• My eyes couldn’t help but notice the outline of her lithe frame in her little ensemble. Somehow, she looked different to me. Yesterday, she’d been my little girl. Today, I was eyeballing her like a piece of meat. I shook my head and hid behind the newspaper, trying to shake the picture of her little body out of my head.
• Jessica poured milk into her cereal, and I could hear it slosh some bits out onto the table. She set the jug down with a thud and I heard her spoon start to clink against the ceramic bowl and the telltale crunch as she ate her cereal. I peeked cautiously around the side of my newspaper. She glared at me with stormy eyes, and I hid my face again.