Read Online Secret Lives by Diane Chamberlain - Free Book Online Page B

know
everything about me?”
    He ignored her question. “I'll pick you up at
seven.”
    She wanted to go. It would be easier than
having dinner with Kyle and Lou. “Maybe I could meet you
somewhere.” She'd be in control then. No chance of being stuck with
him longer than she could handle.
    “Seven at Sugar Hill,” he said. “Kyle can
tell you how to get there. Don't forget to take your pottery with
you to impress him.”
    She walked across the field to the pit,
picked up her pottery, and headed toward the embankment, feeling
his eyes on her the whole way. What was his game? She would meet
his daughter. He didn't have to take her out for that to happen. He
could write to the folks back home and say he went out with Eden
Riley. Hopefully he had no illusions that she would sleep with him.
Maybe he wanted to get on Kyle's good side to get a boost up the
career ladder. He had to be bored in this confining little site. Or
could he possibly just be lonely? It didn't matter what his motives
were. She knew as she walked through the woods toward the house
that it was her own neediness she had to fear, not his.

    – 6–

    Sugar Hill was Ben's favorite restaurant in
the area. He liked the rustic atmosphere, the woody smell. It was
always dark inside, which helped him feel anonymous. There was a
dance floor in the center of the tables, and the bar stretched the
length of one wall.
    He sat at a dark corner table, watching the
door, trying to recall if he'd eaten dinner with anyone other than
Kyle and Lou or Sam and Jen in the last year and a half. He had
not. Unless he counted prison, but his dining companions in jail
had hardly been his choice.
    So he was justified in feeling nervous. He
stood quickly when he saw Eden at the door. She hesitated,
adjusting her eyes to the dim light. He walked toward her. She wore
her dark blond hair pinned up, as she had that morning. Her throat
was long and slender, like the rest of her, but she had a solidity
that appealed to him. Probably because it was the antithesis of
Sharon's fragility. She looked as if she could handle whatever
might come her way. She would not spook easily.
    Again, he was struck by how unrecognizable
she was. Good. He didn't want to draw attention to himself in
here.
    Eden smiled when she saw him and took the
hand he held out to her. He led her to the table, got her seated
with a menu.
    “What would you like from the bar?” he
asked.
    “Wine,” she said. “Something white.”
    He ordered Eden's wine and his beer at the
bar. As the grinning bartender handed him the drinks he winked at
Ben and said, “She's a little old for you, isn't she?”
    Ben turned away without comment. On another
night he might have said something in return, something sharp to
defend himself. But he didn't want to start this evening that way.
Ignore it, he told himself. Don't let it get to you.
    But by the time he'd set Eden's wine in front
of her and taken his own seat, his knees were shaking. That one
line from the bartender had thrown him off balance. He was not as
anonymous in here as he would have liked. He sipped at his beer,
wondering if all eyes in the room were focused on him and Eden.
    “Do you come here often?” Eden asked.
    He nodded. “In a rut, I guess.”
    The older waitress, Ruth, appeared at their
table, her orange lipstick creeping outside the line of her lips.
“You want your regular?” she asked Ben.
    “Uh, no.” He was in a rut. “I'll have the
crab cakes tonight.”
    He felt hot and knew the color was rising up
his neck to his cheeks. If the bartender knew about him, Ruth must
as well.
    “I'll have the stuffed flounder.” Eden smiled
innocently up at Ruth.
    He was certain Ruth gave him a curdling look
of disgust as she headed back to the kitchen. He never should have
brought Eden here, should have suggested someplace farther out
where no one knew him. But there was dancing here. Nearly every
night he watched other couples dance, wondering if he'd ever have
the