Falling by Jane Green Read Free Book Online Page A

him.
    â€œYou look happy,” he says.
    â€œIt must be this house. I think it’s having a magical effect on me.”
    â€œIt’s living by the beach. It has a magical effect on everyone. It’s why I would never leave. I think it’s the light, but it feels different from anywhere else in town. Living down here reminds me of growing up. Kids are out on bikes, free-range. Like time has stood still.” He pauses. “Want to come see the shelves? We’re almost done.”
    â€œSure. I made you lemonade.” Emma puts down the dishcloth, picks up a pitcher and glasses, and follows him into the library. She takes a deep breath before looking at what he has built. The shelves are ever so slightly sloping to the right. Not all of them, but at least two. There are giant seams at the top, and although they will clearly do the job of holding books, they are hardly a thing of beauty.
    â€œFantastic,” says Emma, mustering every dramatic skill she has ever possessed. “I can’t believe you’ve done this in just a few hours. Wow! These are brilliant.”
    â€œI’m pretty good at making things,” says Dominic, proudly.
    â€œMy dad can build anything,” says Jesse, proudly.
    â€œYou are clearly a man of many talents,” says Emma, as her brain furiously ticks, figuring out how she’s going to fix the sloping shelves and seams.
    â€œWant me to start loading the books on them?” says Dominic, good-naturedly. “I can put the carpet back, too, if you’d like.”
    â€œNo, no, it’s fine,” says Emma quickly. “I’m going to paint the shelves and I haven’t decided what color, so I’ll put the carpet back after I’ve painted. Thank you so much for this. It’s amazing.”
    â€œNo problem,” says Dominic. “I’m going to run over to the deli and grab something to eat for Jesse and me. Can I get you something?”
    â€œI’m fine,” says Emma. Actually, she’s starving but she doesn’t want to ask anything more of Dominic. “But thank you. For everything. Maybe you guys can come over for dinner one night this week so I can thank you properly.”
    â€œThat would be great,” says Dominic, although Jesse narrows his eyes slightly and says nothing. Emma notices, realizing that Jesse may like her as a neighbor, but he may not feel the same way about a friend who might get in the way of his time with his father. “Speaking of dinner,” Dominic continues, “I’m having some friends over on Wednesday for a barbecue. Good people. You should come. You can bring your friend Sophie if you’d like.” With that, Dominic and Jesse gather up their tools and say good-bye.
    Two hours later, Emma returns from the hardware store with moldings, molding pins, filler, sanding blocks, primer, and paint. The boxes left to unpack will have to wait. The shelves are only a few millimeters off, but Emma knows it will be all she focuses on every time she looks at them. She can nail pins into the back and lift the shelves to straighten them; put the molding onto the fronts of the shelves to disguise everything else. She will fill the gaps with caulking, prime them, and paint them a glossy pale greige. All subtly done,so they are perfect and it won’t look like she went back to “fix” Dominic’s hard work.
    She will turn them into something beautiful. This is what she does. This is what she is good at. And there is nothing she loves more than a challenge.

SEVEN
    I ’ve made delicious cake,” says the extremely well-groomed and flawlessly made-up woman who ushers Dominic inside, where a perfect lemon almond cake sits atop a white china plate stand. Cans of flavored seltzer are stacked on the counter, next to a silver ice bucket filled with ice, glasses, and whimsical napkins with an illustration of a glass of wine and text:
It’s 5 o’clock