Read Online Catch a Falling Star by Jessica Starre - Free Book Online

down without a fight. He gathered his folders together and tucked them in his briefcase.
    “Dinner with
you
,” Donald clarified.
    “Friday?” Matthias echoed. He could think up an excuse, but then Marigold would want to do it on Saturday or next Friday. There was no chance of getting out of something once Marigold had set her mind to it.
    “She has someone she wants you to meet.”
    As if that might entice Matthias. “I’ve met her friends,” he said and diplomatically did not add
They’re all as plastic as she is.
Maybe he shouldn’t criticize. Maybe he was as plastic as the rest of them.
    “You haven’t met all her friends,” Donald said. “
I
haven’t met all her friends.”
    She makes them in molds,
Matthias guessed.
    “She just wants you to be happy,” Donald added.
    “I am happy.”
    “She doesn’t think so. And if Marigold makes you her mission … ” Donald shuddered and Matthias felt a slight stab of alarm. “You need to get out more,” Donald suggested.
    “I’m hosting a party,” Matthias said quickly, and where that idea had come from he did not know.
    “Really?”
    “Yes. A gathering … after the holidays. Early spring.”
    “So you haven’t given up on social life after Olivia.”
    Matthias had always suspected his
Olivia did not break my heart
protests had fallen on deaf ears and now he knew he’d been right. “So just tell Marigold she doesn’t have to worry about me.”
    Donald didn’t look convinced. “She’s going to want details.”
    “I’m calling the event planner first thing on Monday.”
    • • •
    Brianna unlocked the front door. She saw Natalie’s backpack on the table, but no sound or smell of dinner started. Dakota came trotting over to say hello, but no Natalie. Brianna patted Dakota, then shut and locked the door behind her, dropped her bag in the corner and went to find her sister, who was sitting crosslegged on her bed, listening to her MP3 player and and petting Jasmine.
    She wasn’t studying, so that was wrong. She was just … sitting there. She wasn’t crying. She was just … not doing anything. Brianna’s stomach turned over. That was how Natalie coped with everything hard. She found a still place inside and went there. Not like Brianna, who had messy sobs all over everything.
    She knocked on the door to get Natalie’s attention. Jasmine looked up, saw who it was, and settled her head on her paws again.
    “Today sucked,” Brianna announced, and went to sit down on the bed. She rubbed Jasmine’s head, and Jasmine sighed and let her.
    Natalie took out her ear buds and said, “What happened?”
    “You first,” Brianna said.
    Natalie gave a half-smile. “I got shot down.”
    “You … what?” The idea that someone — Joe? — could turn down Natalie was frankly unimaginable.
    “So I’m never listening to you again,” Natalie said.
    “Yeah, I guess. What happened?”
    Natalie shrugged, elaborately unconcerned, like she didn’t have any hurt to hide.
Oh, Natalie.
Brianna wished she could have only good things, wished they could both have only good things.
    “He said he had to work,” Natalie said, scratching Jasmine’s belly.
    “Well, he’s an idiot,” Brianna said. “Although maybe he really did have to work.”
    “Maybe.” Natalie shrugged again. She fiddled with the ear buds.
    “Richard came by work.”
    Natalie’s head shot up. “What?”
    “He wanted to say he was sorry. The bastard.”
    Natalie played with one of Jasmine’s floppy ears. “That sucks. I mean, I’m glad if he’s sober now, but — ”
    “Exactly,” Brianna said, falling back on the bed and staring up at the ceiling. “
If
is the operative word. And I’m not even sure I care. I mean, good for him, but what does it have to do with me? He’s been out of my life for thirteen years. I hardly even remember him.”
    Watch me make this quarter disappear, Daddy! Want to go to a movie this weekend?
    Natalie was watching her with a look of concern in