AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Olivia no longer felt as emotional as she’d been at the beginning of this ride; the silent drive and the beautiful scenery had softened her mood. She’d taken long journeys like this with her mother. It had been so long ago, she couldn’t remember the destination, but she could still remember the bus with its people in it—reading books, leaning against the windows, or sleeping. She could also remember staring at the forests, at the trees twirling past them. The memories had always felt like a dream, but in this moment, she felt that dream come alive again.
“Yes, it is beautiful,” she finally answered Christian.
He smiled, looking relieved. “We have a lot of fresh green land and mountains spreading across the horizon. It’s like a painting.”
Olivia nodded. “A very pretty painting.”
“Do you like art?” he asked, slowing down to take a short bend, avoiding a branch stretched out across the road.
“I do. Not the boring ones of fruit.”
“Or empty dishes someone left behind after a meal,” he joked.
She laughed. “Or those. I like landscape paintings. And anything with people in them.”
“Yeah, me too. Especially crowds from the past. Makes me feel like I’m time travelling.”
“Yes, me too. I love those!”
She glanced at him. His eyes were on the road, so she watched him for a moment; the smile on his face and the way his fingers moved on the wheel, his arms bulging through his shirt. She looked away when he turned toward her. He reminded her of those guys she read about in books, the handsome rich types.Except, in this case, I’m the. . . she paused halfway into that thought and frowned. The whole idea of inheriting the Rusu fortune and coming here hit her fresh again, turned everything surreal again.
“I’m really in Romania,” she muttered to herself, but it came out a little too loud.
“What’s that?”
She looked at him. When their eyes met, she shifted her gaze to the cracked windshield.
“I still can’t believe I’m in Romania.”
He smiled and nodded. “I know that feeling. Not that I’ve travelled out of the country, but I used to feel that way when I first came to the city from the village. It felt like a dream; like there was a whole world out there calling out to me.”
It was getting dark outside now, so he turned on the headlights, which flickered briefly before stabilizing. Olivia watched a truck drive past, the first they’d seen since turning off the highway and onto the smaller roads.
“Not a lot of cars out here,” she said after the red backlights of the truck grew smaller in the rear mirror.
“It depends on the season, but in late fall like this, not really. A few cars now and then, but mostly locals, or farm trucks heading to the village. You get the occasional tourist buses at the right time of year, but those are rare.”
“It’s funny,” she said.
“What is?” he asked, glancing at her and then back at the road. The headlights pierced through the thickening darkness, illuminating the flickering bodies of insects.
“I can’t help but feel like all this seems familiar.”
“You mean you’ve been here before?” he asked.
She shook her head.
“Oh yeah, I remember. You said this is your first time here.”
“But, somehow, it still feels familiar.”
He pursed his lips, tilting his head an inch or two. “Well, you have family here, don’t you? Elena?”
Olivia stopped herself from shaking her head—maybe Elena had told him that they were related. She shrugged. “Or maybe it just reminds me of some countryside I’ve seen back home in America.”
“Or that too.”
A shimmering moon had risen, sparkling stars popping up around it. She stared at the sky for a while, drawn to the mysterious beauty.
