Falling Read Online Free

was not the only one to find her overbearing and insensitive), cheerfully carrying on as if life was peachy.
    â€œHi, Mum.”
    â€œHello, darling!” booms her mother’s voice over the phone. “Just checking in with you. Isn’t the big moving day coming up? Daddy and I were wondering if you needed help. It’s a bit busy over here with all the summer festivals coming up, and you know how Daddy likes to enter his vegetables in the village fete, but we could absolutely jump on a plane if you need us. It’s very hard moving on your own, though I know you’ve done it before, darling. But you were in your twenties then, and I don’t want you to put your back out. Plus I’m terribly good at organizing, as you know, and I’m worried that you have no one to help you.”
    In the room filled with nothing but boxes, Emma shakes her head. Her mother will take any opportunity to point out her single status. It used to upset her, but she has learned to let the comments wash over her head.
    â€œIt’s fine, Mum,” says Emma, knowing how much her mother hates being called Mum, infinitely preferring what she sees as the far more palatable
Mummy
.
    â€œI changed the date of the move, so I’m already in my new place, actually,” she says, looking around the room defeatedly at the number of boxes. It’s not as if she were downsizing. She had lived relatively anonymously in her apartment in Battery Park, a small one-bedroom that she had always thought of as pleasantly minimalist.
    She’d had no idea that her books would take up so many boxes. Nor her artwork, now stacked in three piles against the wall. Where did all this stuff come from?
    Dominic had had the dreadful salmon carpet professionally cleaned, and had regrouted the bathroom. The new bright-white grouting did little to help the avocado-green tile, but at least Emma thought she could bear to step into the shower.
    After looking at other far more lovely, but pricier options in neighboring towns, her only choice if she wanted to stay both solvent and by the beach, was this one. She had phoned Dominic the next day to confirm. He sounded delighted, that unusual sincerity in his voice again—but on the other hand, who wouldn’t be delighted with one quiet tenant with lots of books and no dogs? Two weeks later, she was preparing to head out, having given up her sparkling New York City apartment for . . . this.
    â€œDarling! You should have said! How is the new place? Is it gorgeous? Do you love it?”
    Emma suppresses a snort. “Not exactly. I think the best way to describe it is that it has a tremendous amount of potential.”
    â€œThat sounds like a perfect project for you,” says Georgina. “What can we send you for a housewarming present? What about a lovely teapot? Or a set of bowls? Actually, I have those lovely green bowlsfrom Grandmere”—when had Grandma become
Grandmere
? Emma thinks wryly—“which would be perfect for a young, well . . . youngish girl on her own. Why don’t I send those?”
    Emma instantly pictures the bowls, a faded green milk glass, possibly pretty once, now scratched and stained after years of use.
    â€œIt’s okay, Mum,” she says. “I don’t need a housewarming present. At least, not yet. Let me get settled, then I’ll let you know what I need.”

THREE
    A dull thud on the front door makes Emma jump. She can’t imagine who could possibly be visiting her. She puts down a stack of books, eyeing the door nervously. “Hello?” she calls, as her hand hovers over the door handle.
    â€œHey,” she hears from outside. “It’s Dominic DiFranco. I wondered if you needed some help.”
    Opening the door, Emma is simultaneously grateful and slightly nervous. Is it normal for the landlord to show up whenever he feels like it? She looks over his shoulder but there is no car in her