Free to Fall Read Online Free

who eloped in the Kings County Courthouse on graduation day and honeymooned in a camping tent. That version made sense. This one didn’t. My dad could tell what I was thinking.
    “Your mother was impulsive,” he replied. “Irresistibly impulsive. And I was powerless to refuse her.” He smiled and signaled for our waiter. But he hadn’t given me the answer I was looking for. He may have explained why he’d gotten married at eighteen, but not why my mother had wanted to, or, more important, why she would’ve dropped out of the most prestigious high school in the country just shy of graduation. Why she would’ve given up her future for something that could’ve waited.
    “And that’s it? That’s the whole story?”
    Dad looked hesitant, like he didn’t want to say yes but couldn’t in good conscience say no. “Your mom, she was unlike anyone I’d ever met,” he said finally. “She had this . . . quality about her. An inner calm. Even when we were kids. She didn’t worry about stuff the way the rest of us did. It was like she was immune to it almost.” He paused, and the thought I did not inherit that shot through my head. His eyes were sad when he continued. “When she showed up at my house that day, she seemed . . . shaken. But when I’d ask her about it, she’d shut down.”
    “What could’ve happened to her?” I asked.
    “I’ve asked myself that question a thousand times,” Dad replied. “Wishing I’d pressed her more to find out. But I thought I had time. I didn’t think she’d . . .”
    The unspoken word hung heavily between us. He didn’t think she’d die . But she had, just eight months later.
    “But something happened,” I said. “Something must’ve.”
    Eventually Dad nodded. “Something must’ve,” he said.

3
    “PEANUTS OR PRETZELS?”
    “Pretzels.” Hershey held out her hand without looking up. We were midair, side by side in first class (thank you, Theden), and I was waiting for her to fall asleep so I could finally open the card from my mom, but my companion was completely immersed in one of the many gossip magazines she’d downloaded to her tablet. I hadn’t slept the night before, thinking about that little paper rectangle, wondering what it said, hoping it would answer the shit storm of questions in my head.
    “Sir? Peanuts or pretzels?” The flight attendant had moved on to the man across the aisle from me.
    “Peanuts,” he mumbled, and the flight attendant reached into her cart.
    “Uh, actually, would you mind having pretzels instead?” The man, Hershey, and the flight attendant all looked at me. “I’m allergic to peanuts,” I explained.
    “There was no allergy listed on the manifest,” the flight attendant said accusingly. “Cindy!” she called down the aisle. “Is there an allergy on the manifest?” Cindy consulted her tablet then came running toward us, tripping over a man’s foot and nearly face-planting in the process. I heard Hershey snort.
    “Aurora Vaughn, 3B. Peanuts.”
    Our flight attendant’s expression went from accusing to five-alarm fire. She started snatching peanut packages from passengers in neighboring rows.
    “Sorry,” I said to the guy across the aisle.
    “So what would happen if you ate one?” Hershey asked me as the flight attendant handed me a bag of pretzels.
    “I’m not sure,” I said. “I had a pretty bad reaction to a peanut butter cracker when I was three. A woman at my daycare had to use an EpiPen.”
    “Does it freak you out?” Hershey asked. “Knowing that you’re one poor snacking choice away from death?”
    I looked at her. Seriously? Who said things like that?
    “No,” I said, reaching for my earphones. “I don’t even think about it.” I didn’t need to. Lux analyzed ingredient lists, tracked allergic reactions and food-borne illnesses in other users who consumed the same foods, and alerted you if someone in your immediate vicinity was either allergic to something you were eating or