AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Thanking me isn’t necessary.” He strokes the shivering puppy’s head. “I’m only glad I got to him in time. You better get him dry and warm.”
“You must be freezing.” She perks up. “I don’t live far from here. Why don’t you come home and dry off before you catch pneumonia?”
“Thank you,” he says with an impersonal smile, “but I don’t want to impose on you and your husband.”
“I live alone,” she says quickly before adding in a sultry tone, “I’m divorced.”
“Thanks for the offer, but I have to get back to my niece and nephews.”
She glances toward the children who followed the rest of the spectators to the bank and are standing next to the bridge. In a small town like this, everyone knows who Angelo’s niece and nephews are. Sophie, Étienne, and Guillaume are gaping, looking at their uncle with a mixture of shock, admiration, and pride.
She stretches out an arm, offering him a hand. “I’m Julie. My son and your niece are in the same class.”
He shakes her hand. “Angelo. Nice to meet you.” When she doesn’t let go, he frees his hand gently but firmly from her grasp. To the woman who offered him the blanket, he says, “May I return this tomorrow?”
“Oh.” The woman blushes. “Don’t worry about it. You can keep it.”
His lips quirk. When he turns and makes his way up the bank, she fans herself.
A murmur breaks out in the crowd. They follow him with their gazes as he picks his jacket up from the mud, walks to the children, and leads them to the SUV. Once he’s buckled them up in the back, he gets behind the wheel. Half of the village stare after the vehicle when he pulls into the road.
I stay out of sight until he turns the corner. Even then, I’m careful, sticking to the outskirts of the crowd as I collect my sneakers, put them back on over my wet socks, and make my way to the street. In a village where everybody knows one another, a stranger stands out like a lighthouse on a stormy sea. I can’t let Angelo find out I was at the school. I don’t want the other parents to pose questions, but nobody pays me attention. They’re too hyped up about the incident, talking about it in hushed voices.
By now, the teachers who clocked off for the day are filing through the school gate. Ducking my head, I quickly walk in the opposite direction. I don’t make it five steps before a strong hand wraps around my wrist.
On edge from the scary scene that just played off, I give a start. I look up into Roch’s stern face. He’s wearing faded jeans and a T-shirt. In his free hand, he carries a briefcase. It’s still strange to see him in casual attire instead of the black suit I got used to in South Africa.
“We need to talk,” he says.
Not giving me a chance to argue, he drags me around the school building. In a small park that borders on the side of the school, he lets me go.
A moment of silence passes as he scrutinizes me. “You look like you saw a ghost.”
I wrap my arms around myself. “I just saw my husband.”
He exhales through his nose. “Sophie’s teacher encouraged him to drive the kids to school instead of sending the driver. She thinks it’ll help if he’s more involved.” His mouth lifts in one corner in a semblance of a smile, but the gesture isn’t friendly. “To appear morenormal, I suppose.”
I don’t want to discuss my husband or how abnormal our life is. “What do you want?”
“I heard about the marijuana.”
“Mr. Russo spoke to Johan. It won’t happen again.”
“Here.” He takes a cell phone and a charger from his briefcase. “These are for you.”
My lips part as I look at the items in his hand. “For me?”
“I carried them on me in case I ran into you. I had a feeling you’d show up again.” When I don’t move, he continues, “It’s a burner phone. Safer. More difficult to trace.”
I lift my gaze back to his. “Why?”
“We have our differences, but I can’t let you walk up and down that damn mountain without a phone.”
“How did you know I didn’t have one?”
“It seems you made friends in town. When you didn’t show up in the village for a week, they got worried about you. Knowing I used to work for your husband, they asked me if I had any news.”
“What did you say?”
