Closer by Morning Read Online Free PDF Page B

pilot but the network failed to take the show to series. It didn’t matter. By autumn, Laura had become pregnant.
    â€œI’m gonna take care of you, babe,” he’d said, delighted with the news. He was going to be a dad.
    They’d married before their son was born. At last he had become a real man with a wife, a child and a half decent career. Life couldn’t get much better. When not working, Dale had spent all the time he could with his new family. He was a hands-on dad, just like his old man had been with him. It was important for a kid to have a father figure. To lead by example.
    Those old forbidden feelings refused to die but by keeping busy with work and family he had kept them at bay. For a while at least. His sex life with Laura had ended almost as soon as their son Jack had been born. It had been a relief not to have to go through the motions and he’d believed Laura when she’d told him that she was too tired to do it after a long day with the baby.
    ****
    For several years, Laura had even convinced herself that was true. Dale had been discreet most of the time, deleting his Internet history, but she’d found out accidentally, while searching their computer for an old contact, the kind of porn he got off to. The shock hadn’t lasted long. She’d suspected for a while that he had more than a passing interest in other men. She’d heard the rumors about him from before they had been married. She had chosen to dismiss them back then. All sexy young actors were tarred with the gay brush at some point in their career.
    Only with Dale, she had known those rumors were more than jealousy or bitchy gossip. Her husband was gay. Laura Zachary had come to terms with that fact before he did.
    At the start of 2011 and after eight years of marriage, Laura had filed for divorce and moved back to the UK, taking Jack with her.
    ****
    Dale hadn’t been bitter about the divorce. He’d been deceiving his wife. She deserved a man who could love her in the ways he couldn’t. But he couldn’t live without his son. If Laura wanted to bring the boy up in England that was fine, but he hadn’t wanted to let her do it without him.
    Most of his work had been shown on TV or DVD in England. Finding an English agent to represent him hadn’t been difficult. He had done another run of Euro horror films and landed a couple of high-profile theater roles, but basically he had been starting his career all over again. Building a reputation, putting his name out there.
    When he had finally tested for Blood Falls on Stone , Dale Zachary had been ready for that breakthrough.
    Dale was renting a house for the duration of the shoot rather than living out of a hotel. Most of his adult life had been spent in hotels, apart from the eight years he’d been married. Even then, he’d spent a lot of time working away. He was sick of suitcases. Besides, Jack was living with his mother in Kent and he wanted somewhere nice for the boy to stay when he came to visit.
    The house was one of only five properties developed on the site of an old farm. The original farmhouse, barns and outbuildings had been converted into luxury country accommodation. Dale was renting the smallest of the new dwellings. Formerly a single-story cattle shed, the original stone building had been gutted and redeveloped into a modern, two-story, high-spec cottage. Situated on a steep bank with outstanding views of the countryside and Durham City in the distance, the house and the location were perfect.
    In February the nights cut in early and it was dark by the time he pulled into the small courtyard of the property. There were lights in one his neighbors’ houses but none of the others were home from work. He had met a couple of the neighbors when he’d moved in but they kept to themselves and didn’t bother him, which was just perfect. He spent all day being looked at. Away from the studio, he valued his