The Inn Read Online Free Page A

his pretty wife were settling in, unpacking, freshening up. Oh, they had such plans. They were going to clean the place up. Modernize it. The woman spoke of getting something called “wireless internetting,” whatever that was.
    A little smile played across Zeke’s lips.
    They could plan all they wanted. They’d soon learn it wasn’t they who made decisions about the house.
    He opened the door.
    He listened.
    He heard the sound then in the dark, cobwebby room.
    The panting.
    Zeke stepped inside and closed the door behind him.

6
    A nnabel stood gazing out of her window into the cold bare limbs of the trees that surrounded the house. They looked like some sort of petrified aboriginal humans, frozen in the midst of some terrible cataclysm, staring up at the Blue Boy Inn with their arms outstretched to the sky.
    â€œLots of possibilities, don’t you think, sweetheart?”
    Jack had come into the bedroom behind her.
    â€œI think if we knock this wall down here,” he was saying, “we can open up the room to include the bathroom in a sort of master suite. That way we don’t have to mingle with the guests in the hallway when we first get up in the morning.”
    Annabel didn’t say anything. She just kept staring out into the trees.
    â€œWhat do you say, baby cakes? Isn’t that a good idea? You’re the one with the artistic eye.”
    She turned around to face him. “I think it’s a splendid idea,” she said, trying to smile. “But I thought you wanted to respect tradition.”
    â€œI do, sweetheart, but you know I was mostly saying that just to placate Gran.” Jack smiled broadly, his cheeks indenting with dimples, and he took her in his arms. “This has been her home for a long, long time. I didn’t want her to think that we were going to start pulling it down around her.”
    â€œIt needs a lot of work, Jack,” Annabel told him. “Much more than I thought. So many walls and floorboards need to be replaced. The plumbing and electricity needs to be updated.”
    â€œI know, babe. One step at a time.”
    She shuddered and closed her eyes. She imagined she was at Fifth Avenue and Broadway, and the sound of honking taxicabs and police sirens filled her ears. It made her feel better, at least for a few moments.
    She gently slipped out of her husband’s embrace. “If I’m going to do this, I’ll need your support, you know.”
    â€œYou have it!”
    â€œAre you sure?”
    She looked at him. Jack’s big blue eyes seemed filled with sincerity and purpose. They’d been madly in love once, five years earlier, when they’d met at a party and spontaneously married eleven days later, with no friends or family in attendance, just a justice of the peace and Jack’s high school ring as a wedding band. Since then, some of the impulsivity of their union had faded, and Annabel’s crises over the past year had severely strained their marriage. She didn’t blame Jack for having a fling with Rachel Riley, one of her colleagues at Orbit . It had been just a one-night thing, when Annabel was locked away and Jack was lonely. He’d confessed to Annabel when she got out, apologizing profusely. She’d forgiven him. It was understandable.
    But she could barely stomach looking at Rachel Riley, with her ridiculously blond hair and big boobs. She’d been Annabel’s friend. Supposedly.
    But in every other way, Jack had stuck by her. After the affair with Rachel, he had become even more devoted to making sure Annabel got better. So many other men might have walked away, but Jack didn’t. Even during the period when she was coming home from fashion shoots strung out on coke, screaming and ranting and craving more blow, Jack had put up with her. He had calmed her down. He had brought her down from the high without letting her crash. When the time came for rehab, Jack had been right there,