The Splendour Falls Read Online Free PDF

‘honey’ – if a guy could manage to say it without sounding patronizing or sexist. Rhys managed to make it merely a friendly word, like buddy or Mac.
    â€˜Look like what?’ I tried to sound normal, which was a trick, when I hardly remembered what normal was.
    â€˜As if you’re walking into the lion’s den.’ He nodded towards the outside, both punctuating his statement and gesturing for me to get on with it. The intimacy of the moment was gone. ‘Chin up. I’m sure you’ll feel at home in no time.’
    I wasn’t sure I had a home any more. It wasn’tmerely about Mother and me moving in with Steve. The ballet studio had been where I lived. The sweat-soaked air, the squeak of rosined toes on the floor. Our apartment had only been a place to sleep at night, to kill time until I could get back to the studio.
    Now I would never dance again, and my whole life had become about killing time, about waiting. But for what, I had no idea.

Chapter 3
    I couldn’t have described Cousin Paula from the single time I’d met her, but I had no difficulty finding her in the loading zone outside the airport. Not once I’d gotten my sunglasses on and stopped staggering from the heat, anyway.
    Rhys wheeled my suitcase towards a white sport-utility wagon. The middle-aged woman standing beside it smiled when she saw me, and came to meet me on the sidewalk. She was medium tall, matronly around the middle, with grey-blonde – I suppose ash-blondewould be more tactful – hair in a ubiquitous Southern style: layered bob, fringy bangs, lots of volume. Big hair. Once again, Alabama did not disappoint.
    â€˜Thank heavens,’ said Cousin Paula, her drawl thick with relief. ‘We were running so late, I was worried we would miss you.’
    â€˜Where would I go?’ I asked, not meaning to be snide. It was a miserably literal question. I had no?where else to be.
    â€˜Well, honey, it doesn’t matter. Rhys found you, and you’re here.’ Smiling, she took my shoulders in her hands. ‘We’ll be on our way back to Cahaba and get you set to rights in no time.’
    I think she meant well. But I didn’t need ‘setting’. I just needed – well, that was the question of the hour. My mother, the stepshrink, my real shrink, my physical therapist – everyone seemed to know what I needed, except me.
    I caught Rhys’s eyes on me as he placed the suitcase by the rear of the vehicle, ready to load. The scrutiny reminded me of my manners. ‘Thank you, Cousin Paula. It was kind of you to invite me to stay with you.’
    That, at least, I could say genuinely, and she seemed pleased, even as she demurred. ‘Heavens, child, it’s your home, too, for all that your daddy ran off to the big city.’
    She motioned towards the car, and started to take my arm, but there was a dog in the way. Gigi gave a friendly yip, and my cousin recoiled with a gasp. ‘Good lord.’ She stared at the bag, her hand pressed to her heart. ‘What in the world is that?’
    I glanced down as if I didn’t know which ‘that’ she meant. ‘This? My mother’s idea of therapy.’
    â€˜She didn’t mention you were bringing a dog,’ said Paula, not quite aghast, but not exactly charmed.
    Gesturing to the airport doors, I said, not quite joking, ‘Is it a problem? Because I can see if the airline will let me fly back early.’
    â€˜No, of course not.’ Her tone, though, was doubtful as she eyed the dog. ‘But where is she going to sleep? She can’t run loose, and the garden fence won’t hold her.’
    â€˜I have a crate for her.’ My small gratitude for Paula’s hospitality was fading, replaced with growing trepidation. ‘But mostly she goes everywhere with me.’
    My cousin’s mouth turned down, making long, unhappy dimples. Gigi cocked her head, cranking the cuteness