Earnest by Kristin von Kreisler Read Free Book Online Page A

said.
    â€œAnna, what are you going to do?” Lauren asked.
    â€œI don’t know.” Anna wrung water from a towel into a blue plastic bucket. “I’m too shocked to think straight.”
    â€œI’m thinking fine. You should get rid of him,” Joy said.
    â€œThat would be a shame. They’re great together,” Lauren told Joy.
    â€œMaybe not anymore.” Anna took a deep, sad breath and closed her eyes for an extra-long blink. “I’ve never misread anybody so badly in my life. I trusted him. I can’t believe he wouldn’t have told me. He’s always honest.”
    â€œ Was always honest,” Joy corrected.
    Anna rubbed her towel over the floor. “I don’t think I can ever trust a man again.”
    As she wrung out her towel, she glanced out the front door, which was open to let in fresh air. Jeff was running down the sidewalk toward her, his briefcase clutched against his heart.

C HAPTER 6
    P anting for breath, Jeff ran up to the house, and Anna stepped onto the porch. Ash grayed her clothes. Her face was grimy, and her hair, an unruly mess. But she was there! In one piece! Unhurt!
    â€œYou’re all right!” he shouted. As he hurried down the sidewalk, relief washed over him. He thought Anna had come out to meet him, as glad to see him as he was to see her.
    â€œI’m all right, but Earnest isn’t. He’s at Dr. Nilsen’s clinic,” Anna said.
    Jeff stopped. His stomach lurched. “What happened?”
    â€œHe inhaled smoke.”
    â€œDr. Nilsen doesn’t think he’ll die, does he?”
    â€œHe doesn’t know.”
    The news sent Jeff reeling.
    He set his foot on the bottom step, intending to climb up to the porch, put his arms around Anna, and hug her like he’d never let her go. They could comfort each other. They could be strong for Earnest together.
    â€œDon’t. Come. Up. Here.”
    Jeff put his foot back on the sidewalk and stared at her.
    Anna’s voice was a dark, bruising purple. Red splotched her pale cheeks. The animation that was always in her face seemed to have dried up and blown away, so that her expression was frozen. Her jaw looked like it might splinter if she took a step toward him.
    â€œAnna, what’s the matter?” She’s got to be worried sick about Earnest. So am I.
    â€œAre you filing for a permit to tear down this house?”
    Jeff tried to swallow, but his throat stiffened. “Where’d you hear that?”
    â€œFrom Kimberly. Is it true?”
    â€œYes, but let me explain. . . .”
    â€œI don’t want to hear your excuses. They’re too much for me right now.”
    â€œJust a minute . . .” Jeff said.
    â€œYou know I love this house. How could you?” The little tufts he loved to smooth in Anna’s hair seemed to bristle.
    â€œI meant only the best for you. For us,” Jeff defended.
    â€œHow could you possibly think it would be best for us?” Anna asked.
    â€œBecause . . .”
    â€œIt’s horrible.”
    â€œJust listen . . .”
    â€œI don’t want to talk with you today.”
    Anna would hardly look at him. She acted as if resting her gaze on him for longer than ten seconds would scorch her eyeballs.
    Â 
    On the way back to Seattle, Jeff stared out the ferry window. Puget Sound looked smooth as glass. The cloudless sky was the celestial blue that painters use for angels’ robes. The sunny afternoon invited him to ignore all troubles.
    But after seeing Anna, in Jeff ’s mind a storm of worry brewed, and gales lashed his thoughts. Earnest might be fighting for his life, and that was horrible enough. But Anna? Snippets of her last few statements hit him like needles of sleet.
    â€œI can’t trust you.”
    â€œI don’t understand how you could have so little regard for my feelings.”
    â€œI don’t think I can live with you right now. One of us has to move