Within Reach Read Free

was smiling now, too. “I can’t. Really.”
    “I’ve got a fire going. It’d warm you up. Your place is probably like a barn.”
    “Mmmm, close.” With workmen running in and out, there seemed to be a steady draft. “But the heater of my car works fine, and I have to be back in Boston before dark.”
    “Your car turns into a pumpkin then, does it?”
    “Something like that.”
    “Then, I guess you’d better go. I wouldn’t want you stranded on the highway or anything.” He shifted from one foot to another, then cleared his throat. “Well, I guess I’ll see you when you come back up next month.”
    “You’ll be here?”
    “Should be.”
    She nodded and took a step back. “Maybe it’ll be warmer then.”
    He nodded but didn’t move. “The beach is nice in April.”
    She took another step. “I’ll bet it is. Well, take care, Michael.”
    “You, too, Danica.” He raised a hand in mock salute as she took a third step. “May the good fairy be with you.”
    She laughed and shook her head as though to chastise him for his silliness, then realized that she loved it. When he winked, she loved it even more. But she had to leave. She had to.
    Michael watched her turn and take several plodding steps through the sand toward her house. She turned back to give him a broad smile and a wave, and he wondered if there was in fact such a thing as love at first sight. Then a gust of wind whipped across the sand and she drew her free hand from her pocket to hold the cloche on her head.
    The last thing he saw as she disappeared into the fog was the wide gold wedding band on the ring finger of her left hand.

two
     
     
    s EVERAL DAYS LATER, DANICA SAT ON THE EDGE of the kingsized bed she shared with her husband and watched him pack.
    “Is there anything I can do?” she asked, but she already knew the answer. It was the same every time. Blake had been a bachelor for better than thirty-five years. He would either pack for himself or have Mrs. Hannah, their maid, do it. Danica knew she should be grateful; Blake coddled her, asking of her only the social amenities required of the wife of a man of his position. Any number of women would die to be in her shoes. Yet, rather than privileged or pampered, she felt superfluous.
    “All set, I think.” He didn’t look up, but concentrated on setting his dress shoes at just the right angle in the bottom of the bag.
    “Are you going with Harlan?” Harlan Magnuson was the head of the computer division of Eastbridge Electronics, Blake’s corporation. He was young, brilliant and aggressive, and often accompanied Blake on business trips. From what Danica could gather, the combination of Harlan’s daring and Blake’s solid business sense was a potent one.
    “Uh-huh.”
    “How long will you be?”
    “No more than three days. I’ll be back in time for the cocktail party Friday night.”
    “That’s good. The Donaldsons would never forgive us if we missed it.” She absently rubbed the edge of the suitcase. They had bought it as part of a matching set four years ago when they’d been headed for Italy. She recalled that trip with a smile. Blake had business in Florence, but from there on they simply relaxed, spending several days in Milan en route to the villa they had rented on Lake Como. It seemed so long since they’d taken a vacation like that. Or rather, she amended, it seemed so long since they’d had fun like that. Sighing, she looked at the bag. For all its use—and Blake used it often—it appeared to be wearing better than her marriage. “I wish you didn’t have to go.”
    Taking underwear and socks from the drawer, Blake returned to the bed. “You know I do,” he said. She wished she could have said that she heard regret in his tone, but she just wasn’t sure, which seemed to be a recurrent problem lately. She couldn’t read Blake; perhaps she’d never been able to but had simply deluded herself.
    “You do so much traveling. I tell myself that you’ve got