The Nosy Neighbor by Fern Michaels Read Free Book Online

started to throb in tune with the throbbing inside her head.
    The front doorbell rang just as Lucy finished mixing the peas and carrots into the meat loaf for both dogs. She looked at the clock—7:10. It must be her neighbor. She called loud enough over the barking dogs for him to come in. “I’m in the kitchen,” she shouted. The dogs barked louder.
    Wylie appeared in the kitchen doorway, a check in his hand. “Smells good,” he said hopefully.
    Lucy called the dogs and set the bowls on the floor. “Help yourself. I made some baked potatoes in the microwave. They won’t be crusty, though. No salad either. I sprained my ankle,” she said, holding out her swollen ankle, “while I was walking the dogs. I gave my head a good clout, too. I also got clipped by a live wire. Coop saved the day, though. He helped me get up on my feet. The stuff is in the vegetable bin if you want to make a salad. I guess that means I’m inviting you to dinner. What exactly is wrong with Coop that he can only eat meat loaf?”
    “It’s a long story. Coop was really sick for a long time and was slowly starving to death when I found him during a really bad storm. God only knows how long he was out there on his own. I took him to that vet on Oak Tree Road. He had to have some stomach surgery, and even when he came home it was still touch-and-go. I started to feed him little bits with my fingers, and he started to eat again. I appreciate your taking care of him and making him the meat loaf. I usually do it on Sunday. I make a whole batch of it, but I ran out this week. He won’t eat the deli kind if I buy it. He just wants mine. Looks like he likes yours, too. I’ll make the salad, and thanks for inviting me.”
    “You’ll have to walk them after they eat. The yard is too muddy to let them out. Do you always talk so much?”
    “It’s the lawyer in me. You remind me of someone. Did we ever meet?”
    Lucy stared at the tall man cutting up her lettuce. She wanted to say, if I had met you, I would remember you. And then she did remember meeting him years earlier when he was a prosecutor. She’d gone up against him and won. She hated lying to her neighbor, but lie she did. “I don’t think so.” What was the point in telling him she’d looked different back then in her designer, high-powered court suits, fashionable flaming red hairdo, exquisite makeup. Today her hair was back to its natural tawny color. The high-powered suits had been replaced with jeans and sweat suits. She looked exactly like what she was, a suburbanite.
    “Maybe you have a twin out there somewhere. Everything looks nice and clean. I guess you were satisfied, huh?”
    “Yes, they did a good job, and, no, you don’t owe me any more money.” He was good-looking. Dark brown hair and brown eyes. Five o’clock shadow, but that was okay. Good suit, so well made it fit him perfectly. She looked down at his Brooks Brothers loafers. A nice shine. His tie, loose at the neck, was nice, too. Obviously, he knew how to dress. To her eye, he looked like a runner or a jogger. On the other hand, maybe he simply worked out at a gym in the city on his lunch hour the way her brother did. Whatever he did in the way of exercise put him in good physical shape. She felt disloyal to Jonathan just thinking about Wylie.
    Lucy rubbed at her throbbing temples as she struggled to keep up with her end of the conversation. “How is it that you know how to make meat loaf? I realize it isn’t rocket science, but most men would opt for steak or chicken or go with takeout. That’s what my brother does. Of course, he doesn’t have a dog.”
    “I was married for ten years awhile back. My ex-wife had no expertise in the culinary department. I realized if I didn’t want to starve, I would have to learn to cook. She was a lawyer climbing up the ladder. When she got where she wanted to go, on my back, she divorced me. She turned around, married a newscaster, and lives in Scarsdale. She now has a