Close to You by Mary Jane Clark Read Free Book Online Page A

candles into the ice-cream cake when she heard the buzzer sound from the downstairs lobby. Probably one of the parents arriving a bit early. She called out for Mack to answer it.
    As Eliza carried the flickering cake into the dining room to the din of childish singing, she saw, from the corner of her eye, Louise Kendall standing in the doorway with a large, brightly wrapped present in her arms. Louise had called yesterday and asked if she could come into the city to talk to Eliza about the house. When told that Janie was having a birthday party, Louise insisted she bring a gift for the child. But as much as Eliza truly liked Louise, she sensed that Janie’s birthday wasn’t all that high on Louise’s agenda. If she was driving all the way into the city on a Saturday, her prime real-estate selling day, Eliza knew Louise had to have something important on her mind.
    When the children were contentedly spooning the vanilla and chocolate ice cream through their painted lips, Eliza made her way over to Louise, giving her a welcoming kiss on the cheek.
    â€œThe kids should be gone in about fifteen minutes. Can you wait, and then we can talk in relative quiet?”
    â€œOf course,” she answered amiably. “What can I do to help here?”
    Eliza laughed, brushing back a strand of hair that had fallen across her brow. “Believe it or not, I think we have everything pretty well under control.”
    God, I hope we do,
thought Louise.

Chapter 18
    There were three nights of videotapes sitting on top of the VCR. That meant there was an hour and a half of pleasure ahead.
    The VCR was programmed to record the KEY Television Network every weekday night at six-thirty. Even when someone was home to watch the show, the recorder still clicked on to tape
KEY Evening Headlines
with Eliza Blake.
    It worked well this way. Sometimes the live broadcast moved too fast and it was necessary to replay it to catch every detail, every mannerism, every nuance in Eliza’s speech. After the broadcast tapes were looked at, they were rewound to be used again. The newspaper stories reported that the recently appointed evening-news anchorwoman was garnering solid ratings. The network was heavily invested in her. Eliza was going to be around for a while.
    Though you could never tell. It had looked like Linda Anderson was going to be around for a while, too. Five years ago, the VCR had been set to record the Garden State News Network every night at ten o’clock.
    What had happened to Linda was still a source of thedeepest pain. Loving Linda had been wonderful beyond belief. But Linda had spurned a perfect love.
    It had taken five years to be ready to love again.
    Eliza Blake was worth the wait.

Chapter 19
    â€œCarbon-monoxide poisoning? Oh, how terrible!” Eliza winced.
    Eliza and Louise sat together in the kitchen while, in the living room, Mack helped Janie assemble the skeleton of the plastic playhouse she had received as a birthday gift. The two women made certain to keep their voices low.
    â€œI’m so sorry, Eliza,” whispered the distressed Realtor. “I should have known about this and told you before you bought the house. But I was away at the beach with William for a few days in July when the Richardses died, and I missed the gossip about it in the office and didn’t read about it in the local papers. By the time I got back I guess it was old news and no one was even talking about it anymore. When the listing came out, I jumped on it, knowing it would be the perfect house for you. I still think it is. But I just found out what happened from the listing agent yesterday and, of course, I wanted to tell you myself.”
    Eliza’s mind raced. She had done a story on carbon-monoxide poisoning. Hundreds of people died in their homes each year from the poisonous gas that had no smell, no taste and no color. But she also knew that carbon-monoxide poisoning was easily preventable by making