A Deadly Fall by Carol Lee Read Free Book Online Page B

of her too-short life and the entire town was expected to show up. She’d been involved in everything since she was a kid—sports and band throughout her school years, community gardens and volunteering as an adult, and working at the assisted living center. The list of things to do seemed to never end. And we never seemed to get anything done because people were always stopping by to help, but they ended up getting in the way of our progress instead.
     
    Judy was spending most of her time here too. She’d dropped her online classes immediately, against my suggestions, thinking that a distraction might be what she’d need, but who was I to give her advice she’d listen to?
     
    So instead of dealing with the list in this rare moment of no extra bodies, I thought about a weekend I was visiting home during college. Sarah and Jack had been seriously dating for three years by this point, having gotten together in middle school. No one expected anything to happen since they were so young then. But that initial relationship had turned into best friends and then boyfriend and girlfriend in a way no one had foreseen.
     
    They must have been 16 because she had asked to borrow my car. Mom and Dad hadn’t kept an old one for her since they thought I’d have bought my own by then. Instead they let me keep the one extra car so I could more easily visit them at home. So Sarah only had wheels when I was home. They didn’t let her drive their cars, even if they weren’t driving them.
     
    I reluctantly said she could take it out for the night. I had already lost touch with most of my childhood friends, so when I visited for a weekend, I stayed mostly at home. And this weekend was no different. She took the car and I didn’t expect to see her again until the next morning.
     
    But when she got home, she came into my room and curled up next to me. I rolled over and tried to ignore her. She used to get in my bed all the time as kids, but she hadn’t done it in years.
     
    “Marissa, are you awake?” she asked.
     
    “Mmmf,” I told her. Trying to stay just on the borderline of sleep so I would fall back into dreamland once she left.
     
    “Marissa, wake up. I did it tonight,” she said. She was wide awake and wasn’t going to leave.
     
    “Did what?” I asked groggily. My back was still turned to her and I was refusing to open my eyes.
     
    “Jack and me. We had sex for the first time,” she said. I could hear the smile on her face.
     
    “That’s great. I figured you’d already had sex,” I said. They’d been together so long.
     
    “No. We were waiting until we were both ready. Well, I think he was ready a while ago, but he waited with me. We’d done plenty of other things, but we’d never had sex,” she rambled on.
     
    “That’s great,” I said again.
     
    “Marissa, does it always hurt?” she asked, worry in her voice.
     
    “No. You’ll enjoy it. And he’ll figure it out so it gets better too,” I said, finally waking up and rolling over to face her. I could see her eyes in the dark. They were wide with excitement.
     
    “I think I’m going to marry him one day,” she said with a smile.
     
    “Not tomorrow you’re not. Go to bed,” I said. She got on these dreams every time something good happened with Jack and tonight was just the same. I’d heard this dream countless times in the past.
     
    “No, for real. I know I’m going to marry Jack. Will you be my maid of honor?” she asked in all seriousness.
     
    “Sure. Just go to bed,” I said again.
     
    “OK. But promise you’ll be my maid of honor.”
     
    “Of course I will. We can talk about it when you’re engaged. Good night,” I said and she got out of my bed.
     
    What I wouldn’t give, now, to have one of her dreamy planning conversations again. This time it would be about kids, but I could put up with that instead.
     
    “OK, Jack. I’m back. Ready to call the next place,” I said, my daydream finished. I could get back