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time, but I have to leave town shortly." A faint birthmark made a stain under her right eye. |
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"No problem," Terry said, and led her up the driveway. |
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"It's just the kind of place we're looking for." There was a forced brightness in her tone. |
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"Have you been looking long?" |
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"No," she said, but didn't elaborate. |
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"Are you from out of state?" |
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"Yes." Another expectant pause, then as an afterthought she added, "Virginia." |
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A diamond the size of a small olive lit up her ring finger. A good sign, Terry thought. Beverly was hoping she'd top the price at four hundred thousandwhich amazed Terry, given that they had bought the place just ten years earlier for $72,000. Terry had to wonder why so fancy a woman was even interested in buying her house. After all, eight-room colonials were common fare in Boston suburbs. And Carleton was not Weston or Dover. Maybe she liked trees. They bordered five hundred acres of dense conservation landMagog Woods. |
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"My husband's taking a new teaching job in New York state," Terry said to keep things going. |
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"How nice." Her smile was like a rictus. And beneath the ceramic exterior she seemed distracted. |
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"Is your husband coming by?" Terry asked. |
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The question brought her head around. "My husband?" The birthmark flared. The woman looked startled. |
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"You said just the kind of place we're looking for." |
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"Yes, of course," she said, her face relaxing. "No, he's not coming by." And she looked away. |
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As the woman paused to take in the landscaping, Terry felt a sudden ambivalence. While she was glad to be starting anew, she worried if they could ever find as nice a place, even on Calvin's increased salary. From a real-estate point of view, theirs was a middle-class dream housea twenty-year-old central-entrance colonial with eight rooms, two fireplaces, a large modern kitchen, a spacious family room, and surrounded by a sweeping lawn and flower gardens spread over an acre lot. Six months ago they put in a twenty- |
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