Read Catch My Fall for Free Online

stopped.
    Jackie set two slices of cake in front of me. I was literally floating in a sugar cloud from all the baking she was doing. She assured me there was no bake sale coming. Jackie’s answer to boredom was confection.
    “You’re talking about the sex aren’t you?”
    Jesus, Jackie. Do you read minds? “Yeah, I guess I am.”
    “Honey, sex doesn’t make for a healthy relationship on its own.”
    “I know that!”
    Yet that knowledge didn’t change the fact that I was truly worried. I’d been with a few guys before Cole and a couple had managed to get the job done, but it was different with Cole. Cole had succeeded at least twice as often as every man who came before. That is – when he was ever in the mood to touch me.
    “Did you ever think that maybe it was the affection you had for him that made it so great? When it was great.”
    Again, I paused. “Maybe?”
    Point taken. I’d never really been all that fond of the guys that came before.
    Jackie flashed me a smile and returned to the oven. Her entire house smelled like Christmas. I envied her kitchen savvy. My kitchen prowess seemed to only appear at holidays. Instead, I’d been blessed with more frivolous gifts, like drawing the shapes of shadows and charcoal shading. You wouldn’t know that about me anymore, given I hadn’t picked up a sketchpad or a pencil in years.
    “Well, I think you’re doing great. Just keep your focus positive, you know? If he’s your soul mate, you’ll figure it out, and if he’s not… Are you gonna try them?”
    I looked down at my two slices of cake. One was Chocolate with salted caramel buttercream, the other was the lemon raspberry. I took a bite of the lemon.
    I moaned. “Oh goodness.”
    “You like?”
    I nodded. A bite of the chocolate followed. It was sinful, but I soon chose the lemon as my favorite.
    Jackie smiled. “Besides, as I’ve said a thousand times, there’s easily a million guys out there who would be overjoyed to have a girl as funny as you.”
    “Ha!” I said, without any real humor to speak of. “Oh naturally. I know that’s what they’re all talking about around the locker rooms and water coolers of the world. ‘Damn did you see Dale’s new lady? Oh, the one with the eyepatch and club foot? Hells yeah! That girl can sure tell a fart joke!’”
    Jackie shot her a sideways glance. “You don’t have an eyepatch.”
    “Shut up.”
    She let me finish my cake, the textures of chocolate and mousse, the hint of salt, or the tart of the lemon - as addictive as Crystal Meth. Not that I have ever partaken in Crystal Meth, I’m speaking in allegory here, but you catch my drift. I pointed at the cake, waggling my eyebrows at her.
    “What’s with all the cakes?”
    Jackie’s eyebrows shot up like some startled animal. “Oh, just trying new things. Feeling a little cooped up these days, I guess.”
    I knew the feeling. “Well, they’re spectacular.”
    She smiled. “Still can’t make a pie like you, though.”
    I scoffed, waving her away. Though I admit, my blueberry pie is pretty life changing.
    We both went quiet a moment as she buttered another cake pan. I jutted my chin toward the cakes.
    She glared at me. “Tell me you actually want another slice and you can have it, but if you’re going to come in my house talking about being svelte, I don’t want to be responsible for you feeling bad later because you ate like a steelworker.”
    I stared at Jackie, part of me grateful for her interference and the other part of me desperate she’d just shut up and be the conductor on my train to fat town. She stared me down as I mulled over my decision. That Lemon and Buttercream was like crack, I swear.
    “Ok, one more and then I’ll head out for the afternoon. Is that okay?”
    “Of course.”
    My phone buzzed just then as I rubbed my hands together in excited expectation. I startled, pulling the contraption from my pocket to check.
    Where you at, fool?
    Stellan. Apparently his work load