Always You (A Magnolia Falls Novel) Read Online Free PDF Page A

If she had to use Jessica as a guilt tool she would. After what they had been through the last week, Jessica did not need to lose anyone else she was close to.
    ***
    Diana rushed out of her office at five-thirty the next day. It had been a grueling day, the senior partners tried everything to get her to stay. Finally, they had accepted her decision, but they weren’t happy about it. They’d gone so far as to hint strongly she would be making partner soon. That’s what she had been working so hard for, the offer was tempting, but her little sister was more important. Her parents’ will left little room to make her own choices. That still irked her, but she would not be mad at them. They loved all their girls. The choices they made were what they felt was best for them.
    Diana stepped into the elevator and punched in the code Liz had given her the night before to get into the loft. When the doors opened Diana heard Jessica’s laughter coming from the living room and smiled. That was a wonderful sound, one she vowed to hear more often. She could never replace their mother, but she would love and care for Jessica as if she were her own child.
    “You guys are having way too much fun without me,” she said before she saw the man flying Jessica around like an airplane.
    Jessica looked up at her with a wide grin on her face. “Look, Diana. I’m a 747.”
    ‘‘I see that.” She smiled back at her baby sister as she sat down next to Liz on the black leather sofa. “Who’s the launch pad?” She asked. How was it that Liz could even manage to look good in baggy sweats and a t-shirt with her hair pulled up in a ponytail? Diana felt overdressed in her navy pinstripe pantsuit. You’d think she would be used to Liz after all these years, but she still felt like the ugly duckling when around her.
    “That’s my boyfriend, Steve Barnes. He was in Chicago for a gallery show and just got home a few hours ago. He’s an artist.”
    “Really. Is any of this his work?” Diana gestured to the paintings on the walls. She’d noticed them the day before because they didn’t fit with the rest of the decor. She loved Liz’s loft with its walls of windows, the mixture of black leather and plush, purple velvet chaise and armchairs. The white shag rug and rich cherry tables. Ordinarily those furnishings wouldn’t go together, but Liz had made it all work, as much as Diana hated to admit it. The art paintings, on the other hand, were hideous.
    “Yeah, that’s all Steve’s. Aren’t they great?”
    “ Umm , yeah. So, what did your agent say when you talked to him today?” Diana hurried to change the subject.
    “It wasn’t good. For one, he got the date of the fashion show wrong. It’s at the end of next week and rehearsals start this week. Second, he’s lined up so much work for me I’m booked solid for the next six months. I promise, Diana, when I called him two days ago I told him to start clearing my schedule. Instead he’s been adding to it.” Liz looked genuinely contrite.
    “What are you going to do?”
    “I’m meeting with him tomorrow after rehearsal. I’ll make sure he understands the situation.” Liz picked up a glass of water from the table and sipped. She poured another one and set it in front of Diana.
    “Okay. What do we do with Jessica tomorrow while I’m at work and you are at rehearsal?” Diana picked up the glass and took a drink.
    “I can watch her,” Steve chimed in, now that Jessica had finally come in for a landing. He sat on the other side of Liz. Jessica ran to Diana and threw her arms around her neck in greeting, almost upending the glass in her hand. “Oh yes, can he please ? Uncle Steve is a lot of fun.”
    Diana smoothed back the hair on Jessica’s head. “Uncle Steve just got back from a long, business trip. We need to let him get his rest.” To Steve she said, “Thank you for the offer, but we wouldn’t want to impose. Besides, with everything we’ve been through it would be best