Read Waterfalls for Free Online Page B

parking lot, where dozens of cars now lined up in tidy rows. Lots of people from Glenbrooke and the surroundingarea were showing up right on time. For a small community, this was a big event. Jonathan and Shelly had said they expected close to a thousand people.
    “Looks like the festivities are about to begin,” Meredith said, glancing at her watch. “Are you leaving now, or are you planning to come up to the lodge?”
    Jay checked his watch. “I’d better get going. Hey, before you come to the conference …”
    “Yes?”
    The cell phone in his shoulder bag rang before he could finish his sentence. He mumbled an apology and took the call, turning his back to her. A stream of cars pulled into the gravel parking area. Jay had to plug his ear to hear the person on the other end.
    Noticing that he had dropped the phone cover onto the gravel, Meredith picked it up for him just as he was saying he would call the person back. The pouch was soft black leather and felt smooth to the touch. Meredith looked down at the case and noticed a name engraved in gold letters across its side. She looked closely in the glare of the midday sun, trying to make sure she had read the name correctly. There was no mistake. The name on the phone case was Jacob Wilde. Jay turned back to her, and Meredith looked up at him with new eyes.
    “Jacob?” she questioned. “You’re Jacob Wilde?”
    Some of the shimmer fell from his eyes. He didn’t answer right away. A group of four women who had exited a car parked behind where they stood slowed down when they overheard Meredith.
    “You are, aren’t you?” Meredith began to feel a rush of excitement. Her face turned bright red. This is what she had dreamed of her entire life, meeting a movie star face-to-face. And here he was, only a few feet away.
    Unable to control her amazement, Meri let out a scream and then pressed her hand against her mouth in an effort to stifle her sudden reaction. “I thought it was you this morning! I even told my mom. I said, ‘Mom, I just saw a guy who looks like Jacob Wilde.’ ” Meredith’s voice was at a raised pitch. The four women stopped and looked at Jacob. They began to whisper.
    “My mom thought I was crazy, but that’s okay. She always thinks I’m crazy. But I knew it was you, or at least I thought it was you. Why didn’t you tell me? Why did you say your name was Jay?”
    Jacob began to look nervous. The four women stepped closer. One of them held a pen in hand and quickly scrounged in her purse.
    “What I said was that you could call me J.” He made the letter
J
in the air with his finger.
    “Oh!
J
, not Jay. I see. But where did the Wartman come from?”
    Jacob appeared to be blushing. He looked down and adjusted his sunglasses.
    Before he could answer, the woman came closer with a scrap of paper and held out the pen. “Would you mind giving me your autograph? I loved you in
Falcon Pointe
. Do you have any more movies coming out soon?”
    “No,” Jacob said as he quickly scrawled his name on the back of the woman’s grocery list. He smiled pleasantly at her and said, “Thanks.”
    “Oh no! Thank you,” she said.
    Her friend stepped forward and wedged herself between Meri and Jacob. “Would you mind if we took a quick photo?”
    Before Jacob could answer, the camera had clicked, and the woman was already saying thank you.
    “It’s Jacob Wilde!” the woman in glasses announced to theteenage girls heading toward the lodge. With a whoosh, five, six, then nine more women were gathered around Jacob.
    Meredith felt overwhelmed. Where had all these people come from? Why were they pushing their way between Jacob and her? Couldn’t they see that she was with him? She was, wasn’t she?
    So much was happening so fast. One of the women excitedly asked Jacob to sign the back of her checkbook. Two more people got out of their cars and came over to see what all the commotion was about. Meredith was being pushed farther and farther to the side as