Book Lover, The by Maryann McFadden Read Free Book Online

between her knees as the blood rushed to her face, the beautiful colors on the Oriental rug swimming before her eyes.

                             3

     
    F ROM THE MOMENT SHE’D TOUCHED HIS FINGERS, as they barreled down a runway on the same flight back to New Jersey, when she’d closed her eyes, terrified, reaching for the armrest and finding instead a warm, reassuring hand, Lucy had always felt safe with David. He clasped her hand, a stranger’s hand, holding tight until long moments later when she felt the plane level off. She opened her eyes, mortified, only to find a comforting smile.
    He introduced himself and told her he was on his way home from a legal seminar in Atlanta. She was returning from a writers’ conference in Marietta. He then ordered them both a glass of wine and began asking her all about it. Embarrassed, she confessed that she worked for an accountant but always wanted to be a writer.
    “So why are you an accountant?” he’d asked with a smile in his hazel eyes.
    “Because when it was time to choose my major for college, and the guidance counselor told me what I could expect to earn as a writer, well, let’s just say the writing was on the wall.”
    David laughed, his eyes crinkling at the corners.
    “Anyway, making a living writing fiction is like winning the lottery for someone my age, or any age for that matter. So I write on the side, whenever I can.”
    “I thought about being an archeologist once, but…I took over my father’s law practice instead. You’re lucky you can do both. Although I do get my kicks with a metal detector when I have time.”
    Before the flight was over, she learned he lived in Mendham, New Jersey, not far from where she’d spent much of her childhood in Morristown. He was an attorney with his own one-man office that his father had opened when David was just a boy. He was, perhaps, the most persuasive person she’d ever met. She wound up letting him read the three page short-short story which had won an award at the conference, as she stared out the window at a blanket of thick white clouds just below. She was thrilled by the award, but knew the market for short stories was miniscule and that she needed to start thinking about something bigger. A novel.
    She heard him let out a rush of breath and turned. He was smiling.
    “Jesus, this is really good.”
    “Really?”
    “I have absolutely no doubt you’re going to make it as a writer.”
    She laughed out loud as she looked at this stranger, David Barrett, not a handsome man, but attractive in his designer suit, his confidence and manner so refreshing from the guys her age. Six months later, when he got down on one knee, holding out an antique platinum ring that had been his grandmother’s, he told her it was fate that had brought them together on that plane. He was just thirty, with a law practice, his own home, and a solid future. She was twenty-three years old, just out of college with a mountain of student loans, and still living at home. Of course she said yes.
    David wasn’t afraid to fly; his hand had just happened to be on the common armrest that day. Lucy often wondered, as she did now, watching the clock, waiting for him to walk in the door as he did every night, how her life might have turned out if she hadn’t reached out in desperation and found him. Would she still be alone?
    She got up and walked through the kitchen into the yard. The air was heavy with humidity. Just then the entire sky flashed with light. A few moments later, low rumbles of thunder seemed to go on for half a minute. Thank God he’d answered when she called his cell, because she’d nearly dialed the police. He didn’t even give her a chance to speak, just quickly assured her he’d be home within the hour. She knew cell phones weren’t allowed at the card games.
    Another flash of lightning illuminated the house, and then it fell into darkness again. The low tile roof, the arched windows and