Read Online Amanda Bright @ Home by Danielle Crittenden - Free Book Online Page A

know.”
    The files were whizzing behind Bob’s eyes as his brain searched for the correct answer.
    “I think you look beautiful,” he said, not altogether convincingly. “I always have. Really.”
    She laid her head upon his prickly chest. She heard him sigh and place his papers on the bedside table. He draped his arm across her.
    “What’s bothering you?”
    “Nothing.”
    “Have I done something to make you think I don’t think you’re attractive?”
    “No—”
    “Then why do you ask?”
    “Because—” It seemed too humiliating to explain.
    “Because?”
    “Because I just looked at myself in the mirror, and, I don’t know, I look older.”
    “You are older. But then, so am I.”
    “With men it doesn’t matter.”
    “With you it doesn’t matter.” Bob grasped her chin and forced her to look at him. “Christ, Amanda, you’re still young. Your face looks the same as the day we met.”
    “And the rest of me?”
    “So you’ve had two children. So you’re a bit fuller. It doesn’t make you less attractive.”
    But I will get older and less attractive. Then what?
    She got up to brush her teeth.
    “Are you coming to bed?” he asked. He sounded hopeful.
    “In a minute.”
    In the mirror above the sink, Amanda saw a drab woman with blue ditches under her eyes, a brush listlessly marking time between bared lips. She spat and turned away.
    Bob was waiting for her. She could sense his eagerness across the room. How long had it been? She couldn’t remember exactly—a couple of weeks, maybe. Admittedly, making love to Bob these days felt like one more thing she had to cross off her to-do list.
    On the dresser lay a candle and a book of matches. Her fingers moved toward them, hesitated, and then flicked off the lights instead. As she made her way to the bed in darkness, she experienced again that dizzying feeling of stepping upon a wire with nothing below to catch her if she fell.

Chapter Six
    “I NEARLY FORGOT,” Bob called out the next morning, while descending the stairs. “Are we free next Thursday?”
    Amanda was nagging the children to put their shoes on.
    “Gee, let me think.” She placed her index finger on her chin. “Monday—you’ll be working late. Tuesday—you’ll be working late. Wednesday—you’ll be working late. Thursday—I don’t know. Are you planning on working late?”
    “Okay, okay.” Bob took a sip from a mug of tepid coffee waiting for him. “You won’t be sarcastic when I tell you this. We’re invited to a cocktail party at Jack Chasen’s house. Do you want to go?”
    Amanda blinked. “Jack Chasen?”
    “Yes—you know, he’s the CEO of TalkNet.”
    “Yes, I
know.
We’re invited to Jack Chasen’s house—
and you almost forgot to tell me
?”
    “I’m sorry,” he said sheepishly. “It was a busy day.”
    She sat down on the hall floor to help Ben with his sneakers. “Good God, Bob, how are we supposed to go to that? We won’t know anyone there.”
    “We don’t have to go. I thought it might be fun. Chasen’s a down-to-earth guy. I’ve been dealing with him a lot lately, and he just asked.”
    Amanda pounded at the heel of Ben’s shoe until it slipped onto his right foot, and started on the second.
    “I have nothing to wear.”
    “So go buy yourself something.”
    Amanda looked at him skeptically. “With what?”
    “We can afford a dress, for God’s sake.”
    “Not the kind those women wear.”
    “You’re not those women. You don’t have to compete with them. Anyway, it’s just a cocktail party.”
    She raised herself, sighing, and said, “Ben, Sophie, get your backpacks. It’s time to leave. You’ll make Daddy late.”
    Bob handed Amanda his mug and hustled the children toward the front door.
    “Look, think about it, okay?”
    “Okay.”
    “What are you up to today?”
    “I have that appointment with Ben’s teacher.”
    “Oh yes.” He kissed her quickly. “I’m sorry to miss it. Let me know how it goes.”
    Ben’s