Read Online Falling for You by Lisa Schroeder - Free Book Online Page B

Crest-field was because of another woman.
    “Even though I suspected an ulterior motive, a part of me didn’t want to believe it. I wanted this to be a fresh start. I let myself imagine he’d be home more. Doing family stuff again. Maybe he and I would do things together like we used to, before he became so famous.”
    As he talked, I realized how much he sounded like me. Yeah, Nathan had a lot more money than I did. He had a beautiful home, with a mom and a dad who were married. But beyond that, what we felt inside, what we longed for from our families—it was the same.
    The difference was, I’d found things to do with those feelings. I let them out through my poetry. And I’d promised myself to be different from my mom and Dean.
    I thought of my grandma and one of her favorite sayings.The first time I heard it, I was staying the night at her house when the electricity went out. Together, we lit candle after candle throughout the house until warm light embraced us and I didn’t feel scared anymore.
    She told me that night, and again many times later, “Where light shines, darkness disappears.” As I got older, she explained to me that in life, all kinds of darkness exists, and we can create light in more ways than simply lighting candles.
    I looked at Nathan. I don’t think he’d ever learned that. And I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe it might be too late.

wish i could be a cat
    HITTING A BUNCH OF BASEBALLS SEEMED TO HELP. AT LEAST, I hoped it did. When Nathan’s arms seemed to grow heavy and he started to miss more than connect, we left. The ride back to Full Bloom was peaceful and quiet, as he seemed to be lost in his own thoughts.
    I pulled into the parking lot, next to his car. “So where will you go now?” I asked him.
    He shrugged. “I’ll go home. See my mom. Act like nothing’s changed. Like my dad is out touring the country, promoting books, when he’s right here in town, sleeping with another woman. I guess if my mother wants to live in a bubble, I will too.”
    “Doesn’t she check online to see where he’s at?”
    He shook his head. “Not that I know of. Like I said, it’s a bubble, Rae.”
    I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen when that bubble popped.
    I let Nathan give me a quick good-bye kiss, and then I went home. Dean was glued to the TV, watching his beloved wrestling. As I fried up the meat for a taco dinner, the phone rang. Dean answered, and I leaned in to listen.
    “Oh, come on now, Bill. It’s a sure thing. I should do three times that. In fact, maybe I will.” He laughed. “Hell, yeah. Let’s do it. No pain, no gain—isn’t that what they say?”
    Dean said something else I couldn’t hear and then hung up. I tried to figure out what he meant by no pain, no gain. Was he going to start working out? He certainly had the time. I wanted to tell him he should be using that time to find a job, but I kept quiet.
    When the tacos were done, he took his plate and went back to the family room and I took my plate to my room. I watched some YouTube videos on my laptop while I ate, and then I gave Alix a call.
    “Hey,” she said. “What’s up?”
    “I had the weirdest afternoon ever,” I told her.
    “At work? What happened?”
    I leaned back against my bed. “No. Before work. Nathan came to the shop and saw me talking to my friend Leo, who works at the coffee shop next door, and he flipped out. I mean, seriously, Alix. It scared me.”
    “He wouldn’t hurt you, though. You know that.”
    Did I? “You should have seen him. It was ridiculous. I mean, Leo and I, we were just talking.”
    “Stupid jealousy. Why do boys have to get like that?”
    “Part of it is he’s having trouble at home.” I paused. “Alix, I think I want to break up with him. But I’m not sure he can handle it. He keeps saying stuff like he needs me and I’m all he has.”
    “Well, if he’s having a hard time right now, he probably does need you. It’s not very nice to kick the guy