Close to You Read Online Free Page A

this tour.
    John nodded and finally, finally, disappeared from sight.
    Allie waited a few seconds for the sound of the elevator’s familiar ding before allowing herself to lean forward and flick the top envelope from the pile, revealing the letter from her lawyer.
    Picking it up, she sucked in a deep breath. Stared at the creamy embossed paper in her hands. The envelope was thicker than usual, which meant it had to contain something more than the ordinary single-sheet quarterly invoice.
    She tried to temper her expectations. She’d been mistaken before, thought they had finally reached the end of the road, only for Derek’s lawyers to manage to cause another delay. But surely this had to be it.
    The glue released as she slid her finger under the flap, and she reached inside to extract the folded document.
    God, please let this be it. The desperate prayer surprised her. It had been a long time since she’d asked Him for any kind of intervention. As her mother liked to remind her, she’d made her bed and now she had to lie in it. There were other people out there far more deserving of the Almighty’s help than she was.
    She flipped open the pages, caught her bottom lip between her teeth.
    Dear Ms. Shire,
    We regret to inform you that Judge Finlayson has granted opposing counsel’s request for a further continuance . . .
    Her vision blurred and she couldn’t read what followed. Didn’t need to.
    Bad enough that she’d married a guy who—it turned out—had already gotten himself hitched during a drunken weekend in Vegas to some girl he’d known for five minutes. But how could getting an annulment be this hard? She’d read the Family Proceedings Act so many times she could recite it. In particular, the section declaring any marriage to be void where either party was already married . And yet, almost two years later, she was still shackled to him while lawyers argued.
    Allie flipped to the next page, a mirthless laugh escaping her lips at the sight of the jump in the quarter’s bill. She added it to her mental tally of legal fees. At the current rate, it would probably be cheaper to strike a deal to pay Derek off to drop his opposition.
    It might have even been a viable option if the court hadn’t frozen most of her assets at the beginning of this wretched saga. And there was no way she could cobble together enough now to satisfy her so-called husband.
    She threw the papers on the table and knocked back the last of her drink. Wished for something stronger.
    All those people who waxed lyrical about following your heart were idiots.
    * * *
    J ackson slapped his cheat’s guide shut and stretched his legs. After all that, Gollum and Sméagol were the same creature. No wonder the guide had seen right through him. How could he have forgotten such a basic piece of information?
    Opening his suitcase, he pulled out a fresh polo shirt and apair of Calvin Klein jeans. Decent attire was one of the few luxuries he had left. At least the vultures hadn’t literally stripped the clothes from his back.
    His eyes lingered for a second on the family photo he’d thrown into his suitcase at the last moment. His parents and sister and her family grinned back at him. He wasn’t normally the sentimental type. Business dealt harshly with those who were, but given that the woman he’d been considering spending the rest of his life with had turned out to be a traitor and that his so-called friends had disappeared as fast as his money, there was something oddly comforting about it.
    Picking the silver frame up, he placed it on the bedside table. He might never understand their contentment with their lot, but they were all he had left that mattered. Them, and raising his reputation from the ashes.
    Getting changed quickly, he tucked his wallet and phone into his pocket and stepped out the door. His skin felt gritty from hours of travel, but a shower would have to wait