Dangerous Curves Ahead: A Perfect Fit Novel Read Free Page B

than anywhere else.
    “Ellis? Is that you?” she heard as she entered her parents’ home.
    “Yes,” she answered, hearing that question for the second time that day.
    Her father looked up from his spot on the couch, not making eye contact, just giving her a once-over to confirm it really was her.
    “Hi, Daddy.” She sat next to him, studying her dashing father’s ensemble for the day. Blue collared shirt, matching blue tie, and pajama pants. “Snoopy pants?”
    “I’ve always liked Snoopy,” he said not looking at her. “ Peanuts premiered in eight newspapers the day I was born. Snoopy did not appear until the third strip. He wasn’t identified by name until November fourth of that year.”
    Ellis nodded slowly at the wealth of information her father had gifted her. He knew all kinds of useless facts; if he ever went on a game show, he could rack up some serious cash. But Dr. Walter Garret wasn’t the type of man who would play or even watch a game show. He was a scientist by trade, a physiologist who studied the physical and biochemical functions in humans and animals. Truthfully, Ellis had no flipping clue what her father did for a living.
    “I bought you some chocolates.” Walter looked at her nose. “I put them in the cabinet above the sink in between the brown and white sugars.”
    “Thank you, Daddy,” she said.
    “I asked your mother to order Chinese food tonight. Chicken with garlic sauce, dumplings, and fried rice. That’s what you like.”
    “Yes, Daddy, I do.”
    That was how he showed her he loved her. Food. Not once had he ever said the words, nor could she remember him ever embracing her, but he always spent time with her. He always asked her to come in his office and sit with him while he researched, feeding her gummy bears and marshmallows, only quiet foods so her chewing would not disturb his thinking. He was the reason she had eight cavities the year she turned ten. Every filling had been worth it.
    She gently placed her hand on his knee, earning her a look at her forehead. “How’s work, Daddy?”
    “Good, good.” He nodded. “Very good. My colleagues and I are studying the heart functions in bears while in hibernation and how the organ adapts to stressful situations. We hope to compare it with the functions of the human heart during rest.”
    Ellis drifted off while her father spoke in scientific terms she would never understand. “I’m glad to hear that, Daddy,” she said when he paused. “Where’s Mom?”
    “In the garden. The deliveryman should be here in fourteen minutes. Please ask your mother to wash her hands.”
    “Of course.” She smiled at her father and left him to go find her mother, wondering what it was about him that had caused her mother to fall in love.
    *   *   *
    She found Dr. Phillipa Gregory sitting in the middle of her tomato plants frowning. Ellis took the chance to study her mother as she rolled a small tomato in her hand. Phillipa was a tiny speck of a woman with a huge brain and big mouth. She was head of Women’s Studies at Durant University, author of four feminist-themed books, and a former wild-child hippie. Phillipa drove her bonkers, but Ellis could honestly say she missed the pain in the ass while she was in the big city. And every time she saw her in the garden she thought, It’s good to be home.
    “Ellis, come here,” she ordered in her still-thick Queens accent. “Doesn’t this tomato look sickly to you?”
    “Um.” Ellis studied the small perfectly red fruit, not at all bothered by her mother’s lack of greeting. “Yes?”
    “It’s too yellow on the bottom.”
    “Okay, if you say so.”
    “I do.” Phillipa took off her enormous straw hat, revealing her very long mass of silver hair, and wiped her brow with her forearm.
    “Daddy would like you to come in for dinner and wash your hands. The deliveryman should be here in twelve minutes.”
    Phillipa waved her hand, brushing off her husband’s request. “The food