Read Online Love on the Ledge by Zoraida Cordova - Free Book Online

hours.”
    “I never actually went to sleep,” she says. She presses her head in the pillow to avoid the question. That’s when I smell the cigarettes and whiskey on her. “I did something you’re going to love me for.”
    I groan and pull the cover over my head. “River,” I say by way of warning. “What did you do?”
    “Hey!” River takes her pillow and slams me over the head with it. “I do great things for you. I was hanging out at this house party and I met a guy who’s a chef. I told him we’d go to his restaurant and check it out for the wedding.”
    “That’s amazing. Damn, but I have lunch with Xandro. I just want to get it over with. Thanks for bailing on me yesterday, by the way.”
    River holds her hands up defensively. “Listen, there was no way I was getting involved in that mess. I’m already in the catering stuff. We’ll go after your lunch.”
    I open my closet and pull out a maxi dress that requires no effort. Maxi dresses are basically muumuus with better fabric and colors.
    River bats her sultry lashes at me. “I also happened to be outside when a strapping, shirtless man gave me this and asked me to deliver it to the Sleeping Beauty who slept so hard, she didn’t hear the rocks tapping at her window last night.”
    “Wait, what?”
    She grabs me by the shoulders. “Sky, don’t be an idiot. I love you, but I’m not going to watch you torture yourself for the rest of the summer. You’ve helped me when I needed you most. Now I’m going to do the same for you, in a different way.”
    She shoves the round white thing in my hands, presses a kiss on my cheek, and runs before I have time to react. I hold the white disk in my hand and turn it over. It’s a sand dollar. Smooth and white with black marker scrawled across the surface. At first, I’m not exactly sure what I’m looking at. But my heart reacts before my mind does. My stomach flutters and my chest gives a little squeeze. The black marker spells Hayden and his phone number.

Chapter 11
    Margarita Grill is my favorite place off-season. They have bands come and play, and the locals come out of hiding after the Manhattenites and reality TV types leave. If the waitress didn’t recognize me from my solitary lunches, we’d have to wait an hour for a table. She appraises Xandro and gives me two thumbs up.
    I pull out my chair and sit across from where Xandro is already scanning the menu. Because of how crowded it gets during the summer, they add extra tables, which puts me back to back with the person sitting behind me.
    “What’s good here?” Xandro asks.
    “The Mexican street corn is great. It’s not actually street, but they try their best.”
    He smiles politely and nods. “I don’t eat corn or cheese.”
    I laugh because I think he’s joking, but when he looks confused, I realize he’s not kidding. Not one bit. Instead, I’m the joke. I’m the girl ambushed into a “lunch date” with a guy who probably remembers me from my time with braces.
    I order a glass of red wine and tap water.
    Xandro asks for a skinny margarita and switches out tap water for bottled sparkling water.
    “Red wine isn’t very good for your teeth,” he says playfully.
    I lick the front of my teeth and take the fat red wine glass the waitress places in front of me. “None of it is actually good for you. That’s not the point of drinking booze.”
    “What’s the point?” He sits back, arms languishing on the armrests with his tall, skinny margarita in hand.
    “The point is to get a buzz.”
    He shrugs, not agreeing or disagreeing. From the way he looks at his cuticles, then smoothes the wrinkles on his pants, to the way he settles his smoldering dark eyes back on me, I know there’s something cooking in his carefully styled pompadour.
    “So, how’ve you been since I saw you yesterday?” I say, placing the napkin across my legs and sitting back. “Are you liking the neighborhood?”
    He smirks at my cheekiness. “I’m great,