Love on the Ledge Read Online Free

do to get back at Maria. She’s saint-like, in addition to being a judgmental, nosy biatch.
    “Leti!” my mom groans. “Don’t put ideas in her head.”
    Yes, God forbid I get ideas of traveling the world.
    Aunt Salomé nods. “Just because you abandoned your mother doesn’t mean Sky has to do the same.”
    “Ma,” Leti says, giving her mom a smothering hug. “I didn’t abandon you.”
    “What’s in Amsterdam?” Maria asks.
    “Hookers and ganja,” Leti says, winking her long lashes at Maria.
    Aunt Salomé slaps Leti’s arm playfully. Pepe giggles to himself. My mom purses her lips and cuts her breakfast sandwich in half. Sometimes it’s hard to believe they’re siblings.
    Maria grumbles deeply. “Sky doesn’t need that in her life on top of everything.”
    My ears burn. My mom says that your ears burn when someone is talking about you behind your back. It’s some superstitious crap—Maria’s not doing it behind my back.
    “What’s that supposed to mean?” I drop my fork and it clatters against my plate. I feel someone place a hand on top of mine, but I pull my hand away.
    “I mean your life is kind of a mess,” she says. “I’m sorry, but someone has to say it. You had a good job, a relationship. Now you’re living at home again. Running around a city like Amsterdam isn’t exactly going to do you any favors.”
    I stand so quickly that my chair falls backward onto the floor and echoes in the quiet of the dining room.
    “Sky,” they call after me. “Come back.”
    All except Maria.
    I walk out back where the ruckus of hammers and wood provides a barrier between my family and me. I go past the crystal blue pool and the lawn that’s going to be the stage for the wedding in a few weeks, until I reach the line of trees that leads to a small patch of woods.
    In the shade of a tree, I sit on the grass and lean my head back against the trunk. I wonder whether, if I sit here long enough, a deer will come out from the woods. I’ll be like the Snow White of West Hampton Beach. When we were in high school, Leti and I would sit really still and wait for deer to sneak into the backyard to eat the leaves on Uncle’s Tony’s fancy bushes.
    The rustle behind me makes me jump up. I’m expecting to see an animal, but instead there’s him.
    Hayden Robertson the Third.
    Tripp.
    Don’t call him that, Sky , I tell myself. That’s not a real name .
    He’s wearing a t-shirt that covers that glorious torso, and that charming smile. There’s a toolbelt around his waist. He’s like a blue-collar Batman.
    “Nurse,” he says, “I’m so glad you’re here. I have this pain I want you to take a look at.”
    I glance at the house. They’re all still at breakfast. No one’s going to come for me.
    His eyes are so blue. Bluer than the summer sky. Bluer than the pool. So blue I want to jump into them and swim as many laps as it would take to get lost.
    “Yeah?” I ask, laughing. Usually when guys say this to me it sounds smarmy. When Hayden says it, I know he’s just being cute. “Where?”
    I love the way he looks at me. It’s like he takes in every part of my body. My face, my neck, my breasts, my thighs. He lingers everywhere.
    He takes the pencil tucked behind his ear and taps it once, twice, over his heart.
    I laugh. “That’s terrible. How did that happen?”
    He shrugs. “You wouldn’t tell me your name.”
    And just like that all the ugliness I was feeling vaporizes with a turn of his smile.
    “It’s pretty easy to guess,” I say. “All you have to do is look up.”
    His brow furrows. He parts his lips to say something. I could just tell him. It’s not that big of a deal. But there’s something about him that makes me want to be playful. Something I haven’t felt in such a long time. It’s wonderful and ridiculous.
    “Tripp!” Mr. Robertson walks towards the tree line and stops when he sees me. “Sorry to bother you.”
    I shake my head. “No bother. I was just taking a