Jade by V. C. Andrews

with him
"He lived on Richland Avenue near Holly Park. I had been to San Francisco before, but I'd never been to his neighborhood. Craig's house looked as old as he had described it. It was a three-story Italianate with a low- pitched roof. The bottom floor had bay windows and the stucco exterior had faded into a brownishyellow.
"It was just after nine when I arrived. Most of the windows were dark with just a dull glow in one of the first-floor windows. No one's home, I thought, but went up to the door and rang nevertheless. It took so long for anyone to answer that I had already started back down the short stairway.
"'Yes?' I heard and turned to see a tall, lean man with thin, graying light brown hair, some of the strands so long, they drooped over his eyes and hung down over his ears. It was hard to make out the details of his face because the light was so dim behind him.
"'I'm looking for Craig Bennet,' I said nervously.
"He simply stood there, gazing out at me as if I hadn't spoken. For a moment, I wondered if I had only imagined asking for Craig. I repeated Craig's name just in case.
"'Who are you?' the man asked in return. I told him and again, he just stood there staring.
"'Oh,' he finally said. 'Craig mentioned you to me. You're the computer girl.'
"'Yes,' I said, smiling at the label. 'I'm the computer girl.'
"The way I was feeling, I might as well have been something created in a computer.
"'Well, what are you doing here?' he asked.
"'I came to San Francisco and I thought it would be nice for us to finally meet face to face,' I said.
"'Oh sure. That is nice. Come on in,' he said.
"'Is Craig at home?' I asked, hesitating. My legs were smarter than my brain. They held back on their own.
"No, not at the moment. He's gone on some errands for us, but he'll be home very soon,' he said.
"He stepped back and waited, holding the door open for me.
"'Come on in. He won't be long,' he promised.
"I walked up the steps and entered the house. It was so dark and musty. There was a lot of wood trim along the entryway and on my right was a grandfather clock that wasn't working.
"'I was just reading,' he said. 'You kids don't do enough of that these days, not since you discovered computers. Come into the living room. Can I get you something to drink?'
"'No thank you,' I said, following him. The living room was small and cluttered with antique furniture."
"How did you know so much about all that?" Star asked skeptically. It was as though she thought I was making up the whole thing As if I would make up something like this,
"My father," I said. "Some of it rubbed off whether I wanted it to or not.
"Getting back to what I was saying," I added, "he had one lamp on by a threadbare Chippendale wing chair." I said it with deliberate exactness to annoy her now.
"'Well, have a seat,' he offered, indicating the settee across from him. 'You look like you just arrived in town.'
"'I did,' I said.
"'Who you visiting with?'
"'No one,' I made the mistake of saying. 'I mean, it's a spur of the moment trip.'
"He smiled and sat. Under the lights I could see the resemblances between him and Craig from the picture Craig had attached to his E-mail. His eyes were as deeply set and his nose the same nearly perfectly straight shape, just a trifle too long, but adding character. His mouth had similarly full masculine lips and he had the same soft curve from his cheekbone to his jaw.
" 'Craig's quite taken with you,' he said. 'He talks about you a lot.'
"'Does he? We did sort of hit it off and I thought it would be great to finally meet.'
"There was a strange smell--more than just a musty odor now. It smelled more like incense or something. I guess I twitched my nose and he saw it and laughed.
"'We just finished dinner a little while ago. I'm not the best cook. I burned the potatoes. We were about to have coffee when we discovered we didn't have any. We're both failing pretty bad at domestic chores,' he explained. There was a little lisp in his speech and from