Falling stars, p.1
Falling Stars, page 1
Books by Fern Michaels
Fear Thy Neighbor
Santa Cruise
No Way Out
The Brightest Star
Fearless
Spirit of the Season
Deep Harbor
Fat & Fortune
Sweet Vengeance
Holly and Ivy
Fancy Dancer
No Safe Secret
Wishes for Christmas
About Face
Perfect Match
A Family Affair
Forget Me Not
The Blossom Sisters
Balancing Act
Tuesday’s Child
Betrayal
Southern Comfort
To Taste the Wine
Sins of the Flesh
Sins of Omission
Return to Sender
Mr. and Miss Anonymous
Up Close and Personal
Fool Me Once
Picture Perfect
The Future Scrolls
Kentucky Sunrise
Kentucky Heat
Kentucky Rich
Plain Jane
Charming Lily
What You Wish For
The Guest List
Listen to Your Heart
Celebration
Yesterday
Finders Keepers
Annie’s Rainbow
Sara’s Song
Vegas Sunrise
Vegas Heat
Vegas Rich
Whitefire
Wish List
Dear Emily
Christmas at Timberwoods
The Lost and Found Novels:
Secrets
Hidden
The Sisterhood Novels:
19 Yellow Moon Road
Bitter Pill
Truth and Justice
Cut and Run
Safe and Sound
Need to Know
Crash and Burn
Point Blank
In Plain Sight
Eyes Only
Kiss and Tell
Blindsided
Gotcha!
Home Free
Déjà Vu
Cross Roads
Game Over
Deadly Deals
Vanishing Act
Razor Sharp
Under the Radar
Final Justice
Collateral Damage
Fast Track
Hokus Pokus
Hide and Seek
Free Fall
Lethal Justice
Sweet Revenge
The Jury
Vendetta
Payback
Weekend Warriors
The Men of the Sisterhood
Novels:
Hot Shot
Truth or Dare
High Stakes
Fast and Loose
Double Down
The Godmothers Series:
Far and Away
Classified
Breaking News
Deadline
Late Edition
Exclusive
The Scoop
E-Book Exclusives:
Desperate Measures
Seasons of Her Life
To Have and To Hold
Serendipity
Captive Innocence
Captive Embraces
Captive Passions
Captive Secrets
Captive Splendors
Cinders to Satin
For All Their Lives
Texas Heat
Texas Rich
Texas Fury
Texas Sunrise
Anthologies:
In Bloom
Home Sweet Home
A Snowy Little Christmas
Coming Home for Christmas
A Season to Celebrate
Mistletoe Magic
Winter Wishes
The Most Wonderful Time
When the Snow Falls
Secret Santa
A Winter Wonderland
I’ll Be Home for Christmas
Making Spirits Bright
Holiday Magic
Snow Angels
Silver Bells
Comfort and Joy
Sugar and Spice
Let it Snow
A Gift of Joy
Five Golden Rings
Deck the Halls
Jingle All the Way
FALLING STARS
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR
FERN MICHAELS
www.kensingtonbooks.com
All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.
Table of Contents
Also by
Title Page
Copyright Page
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Epilogue
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
To the extent that the image or images on the cover of this book depict a person or persons, such person or persons are merely models, and are not intended to portray any character or characters featured in the book.
KENSINGTON BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2022 by Fern Michaels.
Fern Michaels is a registered trademark of KAP 5, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
The K with book logo Reg US Pat. & TM Off.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022938417
ISBN: 978-1-4967-3715-1
First Kensington Hardcover Edition: October 2022
ISBN: 978-1-4967-3719-9 (ebook)
First Kensington Ebook Edition: October 2022
Chapter One
Emily Nicole Ammerman took her first sip of celebratory champagne in honor of tonight’s big announcement. Standing at the top of the staircase, looking down at the main lodge, she observed the crowd below. People she’d known her entire life and those who were guests who’d spent many winters at her family’s ski lodge, so much so they were now considered close friends of the family, were all gathered for the evening’s festivities.
Though the Christmas holidays were just a few weeks away, Emily spied little touches throughout the lodge that would soon become a full-fledged, bona fide Christmas extravaganza. Candlelight glistened off the golden log walls her family had kept in top-notch condition for more than fifty years. During the holidays her mother always hired a team of local decorators to help her adorn the lodge as it took a couple of months to “do it up in style,” in her mother’s words. In all of Emily’s twenty-nine years, at least those she remembered, her mother never repeated the decor, minus the few exceptions of sentimental bits and bobs Emily had made as a child.
November was the true start of the ski season in Snowdrift Summit, though Mother Nature sometimes surprised them with an early snowfall, forcing them to speed up preparations for those who lived for the first blast of white powder. Being one of those herself, when Emily wasn’t giving ski lessons, her days on the mountain were heaven. It didn’t matter that she’d skied these slopes hundreds—no, thousands—of times. Each time she took the lift to the top of the mountain, a trickle of excitement shivered down her spine.
“Nick.” Her father’s deep voice jolted her back to the present. He used his version of her middle name, something he only did when he truly wanted her attention.
“Hi, Dad. You’re looking pretty handsome tonight,” Emily said as she leaned in to give him a hug. “Looks like you and Mom invited the entire town.” She nodded at the growing crowd.
“Thanks. You’re as beautiful as ever, kid.” He gestured at the folks below. “You know your mother. Any reason to celebrate, she’s happy as a lark.”
Emily raised her brow. “Yeah, I guess tonight is just like all the other parties she’s thrown.” She couldn’t help the bit of sarcasm in her voice. Tonight only happened once in a lifetime. She downed the last bit of champagne, placing her flute on a side table. “I need to mingle,” she said, repeating her mother’s earlier words.
“Nick, I need to speak to you before all the hoopla gets underway,” her dad said in a tone he reserved for only the utmost important conversations.
Her heart rate sped up, a knot forming in her stomach. She focused her attention on him. Was he ill? Her mother? Mimi and Papaw?
“Dad, you’re scaring me. Who’s sick?” she blurted out, skipping any preamble.
“There you are!” Emily’s mother gushed as she reached the top of the grand staircase. “You two should be downstairs with our guests. Mason, you promised me you would pretend to like parties, just for tonight,” her mother singsonged in her sweet Southern accent.
“Julia, you know I adore your parties—it’s just the people who drive me bonkers,” he said to her, placing an arm across her shoulder. He winked at Emily.
Emily observed her parents. Both were still young; in their late fifties, they could pass for a much younger couple. Her mother was as tiny as the day she’d met her dad, her blond hair coiled into a sleek chignon, not a gray hair in sight. Her bright blue eyes sparkled when she smiled at Dad. He towered over her at six three, a head of thick black hair, graying at the sides, his hazel eyes glistening when he looked at her mom. She adored them.
“You are such a party pooper, but I love you anyway. Now, let’s see to our guests.”
As her mother led Emily’s father downstairs, he looked over his shoulder and mouthed the word, Later.
She nodded, unsure she wanted to know what was so important he’d sought her out to tell her privately. Tonight of all nights, couldn’t it wait? Her parents’ retirement party wasn’t the ideal time to drop a bad-news bomb.
Taking her empty champagne flute, she whirled downstairs, pasting a smile on her face. Planning to corner her dad at the first opportunity, she spied Mimi and Papaw across the room talking with Bob and Carol Clark, their best friends. Both of her grandparents appeared to be healthy. Mimi’s head was thrown back in laughter, as was her norm, her white hair recently cut into the cutest pixie style. Emily thought it suited her quite well. As small as Mom, Mimi had always reminded her of a little sprite. Papaw was tall, though not as tall as her father; his years of skiing had kept him in tiptop shape. She adored her grandparents, too. They’d bought the resort right after they married, working around the clock to make it the success it was today.
When Emily’s parents married, they both had worked as hard as Mimi and Papaw, making the lodge a hot spot for locals and tourists. On the day her grandparents decided her parents had been, in their words, “well-groomed,” they deeded the resort to them. Yet when needed, they were always there in a pinch. Snowdrift Summit had always been a family operation. The locals flocked to the resort in droves, and tourists from all over the world came to ski the famous slopes, in particular The Plunge.
Other than the six years spent earning her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Colorado, Emily had spent her entire life in Loveland, Colorado, living and working at the family resort, which she loved. For a while now, she’d had an itch, an urge to try something different. Not necessarily a new career, but maybe working at a different resort. There were several throughout the state, many of them offering more challenging runs than Snowdrift Summit’s. The exception was The Plunge, a massive drop-off on a snow-covered cleft in the rock face where skiers could free fall for almost thirty feet. Then, if you managed to stick the landing on the fifty-degree slope, you had to throw all your weight forward as fast as humanly possible to avoid smashing into the ancient Precambrian rock. From there, The Plunge’s upside-down funnel shape opened into an extremely powdery run, challenging even the most expert skiers.
With her experience, Emily knew she could have her pick of jobs at any of the top resorts, though telling this to her family wasn’t going to be easy, especially because she knew her parents would be retiring soon. They had fantastic employees—three managers who knew the ropes and the slopes inside and out and would easily take charge. Emily truly hadn’t thought about it all in depth.
A waiter passed by with more bubbly. She helped herself to another glass, then meandered through the throngs of guests. Smiling as she crossed the room, nodding at the folks she recognized and giving finger waves to friends she worked with, she managed to weave her way across the large area to the main kitchen without actually speaking to anyone.
Pandemonium filled the commercial-size kitchen. Emily couldn’t help but grin. Kathryn, their longtime chef, and her assistants had insisted on catering this event themselves rather than hiring an outside caterer. This had been much to Emily’s mother’s dismay as she’d wanted all her employees to come as guests, but they’d insisted and she relented.
“You should be out there with your family,” Kathryn said as she placed a decorative flower on a plate of hors d’oeuvres.
“I am. I just wanted to see what’s happening in the food department. I’m starved.” Emily drained her champagne. “I’m already feeling a bit light-headed.” She laughed. “From this.” She placed her champagne flute on the counter.
Kathryn took a small plate, piling it high with cold shrimp and some kind of cucumber concoction, along with a slice of warm bread with butter. “This should tide you over. No more champagne, young lady,” Kathryn said, smiling.
“Thanks,” Emily replied, then quickly cleaned her plate. “You’re a lifesaver.”
“I wish, but no. I just make food,” Kathryn told her.
Kathryn was from Spain and had attended the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris. She did so much more than “make food.”
“What’s tonight’s main dish?” Emily asked.
“You need to ask? Really?” Kathryn’s dark eyes sparkled with amusement.
“No. I thought you might surprise them with one of your delectable gourmet specialties, that’s all.”
She shook her head. “No way—this is their special day. They must have what they want, even if it’s not a gourmet dinner. I cook to please. Always,” Kathryn added. “Round of beef and those potatoes they love.”
Emily’s parents both loved good old-fashioned prime rib with scalloped potatoes and they would have the best, prepared by Kathryn herself, rather than one of her assistants. “Thanks for this,” Emily said, waving her hand around.
“It’s my pleasure. Now go have fun with the family. I will see you in a while.” Kathryn shooed her out of her kitchen.
Unsure if her parents would make their announcement before or after dinner, Emily figured she had best mingle before her mom discovered her in the kitchen.
The lodge’s main hall, where guests normally came inside for lunch, a drink, or just to stand by the giant stone fireplace to warm themselves, was packed with folks who’d replaced their ski suits for fancy evening gowns and tuxedos. The main hall held five hundred people comfortably. Emily guessed they were at maximum capacity now. Apparently all who’d been invited accepted, which was perfect given the occasion. She saw the mayor and his wife, along with the chief of police and numerous other folks in positions of power, all good friends of the family’s. Probably a good thing in case any of them ever decided to start breaking laws. Emily rolled her eyes at her silly thoughts.
Scanning the room in search of her father, she saw him with a group of skiers from Florida who’d been lifelong members since she was a little girl. Whatever he had to tell her must not be that important, she thought as she watched him laugh and slap one of his pals on the back. He seemed happy, his usual self. Emily had no clue why he’d cornered her earlier. What was so important that he felt it couldn’t wait? Deciding it wasn’t something life-changing, she saw a group of instructors she worked with. Making her way across the room to join them, against her better judgment, she took another glass of champagne from a waiter passing by with a tray.
“It’s about time you joined the party,” said Kylie, her best friend. With her long black hair, dark eyes and olive-colored skin, she was stunning. Tiny like her mother, and as muscular as her small frame would allow. Emily adored her. “I was beginning to wonder if you’d make an appearance tonight.”
Emily and Kylie Esposito had been best friends since second grade. Their shared loved of skiing bonded them together like boot bindings to skis. They even lived in the same condo complex.
“I’ve been here, just lurking around. You know how much I love parties,” she said. Truly her mother’s daughter when it came to entertaining, she’d learned at a very young age how to entertain, loving every party her parents hosted. Mimi and her mother had both insisted she learn the ins and outs of entertaining.
