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“We won’t see each other again, will we? You’re not asking me to hide. You’re asking me to run, to—” A sob choked the rest of her words.
“You’re a strong woman. You’ll be fine. Now get some sleep. You have to leave at first light, before Joss’s woman comes back.”
“What will you do?”
“You know what they say. There are as many islands in the Gulf as days in the year. How many of those are inhabited?”
She blinked. “Forty.”
“Exactly. I know how to feed myself with fish.”
She understood his plan. “I won’t watch you become a fugitive because of me. Someone must be able to help us.”
“No one can help us but ourselves.”
She grasped at straws, anything to change his mind. “It won’t work. We can’t just disappear. People will wonder what happened to us.”
“I’ve already told Tristan you wanted to go to Paris for the summer and I bought you a train ticket. I’ve told the men I’m going to work on a fish trawler for a few months. A lot of them do it.”
“Not at your age.”
“I’m not your average fisherman.” He smiled bravely.
“The animals—”
“Call Rigual in the morning. Tell him to take care of them. He’s a good man. He’ll see to them.”
She’d exhausted all her arguments. “I can’t leave you,” she said, crying quietly.
He only laid his hand on her shoulder again and said, “Ken ar wech all, may we meet again,” before he shuffled through the door in the direction of the beach.
Watching him go, her heart crumpled in her chest. She didn’t want to leave him, but he was right. Staying only put him in more danger. She didn’t have a choice but to heed the message of her dream. She had to run.Chapter 4It rained that night. By early morning, there was no sunlight, only the drizzle that washed over the panels of Clelia’s roof window. Looking outside, she couldn’t distinguish between the clouds and the sea. The two elements flowed into each other like watercolors.
She went through her routine briskly but with a heavy heart. She pulled on her denim shorts, a T-shirt, and her rain jacket. She brushed her teeth and braided her hair. As per Erwan’s instruction, she didn’t pack. She only dropped her mobile phone, charger, a cap, sunscreen, and her purse in her backpack.
When she swung the strap over her shoulder, her gaze fell on the pendant on her nightstand. It was wrong to keep it, but with Joss’s girlfriend asking questions around town, she could hardly look him up and return it. Those questions were enough to make her seem guilty. By now, she understood how the townspeople’s minds worked. Where there was smoke, there was fire. Besides, who was she kidding? It was never her intention to return it. It was her reminder of what they’d shared, a forbidden moment that was wrong and yet so right.
Dragging a thumb along the hard edge of the crystal, she let her thoughts wander back to Joss. She still felt him in the ache between her legs. Was he all right? She’d probably never know. That thought alone was a knife in her heart. Pushing back the hurt, she dropped the necklace in her pocket and cast a last look around.
Every muscle in her body was tense, her heart pumping as she got ready to abandon the cottage. Erwan wasn’t downstairs. His boat was gone. Only the dinghy drifted in the shallow water. It was just like Erwan to have left in the night. Saying goodbye this morning would’ve been too difficult. She didn’t want to think of it for the fear of breaking down in tears.
Erwan had already gotten rid of the fresh food and taken out the trash. After feeding the animals, she spent a little time with each of them. Tripod, as if sensing something, wouldn’t leave her side. He followed her until she was forced to take a stern tone and order him to stay. It broke her heart. She’d call Rigual like Erwan suggested and ask him to take care of them. Rigual wouldn’t ask questions if she didn’t offer explanations. It wasn’t in his nature.
Because of the rain, she didn’t take the dinghy. Navigating through the mist would be too hazardous. Instead she pulled on her rubber boots and drew the hood of her rain jacket over her head before cycling up the road that led to the harbor of Larmor-Baden. Snow ran out ahead of her, while Rain, Thunder, and Cloud followed. They often accompanied her to the mainland, but today she would have to make them turn around before she got to the harbor. She tried not to think of it as she shielded her eyes against the drops of water that pricked her face. The wind picked up and the rain fell heavier. She pedaled her bike harder into the onslaught of the weather.
