Unnatural Calamities Read Online Free

dinner with a man who had less brains than beauty. Or so she assumed, if he was really willing to talk about backing her. She wasn’t about to tell him she was a cook and not a businesswoman.
    He smiled again. She was right—he did have the most amazing smile she’d seen for years. The ends of the nicely-shaped lips crooked upwards. “I’m a venture capitalist. Yeah. But I’m strictly minor league. Going small works, even in this economy. And I like to see people get another chance.”
    How’d he know about the near-disaster with Beth? These investor types must be on the ball when it came to local businesses.
    He continued, “I don’t know if we are in the right economic environment to start a catering business, but I’d certainly be willing to look into it.”
    “Well how-de-do,” said Janey happily. “That is just wonderful. I have scads of numbers, figures and mission statements. Business plans. Menus. Recipes. See, the idea is it’s for people who can’t afford regular caterers. I don’t use the fanciest ingredients but I take a plain old cup of chickpeas and make them something with just—”
    “She really can,” interrupted Rachel.
    “That’s wonderful,” said Mr. Dunham. “Really, really great.” Back to being a cheerleader. He did sound impressed.
    “So when can I show you all my facts and figures?” said Janey, who wondered why chickpeas made him so happy.
    “Tomorrow at breakfast. I can’t promise anything but I’d look at—”
    “Perfect,” Janey interrupted gleefully. Tomorrow? She expected to be put off. Good golly, the man must be serious. “I even promise to be awake.”

Chapter Three
    Unlike most coffee bars in town, no quiet jazz music saturated the air of the Crestview Cafe, though occasionally some drifted in from the upscale housewares boutique next door. The bland cafe, located in the first floor of an office building, had been built to be a white-collar hangout, a place to escape the office to get some work done. So far Starbucks hadn’t driven it out yet.
    The waiter drifted over, filled Toph’s mug again and replaced the silver pitcher of half and half. At the other tables, people clicked away on laptops, or PDAs, or both as they yammered on phones. Toph was the only patron who did not fiddle with so much as a pen and pad of paper.
    Instead he stared down into his mug of coffee and wondered why, every couple of years, without fail, he did it again. He opened his mouth and invited a calamity into his life.
    First there was Bea, and later, her desire for steady work. Then Jack and his ability to spot what turned out to be modeling talent. Mickey and the law. True, they ended up successful despite the odds and their personalities. Toph recognized talent, or more likely he was blessed with extraordinary luck. Pure dumb luck.
    Some of them, like Bea, had barged into his life. Most of them, like this Carmody woman, were his own fault. He’d invited Ms. Carmody out for pizza. And informed her he had money to throw around.
    He tried telling himself he invited her because he felt sorry for the two of them, living in a tiny apartment over a garage, trying to rebuild their lives in such a conservative community.
    He was lying to himself, of course. Janey Carmody had struck him as energetic and charming the night before. In jeans and a turtleneck, her appealing wrinkly hair pulled into a ponytail, Rachel’s mother looked as cute as he first thought her. And she had an air of competence, despite the tendency to stare. More than that, he’d sensed vigor fizzing off that small body. Could be sexual, could be pure talent in other matters too.
    Toph drank coffee, and watched the street entrance for the attractive ex-con drug user he considered loaning money. He remembered the scent of alcohol he’d detected the day he first saw her at the pool, and reminded himself to add possible active alcoholic to her list.
    She couldn’t be a complete failure. No matter what her failures in