The Siren by KATHERINE JOHN (general ebook reader .txt) 📕

studying the picture intently. Without a word, she takes it over to the bed with her and reads the entire article without looking up. I try to peer over her shoulder, but she bats me away.

“Well?” I ask, holding my hand out for the magazine when she’s done.

“I need it,” she says.

“But I haven’t even read it,” I protest.

She throws the magazine at me. “Give it back when you’re done.” She picks up the curling iron and turns her attention to her reflection.

“Aren’t you happy?” I ask, confused. “He’s getting divorced.”

She doesn’t look happy. “I told you,” she says. “It’s complicated. That’s all I can say right now.”

I’m dumbfounded. “Seriously?”

“Sorry, honey,” she says. “I promise I’d tell you more if I could. Soon.”

I sigh and flop on the bed with the magazine, flipping to the article about Cole and Stella. The page features a picture of the two of them in front of a chapel, their clasped hands raised. She’s in a white sequined minidress holding a bouquet of roses; he wears a cream linen suit and a shit-eating grin.

Is Hollywood’s hottest couple divorcing after only ten months? Stella Rivers and Cole Power were already stars when they met on the set of their hit film, Faster, but their PDA-filled relationship has made them the most talked-about couple in Hollywood. After a quickie wedding in Vegas on Friday, July 13 (bad luck, we all said!), Stella reportedly moved into Cole’s home in Miami [picture of mansion]. It’s no secret “Stole” likes to party, and true to form, the two have been photographed together out and about in South Beach, Los Angeles, New York, and Paris. But after photos surfaced of Cole with a mystery woman in Miami [grainy photo of Cole leaning into a woman whose long blond ponytail spills out the back of a baseball hat] and reportedly getting cozy with his Bloodhound costar Noemi Calderon at a bar last week in Los Angeles, Stella was spotted out with a girlfriend, no Cole in sight [blurry photo of a woman that may or may not be Stella on a dance floor]. Now a source close to the couple confirms there is indeed trouble in paradise. Stella’s reportedly jealous of his continued flirtation with various women while she’s ready to settle down and have a baby. Cole already shares an eleven-year-old son, Jackson, with his Israeli model ex, Bar Salmaan. The source tells Celebrity that Stella’s been wanting to start a family for some time and thought Cole was on the same page, but he seems more interested in continuing his bad-boy ways. With his philandering past and her reported jealous streak, we give this relationship a grade of FAIL!

“Mom, is that you in the photo with Cole?”

She grabs a powder-blue sundress from her messy closet and pulls it over her head. “No.”

“But I don’t understand. Is he seeing other women?”

“Don’t believe everything you read. Especially that shit.” She nods at the magazine. “Can you grab my perfume out of my purse for me?”

I paw through her giant white shoulder bag in search of the perfume, but my fingers brush something soft. Curious, I pull it out. It’s a rainbow rabbit’s foot attached to a key chain with a solitary key. I turn it over in my hands, noting the initials CS burned into the paw. Suddenly it’s last Christmas, and Jewel’s mom is once again alive, chasing us around her apartment with this same rabbit’s foot while we squeal in terror.

“Why do you have Crystal’s rabbit foot?” I ask.

Iris spins from the open closet abruptly, her eyes flicking to the rabbit’s foot. “She gave it to me before she died.”

I drop it on the bed, remembering how disgusted I’d been that Crystal carried some poor rabbit’s amputated leg on her key chain. I also remember Jewel saying how attached her mom was to it and how much trouble she got in when she took it off the key chain once, because her mom never went anywhere without it. “But wasn’t it, like, her good luck charm?”

“I guess she didn’t need it anymore.”

I snort. “Boy was she wrong about that.”

“Phoenix. Not cool.” She gives me a dark look before turning back to the closet.

I pick up the rabbit’s foot again. “Why do you have her key?”

“She, uh…she gave it to me,” she says, continuing to rummage in the closet, “in case she ever got locked out or whatever.”

My mom doesn’t lie to me much, but when she does, I always know. “You promised you would never lie to me.”

“Phee.” She takes a deep breath and turns to meet my gaze. “Some things are grown-up things that are hard to explain. So I have to leave it at that for now, okay? Please don’t mention it to Jewel.”

I drop my eyes, stroking the rainbow fur. “Phee, I need you to promise.”

“I promise,” I mumble.

“Good. Thank you. How about that perfume?”

I toss it to her, still mad about her lying to me. She spritzes herself, then holds up two different strappy flats. “Silver or gold?”

“Gold,” I say.

I’ve hardly ever seen her wear flats or dresses that aren’t short and tight until the past few weeks. Another sign Cole must really be in love with her for who she is and not only what she looks like. But what was that in the article I just read about him cozying up to some actress in LA last week? I know Iris saw him last week. At least she said that was where she was going. But who knows. She could be lying to me about that too. She better not screw this up by seeing some other guy behind his back while he’s out of town.

Now I’m worried. I could ask her about it, but I don’t trust her anymore. She obviously hasn’t been straight with me about any of this, and I need to know what’s going on. It’s my life too.

I’m gonna find out for myself, and I know exactly how