Waterfalls Read Online Free Page B

“Would you like to ride with me, Meredith?”
    Knowing she couldn’t refuse, she slid out of the cab and silently followed him to his black convertible. Her heart was pounding but not too much. She felt foolish that he had seen her on the floor of the truck but not too foolish.
    In the past, this would have been a Barbie dream come true, a perfect moment to launch into a flirting campaign. But her sister had drilled into her that flirting was not the best way to get a man’s attention. Meredith had come to realize it wasn’t the most forthright, honest way to get to know someone. Mentally, she agreed with all these concepts.
    Still … all Meri’s clever lines gathered in a row in her head and stood at attention. She reviewed the troops and selected the finest. If she were to flirt, she would employ these lines. They would slide in undetected, hit their mark, and not leave a trace of their presence behind. The poor, unsuspecting Mr. Wartman would never know what hit him. But she must not release any of those flirty missiles. She must not.
    He opened the door for her, and she slid in gracefully. The sun had been baking the leather seat, and the instant Meredith’s flesh touched it she let out an unplanned, “Yeouch!” She quickly pressed her lips together to silence them. That was definitely not one of the chosen phrases. Who let that renegade loose?
    “You okay?”
    “Hot seat,” she said with a sheepish grin. She pulled her sunglasses from her shirt pocket and rolled up her white sleeves.
    Elegant, that’s the look you’re after here. Grace Kelly in hiking boots. Pay no attention to the third-degree burns on the back side of your thighs. You are as calm and cool as a summer breeze
.
    Meredith reviewed what she knew about this man as he pulled a pair of sunglasses from the visor. How did he know about the playwright Gabriel Kalen? Kalen had created a screenplay based on one of the classics for which G. H. Terrison Publishing held the rights. That was before Meredith began working for them, but the video sales had hit four million copies in the first year and put G. H. Terrison on the map with their quality children’s products.
    She wanted to pepper this mysterious Mr. Wartman with questions but knew it was best to let him go first. No sense scaring him off. She would keep a poker face and let him play the first card.
    He came to the end of the driveway, slowly easing over the bump and said, “The conference center is to the left, isn’t it?”
    “Yes,” Meredith said. “Turn left here.”
    He eased onto the uncrowded main road. They drove under the lacy shadows of the great cedars and hemlocks that lined this stretch of country road.
    “Sorry about the, ah, mix-up in your room this morning. My mistake.”
    “Oh,” Meredith said, glancing at him with controlled calm.
So he knows. He’s being awfully gallant about this
. “I’m sorry I frightened you.”
    He smiled, keeping his eyes straight ahead on the road.
    Meredith couldn’t contain herself anymore. Their absurd first encounter was just too funny. She tossed her head backand released her contagious laughter. It filled the silent space between them like a hundred iridescent soap bubbles, each one floating gleefully before popping with a fizz.
    He laughed with her. “You’re Shelly’s sister, aren’t you?” he asked after each of the invisible giggle bubbles had disappeared.
    “Yes.” She decided to play one of her cards. “And you are …?”
    He didn’t fill in the blank with a proper introduction. Instead, he glanced at her, then back at the road, then at her, and again at the road. “What do you know about me?” he asked.
    “You sleep with your shoes on,” she said quickly. “Like a horse.”
    He laughed again, unaided by her infectious giggle. “What else?”
    “Kyle called you Mr. Wartman.”
    “Did he? Mr. Wartman, huh?”
    “Yep. And that’s it, Mr. Wartman. That’s all I know. Oh, except you flew in from New York last