Harvesting the Heart by Jodi Picoult Read Free Book Online Page A

we expected. "Actually,"
Paige said, "I doubt you do."
    Nicholas,
whose stomach had been in knots since they sat down to dinner, did
something else forbidden to Prescotts: he laughed out loud. His
mother and father looked at him, but he only turned to Paige and gave
her a smile. "Paige is a fabulous artist," he said.
    "Oh?"
Astrid said, leaning forward to offer Paige a second chance. "What
an admirable hobby for a young lady. You know, that's how it all
began for me." She snapped her fingers, and a maid appeared,
whisking away her empty plate. Astrid leaned forward, placing her
tanned elbows on the fine linen cloth. She smiled smoothly, but the
light did not quite reach her eyes. "Where did you go to
college, dear?"
    "I
didn't," Paige said evenly. "I was going to go to RISD, but
something came up." She pronounced the name of the school as an
acronym, as it was known.
    "Riz-dee,"
Robert repeated coolly, staring at his wife. "Haven't heard much
about that one."
    "Nicholas,"
Astrid said sharply, "how is Rachel?" Nicholas saw Paige's
face fall at the mention of another woman, one whose name she'd never
heard before. He crumpled his napkin into a ball and stood up. "Why
do you care, Mother?" he said. "You ever have before."
He moved to Paige's chair and pulled it out, lifting her by her
shoulders until she was standing. "I'm sorry," Nicholas
said, "but I'm afraid we have to go."
    In
the car, they drove in circles. "What the hell was that all
about?" Paige demanded when he'd finally reached a major
highway. "Am I some kind of pawn or something?"
    Nicholas
did not answer her. She stared at him for a few minutes with her arms
crossed, but finally sank back against the seat.
    As
soon as Nicholas reached the outskirts of Cambridge, she opened the
door of the car. He came to a sudden stop. "What are you doing?"
he asked, incredulous.
    "I'm
getting out. I can walk the rest of the way." She stood up, the
moon looming behind her, soaking into the edge of the Charles River
like a bloodstain. "You know, Nicholas," Paige said, "you
sure aren't what I thought you were."
    And
as she walked away, a muscle throbbed along the edge of Nicholas's
jaw. She's
just like the rest of them, he
thought, and just to prove her wrong, he sped past her on Route 2,
screaming like a madman, shrieking until he thought his lungs would
burst.

    The
next day Nicholas was still seething. He met Rachel after her anatomy
class and suggested they go for coffee. He knew a place, he said,
where they do portraits of you while you eat. It was a bit of a hike,
all the way across the river, but it was relatively close to his
apartment, for afterward. And then he walked beside her to the car,
counting the stares of other men as they took notice of Rachel's
honey hair, her soft curves. At the door of the diner, he pulled her
into his arms and kissed her hard.
    "Well,"
Rachel said, smiling. "Welcome back."
    He
led her to the booth he always took, and she almost immediately
disappeared to the bathroom. He couldn't see Paige, which made him
angry. After all, why else had he come? He was still questioning
himself when she came up behind him. She was as quiet as a breeze,
and he would not have sensed her if not for the clean scent of pears
and willows he had come to know her by. When she stood in front of
him, her eyes were wide and tired. "I'm sorry," she said.
"I didn't mean to piss you off."
    "Who's
pissed?" Nicholas said, grinning, but he distinctly felt the
pinching of his heart, and he began to wonder if this was what
cardiac patients always tried to describe.
    At
that point Rachel came out and slid into the booth across from
Nicholas. "I'm sorry," Paige said, "but this booth is
taken."
    "Yes,
I know," Rachel said coolly. She looked at Nicholas and then
glared at Paige. She reached across the table and took Nicholas's
hand, weaving her fingers through his with the quiet power of
possession.
    Nicholas
couldn't have planned it better, but he didn't expect it to hurt
quite so