Falling Star

by Laura DeLuca

  “Helllooooo? Come out of Lainey’s world,” Erin probed when Lainey pretended she didn’t hear her. “Why are you so quiet? I know you’re up to something. Are you working on that book of yours? I better get first dibs when it’s time to read that thing.”

  “Nope. Not that.”

  Lainey didn’t want to admit what she was doing. She didn’t want to tell even her closest friend how low she’d sunk in her quest for romance, but she didn’t have much say in the matter. Lainey could already hear the squeak of the rollers as Erin wheeled her chair over to the desk. Even if she wanted to, there was no way to escape Erin’s prying. She couldn’t even minimize the screen fast enough for Speedy Gonzalez to avoid seeing it.

  “Working hard I see,” Erin began when she saw the browser open, but then she realized what site Lainey had been perusing and her face lit up. “Ohhh. Are we internet dating again?”

  Lainey shook her head. It was funny how somewhere in the four years they’d been work partners as well as partners in crime, they’d somehow morphed from individuals to an almost Borgish “we”. Lainey didn’t watch T.V. often, but when she did, she was a bit of a sci-fi buff, so she couldn’t help making the comparison to the Borg from Star Trek. There were times when Erin and Lainey seemed to share one collective brain—at least from nine to five. So yeah, “we” were internet dating again.

  Lainey still raised an eyebrow. “Last time I checked that was my picture up on the screen.”

  “I took that picture of you, you know,” Erin reminded her. “Which you look totally hot in, by the way. So you might say I have a personal investment in the turnout.”

  Lainey grunted when Erin stole her mouse and maximized the website. In her head, she ran through the laundry list of prior dating failures, some of which bordered on traumatizing. There was the married man. The thirty-three-year-old who showed up on a skateboard so he didn’t have to worry about driving home drunk—because apparently it was okay to get plastered on their first date. Then there was the poor guy whose fiancé had died of an aneurysm a few months prior. Lainey patted his hand while he wept into his wine at the dinner table. And who could forget the self-proclaimed reverend of the Jedi order. She did enjoy science fiction, but not that much.

  Those were merely the highlights. It didn’t include the people who posted phony pictures, the religious fanatics who believed she was going to burn in hell because of her new age beliefs, or the string of pigs, jerks, and rednecks who wanted nothing but a one night stand—something that would never happen on a date with Lainey Riccardo. Internet dating really wasn’t the fairytale meeting of soul mates they attempted to convey in the commercials. It was something far, far stranger.

  “So what’re you doing on there anyway?” Erin squinted through her reading glasses before making a clicking noise with her tongue. “I thought you’d given up on MatchMaker.com.”

  Lainey shrugged. “I was only browsing.”

  Erin snorted. “It’s not a shoe sale, you know.”

  “I know,” Lainey agreed. “If it was, I could return the damaged goods and they wouldn’t keep calling me.”

  Erin rolled her hazel eyes at the silly metaphor, but didn’t lose interest. “Did you find anyone exciting today?”

  “You mean besides the Russian who proposed marriage and the seventy-year-old cross dresser?”

  “You aren’t serious?”

  Here Lainey thought nothing could shock Erin anymore. The sad thing was; she was serious. Of the twenty-nine new emails she’d received since the last time she’d checked her account, those two individuals were the most appealing. What did that say about the male population of South Jersey?

  “What are you girlies doing huddled together like that?”

  The new voice had a cheerful bounce to it. A second later, a heart-shaped face, topped with a mass of strawberry blonde curls, peeked her head around the corner. It was Stephanie, the office file clerk. Since their division was the only one in the building that hadn’t gone paperless due to the requirements of the strict London based insurance company they worked with, there were tons of papers lying around. Stephanie picked up the stack of folders that needed to be put away, but lingered in the doorway, waiting expectantly.

  “We’re checking out guys online,” Erin informed her.

  Stephanie grinned with expectation. “Ohhh. Are we?”

  We again. Stephanie had been with them for about six months, but she was already assimilating quite well into the collective. Ever since her arrival, it took a three-way concurrence before Lainey even considered taking the plunge and emailing someone back. The fact that Stephanie was married and Erin was concentrating on being a single mom meant they were living vicariously through Lainey’s love life, which was pretty sad since it was virtually non-existent. It wouldn’t be so complicated if she hadn’t lived in Cape May County, New Jersey since she was five. She knew all the locals too well to date them, and even if she could find a single tourist under fifty who could manage to pull his pants up all the way, that wouldn’t amount to much more than a summer fling.

  “Eww, is that one wearing skintight leather pants?” Stephanie’s shadow fell over the screen and instantly her face twisted in distaste.

  By now, Erin had commandeered the mouse and Lainey was a spectator more than anything else. She picked up the crystal cluster from her desk, running her fingers along all the familiar points and drinking in their cleansing energy while Erin paged through various profiles. She loved checking out the strange ones. Never mind the fact that they’d be able to see who viewed them and it was Lainey’s account. No collective we there. The guy in the leather duds probably thought he was her dream man. Lainey shuddered. More than one scary psychopath probably slept with a print out of her photo and a bottle of KY on their nightstand. Forget the shudder. Make that a gag.

  “Ummm, forget the pants.” Erin pulled her poker-straight brown hair into a bun using her pen to hold it in place. The light filtering in through the window really brought out the red highlights and the purebred Irish in her. “I’m pretty sure that’s a pink thong sticking out the back.”

  Stephanie and Erin giggled, and Lainey fought the urge to join them because the image of Thong Boy talking to her picture still made her feel queasy. She didn’t like being judgmental but it was hard not to where this dude was concerned. He looked a little like Cheech, but without the joint and a lot scarier. The sight of him was enough to make Lainey want to give up on love altogether and go back to selling insurance policies to uptight owners of expensive shorefront homes. At least then she wouldn’t have to think about hot pink thongs, even though they would be haunting her nightmares for quite some time.

  “All right, guys,” Lainey declared. She played with the sterling star pendant she wore around her neck, a perfect match to Erin’s and probably the only accessory they’d ever have in common. “I think it’s time to get back to work.”

  They ignored her request while they read the profile of a nearly illiterate moron that had no idea what a complete sentence entailed and whose spelling could’ve been challenged by Erin’s five-year-old son. Add to that the fluorescent yellow wife beater and the disturbing googly eyes, and he almost outdid Thong Boy on the creepy scale. Almost.

  “Seriously, ladies. I have a lot of work to do.”

  “Okay, okay.” Erin huffed but still relinquished control of the mouse. “But can we look again after work?”

  “Maybe if you’re really good,” Lainey teased.

  With a shrug of acceptance, Erin rolled back to her own desk, and Stephanie left them alone in the office. Lainey X’ed out of MatchMaker.com, determined to concentrate on her work. Again she told herself it was the last time she’d bother with that website. If fate had love in store for her, it would find its way to her naturally, in its own time. That’s what her grandmother had always told her, and it was also her friend Sharon’s favorite expression. They were both people whose opinions she respected greatly. Lainey knew she’d find her soul mat
e eventually. She just needed to have patience. In the meantime, there was her novel to write, her best friends to party with, and at the moment, an angry customer on the line who needed to be settled down.

  Buzzzzz. Buzzzzz.

  It was a quarter to five when Lainey’s cellphone vibrated against her desk, signaling a text coming through. She picked it up to check the message even though she was listening to one of her favorite clients tell her their life story for the third time that week. Blanche McLaughlin had called to make sure her monthly payment had been received, but somehow they always got sidetracked.

  “You know how much I worry about the old place, especially with hurricane season sneaking up on us,” Blanche fretted. “The Doll Hospital might not do as much business as it did back in the sixties and seventies, but it’s still a landmark here in Cape May.”

  “I know, Blanche.” Lainey smiled in spite of herself. “It’s a beautiful home.”

  Lainey had assured Blanche everything was fine more than twenty minutes ago. They’d had the same conversation two days before when she’d stopped into the office. The older woman was one of her regular customers and a pillar of the community, who only recently stepped down as head of the Cape May preservation society. Her Victorian home boasted a small side store that specialized in repairing both porcelain and cloth dolls. Regardless of her age and occasional bouts of arthritis, Blanche still had a steady hand and could sew a dress or paint a smile to perfection. She also had a lot of great stories to tell, but even though Lainey didn’t mind cheering up lonely elderlies with the occasional friendly chatter, she had four other messages flashing on her voicemail, all of which had to be returned before leaving for the evening.

  What R U doing 2night. Woody’s?

  Lainey read the message while she listened. It was Elisa Manna, one of Lainey’s closest girlfriends. Elisa worked at a bank in the next town over. Lainey figured it must’ve been a rough day at the office if her friend was begging for happy hour at their favorite bar before the business day had even ended. Lainey chewed her lower lip and debated whether she wanted to spend the night out on the town or hunched over her computer. Her novel called to her, but a few hours without the glare of the computer monitor couldn’t hurt. There was nothing better than a night at Woody’s with her girls to help get her past the Hump Day blues.

  “Yes, Blanche, it has been unusually warm the last few weeks,” Lainey agreed. She cradled the phone receiver between her neck and shoulder to free her hands so she could reply to Elisa. “I know. I’m excited about the holidays too.”

  Call U in a few.

  Thirty minutes later, Erin and Lainey were the only two people who hadn’t fled the personal lines department at the stroke of four. They did hear a few feet scuffling overhead, most likely their boss and CEO, Gregg Conway, Erin’s dad. He was the head of the insurance agency and rarely left before dark, but he also seldom stepped down in their neck of the woods, trusting Erin and Lainey to manage the homeowners department while he babysat the more influential clients.

  The Conways were a pretty important family in Cape May County. Not only was The In-Shore-ance Agency one of the most affluent year-round businesses in the area, Erin’s mother Beth was also the mayor of Victorian Cape May. Compared to Lainey, an orphan who could barely afford the tiny condo her grandmother had willed to her, Erin was practically royalty. But that never stopped the two from being friends. They’d known each other since grade school, and couldn’t have been happier when circumstances threw them back together after they matriculated from college. Later they met up with Elisa and Sharon, and the four of them had become an inseparable unit.

  “Elisa wants to meet up at Woody’s,” Lainey told Erin once she’d finally gotten Blanche to talk herself out. The two of them slung their handbags over their shoulders, locked up the office, and walked to their cars. “You up for it?”

  Erin shook her head as she climbed into her silver SUV. “Can’t. Nate has his first soccer practice tonight. You gonna go?”

  Lainey shrugged. “Maybe. But first I’d really like to take a jog on the beach. Now that the tourists have packed up for the season, I can actually have the whole place to myself.”

  Erin narrowed her eyes. “The same girl who wears one-hundred proof sunblock in the summer wants to glide along the endless expanse of Wildwood beaches alone, unprotected? I think you’re crazy to go out there by yourself when it’s so desolate. At least stay here in Cape May where there are still a few living, breathing people who can hear you scream if someone tries to abduct you.”

  “The whole point is alone time,” Lainey argued. “Besides, I’m a Wildwood girl. You know that.”

  Erin snorted. “This isn’t a competition between Cape May and Wildwood. The whole point is your nature-lovin’ butt is gonna get kidnapped.”

  Lainey wasn’t overly concerned. She spent a lot of time on the beach by herself, and no one had bothered her yet. If anything, she was probably the one giving off the crazy vibe, considering she often sang along to her favorite music as she jogged. “I’ll be fine. I have my pepper spray.”

  “Oh, that’s comforting,” Erin scoffed. “You’re such a klutz, you’ll probably spray yourself in the face.”

  “I appreciate the vote of confidence,” Lainey grumbled as she pulled open the door of her red Fiat. “But I’ll be fine. Really.”

  “Just be careful,” Erin insisted. “The last thing I need is to pick up your slack at the office if you go MIA.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I love you too. Tell Nate I said good luck with his practice.”

  Erin acknowledged her with a toot of her horn before disappearing from the parking lot. Lainey was only a step behind. It was two weeks after Labor Day and finally the summer traffic had died down to a minimum. Taking the normally packed main roads to her condo in Wildwood took twenty minutes instead of an hour. Once she got home, she pulled out a pair of black yoga pants with a mandala along the hemline and a T-shirt with the lotus flower on the back. She considered pulling her waist length hair into a ponytail, but decided against it. She liked the feel of it loose around her shoulders, blowing in the soft ocean breeze. It was like a security blanket. The weather was still in the upper seventies, so she could do without a jacket. Before long she was ready to go, but first she pulled up Elisa’s number on her cell phone. Elevator music played for a few seconds before she was directed straight to voice mail.

  “Hey, Elisa. It’s me. I’m going for a run on the beach. After that I’ll have to shower, but I’ll meet up with you at Woody’s around seven. Call if anything changes. See ya.”

  With that out of the way, Lainey grabbed her keychain, complete with pepper spray, as well as her MP3 player. She was less than a foot from the door when a black ball of fluff leapt up onto the counter, gave her a dirty look, and whacked her with one clawed paw. Luckily, Lainey had good reflexes and the cat missed its target.

  “Listen, Misty, are you going to give me a hard time too?” Lainey still reached out to pat the animal’s head. “Because I’ll have you know I’m completely capable of taking care of myself.”

  As if to argue her point, Misty stuck her rump up in the air, flicked her tail, and emitted a light rumble close to a hiss. Lainey shook her head and laughed to herself until she realized the real reason Misty was copping an attitude. Her food bowl was empty. Lainey rushed to open a can of her favorite food before finally managing to sneak out. She didn’t have to go far to reach her destination. Her condo might be a two bedroom cubbyhole, but the stone fortress around it opened directly onto the Wildwood boardwalk and offered a stunning oceanfront view. From the boards she took the steps down to the sand and breathed in the crisp, refreshing scent of salty air, feeling instantly invigorated.

  Lainey had lived by the ocean all her life, but she still found herself awed by its beauty. Golden sand stretched out for miles on either side, untouched by anything but occasional seagull prints. In front of her the blue waters met the sky seamlessly, its stillness broken only
by the occasional lap of froth against the shoreline. The early fall was Lainey’s favorite time of year. Still warm enough to enjoy the feel of the cool sand between her bare toes, even if the water was too icy to swim in. She took one last long look at the scenery while she stretched her legs, then took off at a brisk pace along the water’s edge.

  Half an hour later, Lainey’s hair stuck to her sweaty skin and she felt pleasantly fatigued. But she’d just arrived at her favorite spot on the whole island, and it gave her a second wind. In the summer months, she’d have to fight tourist children to get a spot, but at the moment the swing set, like the rest of the beach, was completely deserted.

  Lainey had never told anyone, not even her closest friends, that she’d never outgrown her childhood affinity for swings. Although it was once an enjoyable pastime, now it was an escape she rarely indulged in. When she was all alone, with the wind blowing through her hair, she imagined she was flying. It might seem childish to some people, but for Lainey, it was an empowering chance to escape the humdrum of everyday life and experience freedom in the truest sense of the word—freedom of her spirit. After all, she always did have an affinity with the element of air.

  “Looks like it’s all clear.”

  Lainey checked one last time to make sure she was alone, just for precautionary measures, before finally climbing onto the center swing. Once she was certain she had privacy, she hooked her MP3 player to her pants, shoved the ear buds into place, and turned the music all the way up. Then, with her eyes pressed closed, she kicked her feet, jolted into the air, and flew far away from the world below, even if it was only for a little while.

  Chapter Two

  Drew was on the parkway headed toward the small seaside town of Wildwood, New Jersey. He’d chosen the location because when he was a young boy, his parents used to bring him there to visit his Great Aunt Tessie. He and his horde of cousins spent the days sunning on the beach and the nights cruising the piers, crashing bumper cars, and spinning on the Tilt-A-Whirl until they almost threw up. Drew had never gone back to visit after his aunt passed away. His cousins moved to other areas, and he was too busy working in high school and college to worry about summer vacations. But the small island held a lot of fond memories, and it was the first place he thought of when he decided he wanted to get away. It had taken a few weeks to make all the necessary arrangements, and a lot of the attractions he’d enjoyed as a child would be closing soon, but he preferred the off season. It should be quiet, peaceful—exactly what Drew was searching for. If things went as well as he hoped, he might even buy a second home in the area so he’d have a permanent retreat.