No Ordinary Affair Read Online Free PDF Page A

when I felt the rain dripping down my face that I snapped back to the reality of my situation and began frantically digging through my purse for the shop keys.
    My hands shook as I put them in the lock and stepped inside, turning the sign just before slamming the door. I put my back to it, my breath coming in sudden gasping sobs as I stood there. I put my hand over my mouth to stop them as I heard the phone start to ring.
    I had to answer it, and sought to stop my sobbing gasps and moderate my breathing as I made my way over to it.
    “Good afternoon, Curiosities. This is Mary speaking.”
    “Mary? Good Lord, girl. Are you alright?” It was Miss Parsham . “You sound entirely out of breath.”
    I breathed a sigh of relief. Sometimes Mark called me after lunch, since his break fell shortly after mine.
    “Yes,” I said. “I’m fine I just…I was just in the back room on the stepladder and fell. Scared myself half to death is all.”
    “For heaven’s sake. Are you hurt? Is anything broken? I’ve got some very expensive pieces back there, you know.”
    I frowned, irritated. I should have known better than to think she was talking about one of my bones.
    “I’m fine,” I said. “Just gave me a fright is all.”
    “I’m glad you’re not hurt then,” Miss Parsham said. “I just wanted you to know that I’ll be back a bit late, possibly before you lock up. I had great success today at the sale, great success. The car will be jammed full by the time I leave.”
    “I could stay late and help you unpack,” I offered.
    “No,” she said. “That will be quite unnecessary. I spent so much today that I could ill afford to pay you for the extra time. And besides, the exercise will do me good. I met Mrs. Baggart here and we went out for lunch. I ate entirely too much blueberry trifle.”
    “Very well then,” I said, disappointed. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”
    “Yes, yes,” she said. “Tomorrow.”
    I hung up the phone and stared at it for a moment. I should have insisted, that’s what I should have done. Then I could have stayed later, because the last thing I wanted to do was go home and see Mark and worry he’d tell with one look that I’d been up to no good.

 
Chapter Three
     
     
    Even though Miss Parsham said I could go home, I still found excuses to stay behind. I walked in the front door an hour-and-a-half later than usual to find Mark hovering by the door, phone in hand. When he saw me he pushed it open, a look of concern on his face.
    “Mary, where on earth have you been? And why haven’t you answered your cell? I’ve been calling for the last thirty minutes!”
    It didn’t help my already guilty conscience that he looked so stricken.
    “I’m sorry. I got hung up a bit.” I said, reaching in my coat pocket for my phone. “And here’s why I didn’t answer. Apparently I accidentally turned my phone off.”
    I will not tell falsehoods. I will not tell falsehoods. I will not tell falsehoods…
    “Mary, are you all right?”
    “What?” I turned and looked at Mark. I was in the foyer now, although I was so lost in thought I’d been barely conscious of walking in. “Yes, I’m fine. I’m just tired.”
    “Too tired to go?”
    “To tired to go where?”
    Mark put his hands on his hips and let out the sigh he reserves for those times when he wants to make it clear how difficult I can be.
    “Dinner. With the McKennas?”
    I closed my eyes and put my fingers to my forehead. “Oh, that was tonight.”
    “Yes,” he said. “And we’re already late. So come on unless you want to change first.”
    “Change?” I asked. “Don’t you like this dress?”
    “It’s much like your others,” he said, grabbing the umbrellas and ignoring my hurt expression. The dress was not like the others. It was more fitted, more feminine, the sort of thing I wished he’d require me to wear all the time. Not that Mark ever would.
    “Well then,” I said. “If it’s much like the others there’s