Free No Reservations Required by Ellen Hart Page B

twelve years older than his half sibling. They shared the same mother, but had different fathers. Andy was six when Bob had gone off to West Point. Their mother had died two years later, and Bob had never returned home again after that. He’d never gotten along with Andy’s father, Merle Gladstone. From what Anika had been able to piece together, neither had Andy. Merle had come to their wedding, but he’d remarried shortly thereafter and hadn’t invited any family or friends. His father had called it “eloping,” but Andy said it was just a way for him to cut people out of his life. He always referred to his dad as “the old bastard”— that is, when he referred to him at all, which was seldom.
    Andy never wanted to discuss his childhood. At first, Anika had pressed him about it, but she’d learned quickly that if she didn’t want to spend the evening with a sullen, quietly furious fiancé, she should drop the matter—and fast. She’d looked through his family photograph album, and nothing looked amiss to her. The house, the Christmas dinners, the swing set in the backyard all looked pretty normal. There were far fewer pictures after Andy’s mother had died. Apparently, Merle wasn’t into photography. In Anika’s family, her mother had always taken the pictures and videos at family events, so it didn’t seem that odd to her. Still, she wished she knew more about Andy’s childhood. It might help her make sense out of a man she found nearly inscrutable these days—a man she’d once loved deeply and perhaps still did, but someone who’d changed so much in the eight years that they’d been married that she hardly recognized him anymore. His sweetness, his desire to make her happy, his humor and his unassuming kindness had all vanished. In its place, she found she was living with a man of mercurial temperaments, one whose own internal darkness, something she’d never really comprehended before, had virtually swallowed him whole.
    But the question remained. Should she ask him for a divorce, or should she wait? Maybe there was still hope for them, although in her heart, she knew the bright, happy man she’d married was not the same one she was living with now. Andy seemed haunted and frightened. Anika had no idea why that should be. For the first time since the publishing debacle, his life was back on track. More than on track. Overnight, they’d both become millionaires. And yet she’d recently seen not only fear register in his eyes, but panic. He no longer talked to her the way he once had, sharing his triumphs and tragedies, his ups and downs— himself. Especially during the last year, he’d grown secretive, short-tempered, self-centered. They were strangers living in the same apartment. Except Anika wasn’t sure Andy saw it that way. He treated her, when he talked to her at all, as if everything were fine between them.
    The phone rang just as Anika came into the kitchen. She picked it up and said hello, but received only silence in reply. She knew someone was on the other end because she could hear street noises in the background.
    “Hello,” she said again. “Who’s calling, please?”
    The line clicked.
    As she placed the receiver back on the hook, she heard Andy’s key in the front door. Their current apartment was much larger than the house they’d lived in when they were first married. Andy’s salary was almost triple what it had been during his days at the publishing house. And since coming to Minnesota, Anika had found another job as assistant food and beverage manager, this time at the Maxfield Plaza in St. Paul. After Bob’s death, she’d taken a leave of absence. She wouldn’t return to work for another few days. She was going stir-crazy in the apartment by herself, but felt she should be available for Andy if he needed her.
    He hadn’t.
    “Honey,” called Andy from the living room. “I’ve got some great news.”
    In spite of herself, Anika kept hoping that Andy’s gloomy