A Wife by Accident Read Online Free PDF Page B

it was time for Hayely to leave the office. She breathed an enormous sigh of relief and drove straight for Gary’s house. She’d put in several more large, expensive furniture orders during her lunch break and wanted to get some more painting done before it all arrived. She could decorate the house easily in the given time frame and was surprised at how she enjoyed it. She loved the way her mind could wander into memories and ideas while she painted.
    She walked in through a side door and headed for the kitchen after kicking her shoes off along the way. No sooner than she’d stepped through the door, the refrigerated delivery truck from the grocery store pulled into the driveway. Perfect timing, she thought with a smile.
    Bag after bag, the driver carried the groceries inside. The kitchen floor was soon heaped with crackling brown paper bags and soft white plastic ones. She didn’t know what sorts of food Gary might like, but she knew what she preferred. And, after all, Charlie had told her to do whatever she liked.
    In the corner below some cabinets, Gary had built in something of a closet lined with cool cement. Hayely smiled. This was the equivalent of a root cellar brought indoors. She loaded it up with bottles of wine and bags of potatoes and onions. These things would stay just the right temperature there, she guessed.
    She turned and opened up one of the shiny double doors of the copper-faced refrigerator. Hayely whistled low. She could fit enough food in there to feed a small country. The bags of fresh fruit and vegetables were quickly stored away in the gold-labeled glass drawers inside.
    Next she looked at the big bags of flour, corn meal, sugar, powdered milk and a variety of other gourmet baking essentials. They would fit perfectly in one of the lower cabinets. And then there were the canned goods …
    In less than an hour, Hayely had a kitchen stocked full of all the foods she thought a kitchen should have. Then she began to make dinner. Days were growing longer as spring neared, but at last the sunlight had begun to fade for the evening.
    She set some potatoes to boil. The house seemed strangely lonely and far too quiet without Gary there. Of course, he didn’t talk much when he was there. But still, she almost hoped he would come home early just to give her something to take her mind off the lousy day she’d had.
    “Home? What a stupid word to even think ,” she said aloud to herself. This wasn’t her home. She shouldn’t kid herself for a second about that. No sense getting too cozy. As soon as the six months were up, Gary would give her that promised ten-thousand-dollar bonus and send her on her not-so-merry way back to the small apartment that really was her home.
    •
    Gary stood inside the foyer and grinned when he saw Hayely’s shoes kicked off in the corner. She was always so timid about scuffing the marble floor. He should have designed a log cabin with floors people could track dirt in on, but the architectural artist in him had gotten carried away and designed the house he’d pictured in fairy tales. He unlaced his big work boots and set them down beside her little black pumps.
    An amazing, heavenly smell drifted to him as he lined up his boots. These were not the usual smells of paint and plaster; this was the aroma of a good old-fashioned home cooked meal. How many years had it been since he’d had one of those? He couldn’t even remember.
    He walked into the kitchen and plunked himself down wearily at the table. Hayely heaped his plate full of food and smiled at him. His nose had a black smudge on it and there was a ragged tear above the pocket on one of his white T-shirts.
    “You shaved,” she noticed. Her gaze scanned the planes of his face and he saw her hands tremble just so slightly.
    He looked up at her with curiosity as she set a bowl full of mashed potatoes, a platter of asparagus wrapped in bacon, and another dish of poached salmon down in front of him.
    “You don’t have