If I Fall Read Online Free PDF Page A

up and slowing down. What was she doing there?
    I opened the front door and dumped my backpack on the floor. Mom was up and dressed, which was a plus. She'd squeezed herself into a pair of black jeans and an ill-fitting t-shirt and was sitting at the kitchen table with Sara.
    “ How's my girl?” my aunt asked, standing up for a hug.
    I leaned into her for a half-hearted hug. She was still in her scrubs, hot pink Hello Kitty ones and matching pink Crocs. Her hair was pulled back in a tight bun, her long bangs secured with pink, sequined bobby pins. Matching Hello Kitty earring dangled from her ears.
    “Fine.”
    She motioned to the empty chair next to her. Sit with us,” she invited.
    I slid into one of the two empty chairs. There was an unopened plastic container of chocolate chip cookies from Safeway sitting in the middle of the table. I glanced at my mom. She'd combed her hair, at least, but her eyes were red-rimmed and swollen, her skin blotchy, as if she'd just finished crying. The clock on the microwave read three-thirty. The pediatric clinic Sara worked at didn't close until five.
    My eyes darted from Sara to my mom. “Why are you here?”
    Sara didn't answer. She reached for the box of cookies, opened them. “Have a cookie.”
    “ I don't want a cookie.”
    She took one for herself and nibbled. Unlike my mom, she didn't have any issues with her weight. “They're good,” she offered, trying to entice me.
    I folded my arms across my chest and waited.
    She swallowed. “OK. Your mom asked me to come. It's about your dad.”
    My stomach tightened. Visions of his plane erupting into flames, of his lifeless body falling through the sky, flashed through my mind. Or maybe he'd been in a car wreck, smashing his rental car into some trendy nightclub in Miami.
    “ Is he alright?” I asked.
    Sara's voice was tight. “He's fine.”
    I exhaled slowly, relief flooding me.
    But she wasn't done.
    “It's about the house.” She sighed and braced her hands on the table. Without looking up, she said, “He's selling it, Meg.”
    My heart leapt into my throat. “He's what ?”
    My mom's face crumpled and she pushed away from the table, fleeing down the hallway. The door to her room slammed shut.
    “Selling the house,” Sara spoke haltingly. “His lawyer called this morning. He can't afford the payments on this and the condo he just bought in Del Mar.”
    “ And he's just telling us this now? Wasn't this part of the divorce?”
    Sara closed her eyes. “I don't know.”
    I shook my head in disbelief. “And Mom? She doesn't know, either? Seems to me this would have been written in the stupid agreement.”
    “ Your mom...” Her voice trailed off. I waited, my heart hammering. “Your mom has had a hard time with this, Megan. I'm beginning to think she didn't pay a lot of attention to what she was signing.”
    I threw my hands up in the air. “Well, what the hell are we supposed to do? Go and live with him and Cheri?”
    “ No, no,” she said quickly. “You'll still have your own place, Meg. You and your mom. He plans to split the proceeds from the sale. I think he's actually planning on giving your mom more than half. He knows she needs it. You'll have somewhere to live, I promise. He promised.”
    He'd also promised to love and cherish my mom forever. I sank back into my chair, my eyes roving the kitchen and the hall as I tried to absorb it all. Not what my aunt had just told me, but the house. It suddenly became important to try to sear every detail into my memory. Selling the house had never been mentioned when my parents separated. When my dad filed for divorce. When it was finally official. Ever.
    After a few minutes of stony silence, with Sara picking at a cookie and me sitting motionless, the shock began to ebb. I felt a surge of anger, like a wave building far out in the ocean. It gained momentum the longer I sat there. And just like that wave, I wanted to crash into something, to obliterate whatever crossed my