Dancing in the Dark Read Online Free PDF Page A

as always?”
    “Absolutely.” Philo tapped a key on the old-fashioned cash register. “How much do I owe you?”
    “I’ll send you a bill.”
    “You sure? If you want me to pay you now—”
    “No need.” Seth rubbed his hands together. “But I’ll hang around a few minutes and warm up by the stove, if you don’t mind.”
    “Sure. One minute, and I’ll join you.”
    Philo disappeared behind the curtain. Seth tucked his hands into the back pockets of his jeans, whistled softly between his teeth and strolled over to the cast-iron, pot-bellied stove that radiated heat throughout the store.
    It was a cozy setting. Half a dozen chairs were drawn around the old stove; prints hung on the nearby walls. Seth recognized some—there were lots of Norman Rockwells. No surprise there, he thought, smiling as he rocked back a little on his heels. Rockwell had lived in these parts and his paintings and illustrations had immortalized the hardworking people of the area. One print in particular, of a boy warily dropping his trousers for a physician holding a hypodermic syringe, made him smile.
    “That’s always been one of my favorites.”
    Seth turned. Philo grinned and eased into one of the chairs.
    “Same here.” Seth sat down, too, and extended his hands toward the stove. “That’s a good fire you have going.”
    “Pretty cold work up on that roof, huh?”
    “Sure was.”
    The men sat in companionable silence. That was another thing Seth liked about Cooper’s Corner. Nobody ever felt the need to fill the air with chatter. If you had something to say, fine. If you didn’t, it was perfectly okay to keep still.
    “So,” Philo said after a minute, “how’re things going?”
    “Fine. Just fine. I’m keeping busy.”
    “Guess that house of yours is almost finished, huh? How long have you been at it, now? Two years?”
    “Three,” Seth said. “I should be done this spring.” He shrugged. “Or this summer, for sure.”
    “Well, it can’t be easy, puttin’ up a place all by yourself, workin’ only weekends.”
    “It’s the only way I could manage to do it.”
    “Uh-huh. Nothing like free labor. Heard tell you got a good price when you bought that land, too.”
    Seth bit back a smile. Philo heard everything sooner or later. “Yeah, I did. I guess I could have hired somebody to help me out, but I enjoy the work.”
    “Figured that.” Philo opened the stove’s fire door and added another maple split. “It’s none of my business, I know....” He cleared his throat. “It’s just, well, the wife and I were talkin’ at breakfast this mornin’ and we were wonderin’... Are things okay between you and the lady?”
    Seth raised one dark eyebrow. This was a small town. What passed for gossip elsewhere was neighborly concern here, but asking him such a personal question about his love life—or what passed for his love life—was, well, unusual.
    “Sure,” he said carefully. “Things are fine.”
    “Ah.” Philo nodded as if a burden had been lifted from his shoulders. “Well, the wife’ll be happy to hear it. Phyllis always liked her. Me, too, for that matter, though I never knew her very well.”
    Seth looked at Philo with curiosity. There was an off-kilter feel to this conversation, not just the sudden interest in his private life and his relationship with Joanne, but the way Philo was talking about it. Jo had only moved into the area a couple of years back. She lived in New Ashford. As far as Seth knew, she’d never even been into the Coopers’ store.
    “Well,” he said, even more cautiously, “she’s a private sort of person.”
    “Uh-huh. We figured that. Especially now with, you know, all the stuff that went on....” Philo’s Adam’s apple slid up and down. “So,” he said briskly, “is she back for good? Or is it true, like some folks say, that she’s only here to visit?”
    Seth felt his heart give an unsteady thump. They definitely weren’t talking about Joanne. He searched his