Save the Last Dance Read Online Free PDF Page A

lighting.
    Sylvia, facing the low angle of the sun, knew it accented every wrinkle and line on her own face.She usually took care to avoid the direct and unflattering lighting. “I’m so glad we were able to meet here for dinner. I haven’t been to Stillwater in years.”
    “And it’s such a lovely drive over here from the Twin Cities. We should do this more often.”
    After the waitress took their orders, Nanette leaned a little closer and lowered her voice to a whisper. “You’re lovelier than ever, by the way. I just knew Dr. Falk would do a wonderful job for you.” She touched a fingertip to the smooth outside corner of her eye. “I know I couldn’t have been happier.”
    Sylvia managed a faint smile, though her stomach twisted into a nervous knot as she thought about the money she’d spent and the stock she’d had to sell off last month.
    Life was still all about packaging, really…keeping up appearances, contacts and the impression that all was well, even though the family’s software company had gone belly-up years ago, amidst allegations of upper-level corruption and mismanagement. Downturns in the stock market had decimated what was left. The senator had died soon afterward while under a cloud of suspicion about his personal life.
    He’d certainly chosen an unfortunate time to die, given the family’s financial disaster and the fact that Jared was just starting college.
    But now, with Julia left to marry off, Sylvia had a last chance to make the right connections for one of her children.
    Sylvia had counted on Jared. Tutored him. Worked at carefully managing the right introductions so he could marry well and provide his mother and sister with the elegant, comfortable lifestyle they deserved.
    Sylvia’s modest stock portfolio and rigid attention to the market had kept them afloat, but even now, twenty years later, Jared’s selfishness burned.
    Maybe his tacky little wife had lured him into an unfortunate marriage all those years ago, but this time, with Julia, Sylvia wasn’t going to let anything go wrong.
    Nanette took a delicate sip of her raspberry iced tea. “And how is your daughter?”
    “She’s still out East, but she’s nearly done with her thesis. After that, well…” Sylvia made a graceful, offhand motion with her fingertips, carefully dismissing the years Julia had spent trying to “find herself” in college. “She’s still thinking about medical school or a Ph.D. in biology. And your son?”
    “Robert’s still leaning toward family practice.” Nanette shook her head, obviously distressed. “I keep telling him that plastic surgery is the way togo, with all the baby boomers sliding into old age, but he says he’d rather work with the disadvantaged. Can you imagine? I’m sure he’ll come to his senses, though…once he finds the right woman and settles down. He has no idea how much it costs to raise a family these days.”
    The perfect opening. “So true. Those responsibilities do bring things into focus.” Sylvia idly toyed with a mandarin orange in her salad. “Our children seem so alike.”
    “Perhaps we can try arranging another meeting. They seemed to like each other rather well at the club on the Fourth of July.”
    The Laughtons were an old, moneyed family, with a sprawling estate on Lake Minnetonka and a palatial home on a cliff overlooking Lake Superior. The possible connection was definitely enticing.
    Sylvia imagined Robert and Julia living on an equally grand estate with a pleasant little mother-in-law cottage, and urging Sylvia to move there. The vision filled her with a sense of warmth and security she hadn’t felt in a long time. “That would be lovely. I can just imagine—”
    From inside Sylvia’s vintage Gucci handbag came the soft trill of her cell phone. She swiftly reached into the bag, glanced at the caller ID on the screen and pressed a side button to mute the ring,irritated at the interruption. Whatever Kate had to say, she could certainly