Waterfalls Read Online Free Page A

to where Meriheld the star on the floor. He jabbered some baby words as if he were telling Mr. Duck where to find his old friend Wally.
    “Mr. Duck stuck his face in the water, and in a very wet and wobbly voice called out, ‘W-a-l-l-y!’ ” Even Meri was surprised at how funny her underwater “Wally” cry sounded. She kept up the silly voice.
    “‘I’m here, Mr. Duck. I like it here. This is where I’ll stay,’ said Wally. ‘I won’t be a star anymore. I’ll be a starfish at the bottom of the sea.’ ‘Then I will come and visit you every day,’ said Mr. Duck.” Meredith held the duck so that his nose was down in the “water” and his tail was straight up.
    “And that is why whenever you see a duck sticking his head into the water, you know he’s paying his daily visit to Wally the starfish.” Meredith peeked at her audience from her cramped position. Travis wasn’t looking at her. He was looking out the passenger door.
    Meri followed his gaze, and there, by the open door, stood the mysterious, brown-eyed Mr. Wartman, with a half-grin on his handsome face.

Chapter Three

    T he uninvited guest slowly applauded Meredith’s story. She struggled to unwedge herself from the floor of the cab.
    “Only one problem,” the man said. “Starfish live in salt water, and ducks swim in fresh water.”
    “It’s only a story,” Meredith protested, one arm grabbing the seat and the other one pushing against the underside of the dashboard. Her right leg had fallen asleep.
    “Nevertheless, integrity of story is the crucial element in all quality fiction,” he said.
    Meredith raised her eyebrows and took a good look at this guy. “Gabriel Kalen,” she said slowly. “Gabriel Kalen said that in his book,
The Art of Story
. I quote him all the time in my workshops.”
    Now Mr. Wartman’s eyebrows arched with apparent interest.
    Meredith was unstuck enough to pull her body out of the cramped space. She raised herself onto the seat without theslightest bit of grace and wondered if this man had figured out yet that she was the nightmarish, avocado-faced vision that had greeted him less than an hour earlier. If he did know, he wasn’t letting on.
    She calmly brushed back her hair and straightened herself with as much dignity as possible. Meredith handed Wally-the-star-turned-starfish to Travis. He held the soft figure to his cheek and sucked on his fingers.
    “Have you met Gabe?” Mr. Wartman inquired.
    “Gabe?” Meredith echoed.
    “Gabriel Kalen.”
    “No,” Meredith said. She wasn’t sure where to look, at Travis or at this fine example of God’s creation who was standing only a few feet away.
    Kyle and Jessica came down the front steps of the house hand in hand. Jessica held a picnic basket, while Kyle had slung the duffel bag over his shoulder. Meredith knew her intriguing yet embarrassing encounter with this man was about to end.
    “Have you?” she asked quickly, tucking her hair behind her ear and casting her ocean green glance at him. “Have you met Gabriel Kalen?”
    “Yes,” he said, resting his arm on the rim above the door and leaning forward out of the sunshine. He took in a full view of Meredith, and she was uncomfortably aware of how intensely he was studying her. Would he figure out who she was? Had he already?
    “Everybody ready?” Kyle called out when he was a few feet away from the truck. “Did you two meet?”
    “Daddy!” Travis cried out, pulling his fingers from his mouth. “Daddy!”
    “I’m here, big guy,” Kyle said, tossing the duffel bag, whichlooked exactly like a diaper bag, onto the backseat. “You ready to go?”
    “I’m heading over to the conference center now, too,” Mr. Wartman said. “Would one of you like to ride with me?”
    “Why don’t you take Meredith with you?” Jessica suggested. “I wanted to talk with Kyle on the way over.”
    “Meredith,” he repeated slowly as if he had just figured out the missing word in a long crossword puzzle.