Falling Angel Read Online Free

feeling that she was running out of time. When her mother had turned 24, Cara was already three years old.
    She stepped into the shower. As the spray hit her face, she imagined herself being washed clean of the past. Things are going to be different in Seattle, she told herself firmly. You’re here to make a new start. And you have your new resolutions to help keep you on track.
     
    Ten minutes later was dressed and in the kitchen. Ann stood at the counter, nibbling on a piece of toast, dressed for work at Madison Mavens Espresso in her signature red plaid kilt and platform Mary Janes. She had topped off the ensemble with a cable-knit fisherman’s sweater in navy blue.
    “Isn’t that my sweater?” Cara asked.
    Ann stroked the thick weave of the sweater. “You don’t mind, do you?”
    “Not at all.” As an only child, Cara had always wanted a sister to share clothes and secrets with. But she did wish that Ann would remember to return the things she borrowed.
     “What happened to you last night?” Ann asked. “We looked for you for half an hour. Then Craig got mad and split, and I told Joseph I had to go too, to see if you’d come home. He wasn’t happy about it.” She opened her mouth to say more, then noticed Cara’s limping gait as she crossed the kitchen to pour herself a cup of coffee. “What did you do?”
    “I slipped on the cobblestones and twisted my ankle. I’m sorry Ann, I should have told you I was leaving. I felt so uncomfortable in there, with Craig breathing down my neck.”
    “I thought you liked him,” Ann said, but the anger had drained from her voice. She pulled a pack of Camels from her bag.
    Despite their agreement that Ann would only smoke on her bedroom balcony, Cara felt too guilty to complain as Ann lit a cigarette and inhaled deeply.
    “I guess you can afford to be picky,” she said, blowing a stream of smoke through her red-painted lips. “You always seem to have guys falling all over you. Some of us aren’t so lucky, you know.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Oh, come on.” Ann pointed at her. “Look at you. Like Botticelli’s Venus come to life. Me, I’m just a trailer trash girl from Aberdeen.”
    “That’s not true,” Cara protested weakly. “What about Joseph?”
    “Ah, forget him. Where did you go when you left?”
    “I accidentally backed into the apartment of this guy who lives right across from the gallery. He was really sweet, actually. He made me dinner. We started talking, and he told me that he was an artist. That’s when the alarm bells started ringing”
    Ann’s eyes sparkled. “What did you do?”
    “I left.”
    “Just like that?”
    “Yup.”
    “Didn’t say goodbye, or anything?”
    Cara shook her head. “He left the room for a minute, and I took off.”
    “That’s funny,” said Ann, with the smirk she reserved for other people’s misfortune.
    Cara was glad that at least she was no longer angry. “I know, I acted like a complete moron,” she said. “At least he gave me his card. I think it’s in my coat pocket. I’ll call him later and apologize.”
    Ann lit a second cigarette from the smoldering butt of the first and leaned forward, eyes bright. “So, do you think he liked you?”
    “I doubt it, after all the stupid things I said. And the fact that our views on relationships are as diametrically opposed as they can get. He values his freedom over everything else; the freedom to take off and create a masterpiece on a mountaintop whenever the spirit moves him.
    Ann yawned and stretched, catlike. “Well, it’s probably a good thing that you took off.”
    “Absolutely,” agreed Cara, draining her coffee. “The last thing I want to do is get involved with another self-absorbed artist.”
    Ann picked up her satchel from the kitchen chair. She opened the hall closet and rummaged around in it before pulling out her beat-up black leather jacket.
    “Gotta go, my shift starts in ten.”
    As soon as she was gone, Cara limped over to