Open Heart Read Online Free Page B

down with her book and didn’t stand up again until he had finished it. He read the last page with deep joy in his heart. He knew that she was going to be OK, eventually.
    When he found out that she always came to Open Skies to do her editing and revising, he started to imagine meeting her, for real. It was just a game at first. He casually toyed with the idea, just pretended. But when she announced on her blog that she was just a few months away from finishing the third book, he knew she’d be here. And the day that her post went up that she’d be away at her retreat, rewriting and editing for print, he stopped playing.
    Eric picked up the phone and he called Open Skies. He booked a cabin for a month. He got there early and he waited for Annabeth Wheeler to come. The day that she moved in to the cabin across from his was surreal: he could hardly believe that the woman whose words he had absorbed in to himself, just taken in like water and air, was there .
    And now here she sat, her beautiful face sweet and calm. She was stunning, all the more so because he knew what she’d been through. He felt a jolt of attraction to her and it took his breath away.
    Annabeth stared right back at him, admiring his body and face. Before she could stop herself, she asked, “Maybe you want to come over for some dinner? It’s not going to be much… just some pasta. But if you’re free?”
    “Uh, sure. I mean, I’d love to.”
    “Yeah?”
    “Yeah. Thanks. I’ll get cleaned up and be by in ninety minutes or so. Is that OK?”
    “Perfect.”
    He nodded and walked in to his cabin. Annabeth watched him go, noticing his broad back and amazing ass.
    OK, what the hell are you doing?
    Even as she asked herself the question, she already knew the answer. The answer was that she needed to do one last thing in this life, one last life-affirming thing. She had to be close to a man, and at this point, any man would do. Eric was ideal: handsome and healthy and so amazingly alive .
    She needed him to make her feel alive, too. Just for a little while. She had decided that tomorrow night, on the third anniversary of her husband’s death, she would take the sleeping pills and drink her wine. Tomorrow, she and Cam would be together again.
    She had spent most of the day going around Open Skies, saying goodbye to everyone that she saw. She cleaned up the cabin; she packed most of her things. She started to write her goodbye note, but she was stuck… how to make sure that Julie and Jake and Mattie and all the rest of them didn’t blame themselves for this? They hadn’t noticed anything was wrong because she had made damn sure that they didn’t know that anything was wrong. And if they did notice anything, she was sure it was so minor that it could easily be passed off as her feeling sad on the impending anniversary of Cam’s death. That was normal. Even expected.
    The one thing that she was avoiding looking at directly was who was going to find her body. What was that going to do to that person? In the end, she decided to leave a note in Jake or Phil’s box at the main building tomorrow night after-hours, late enough that they wouldn’t get it until the next morning. Until it was all over. She thought they’d be two of the best people to be first upon the scene. They were tough men, with deep reserves of strength. They’d be able to handle it.
    Shaking off her thoughts, Annabeth went in to the cabin and got dressed, found her car keys. She had to make a run in to Clarity for some supplies.
    **
    Eric was downing his third glass of water when his cell phone rang. He glanced at the name on the display and grinned when he saw that it was Ian.
    “Hey man,” he said. “How’re things back home?”
    “Good,” his brother said. “You OK out there?”
    “Yep.”
    Never one to beat around the bush, Ian launched right in: “Have you met her yet?”
    “Yeah. Yesterday.”
    Ian was silent for a few seconds. He didn’t support what his younger