Falling for You Read Online Free Page A

living in Cyprus.”
    The girl pulled an appropriately sympathetic face. “And she is dead?”
    â€œNot at all. Fighting fit.” Jake grinned and took a swig of Coke from the can at his side. “She’s planning on using it as a coffee table in the meantime. She told me that when she goes, her body might be all wrinkled and ancient, but at least her coffin will be gorgeous.”
    â€œThat is such a beautiful idea.” Entranced, the girl peered past him into the shadowy workshop. “I think it’s wonderful. But if your clients die first, how do you—”
    â€œJust work faster,” Jake said good-naturedly. “It’s fifty-fifty. Some like to choose their own coffins and design them themselves. Other times, the relatives contact me after the death and we choose something together. As long as they don’t want anything too complicated, I can finish it in a day and send it to them by DHL. The caskets are made of cardboard, so they aren’t that heavy. And they’re cheaper too. Commissioning a hand-decorated coffin ends up costing about the same as a plain old wooden one. Feel free to look around,” he went on, waving toward the workshop where photographs were pinned up along the back wall. “Those are some of my past works. And I have a portfolio of standard designs on the table in the corner.”
    Having stopped for a break, Jake followed the girl into the workshop and switched on the kettle to make tea. She was studying the photos of a particularly extravagant coffin covered in vibrant purple velvet, trimmed with gold, and painted with white regal lilies.
    â€œLili DeLisle, the rock singer. That was hers,” said Jake. “Her husband asked me to do it after she died in that plane crash. You can’t see from the photo, but the lyrics of her song ‘Take Me’ are etched all the way around the gold border. Gave my business no end of a boost,” he said cheerfully. “Everyone who saw it wanted to know where it came from. The stamens on those lilies were real diamonds.”
    â€œAnd letters from satisfied customers,” exclaimed the girl, moving on.
    â€œWell, maybe not the customers themselves. But after the funeral, the relatives quite often write to tell me what a difference it made.”
    â€œI like this one.” The girl touched the edge of a photo displaying a casket simply decorated with white clouds in a cerulean-blue sky, with a silver bird soaring above them.
    â€œOne of my bestsellers. Fancy a cup of tea?”
    â€œI’d love one. But I’m not about to die, so I won’t be needing a coffin, if that’s what you’re hoping.”
    â€œDon’t speak too soon,” said Jake. “You don’t know what I could be putting into your cup.”
    They sat outside together, companionably drinking their tea and chatting about the famous bits of Bath Trude had spent the morning exploring.
    â€œVery nice,” she said, nodding seriously, “but so terribly crowded. It would be far better if there weren’t so many tourists.”
    Jake managed to keep a straight face. “Sometimes it can get a bit much.”
    â€œYou know, my grandmother is very old. I’m thinking she might enjoy one of your coffins. Do you have a leaflet, perhaps, so I could show her your work?”
    â€œI do. Better still,” said Jake, loping into the workshop and returning with a brochure and a bag of cookies, “it has my website address on it. That’s how I get most of my business.”
    Trude tucked the brochure carefully away in one of the pockets on her backpack.
    â€œI like your business, very much. But how did you start? What gave you the idea to do this thing? Oh, thanks.” Blushing slightly, she took a cookie from the bag, showering crumbs down the front of her khaki shorts.
    â€œWell, my sister died when I was fourteen,” said Jake, and Trude shot him a look of anguish,