Mars is unruly,I translate in my mind.
“Et Pluton est obsessionnel,”the woman replies with a laugh.
And Pluto is obsessive.
I bite back a smile as I pass them.
I don’t believe in astrology, but the conversation reminds me of that old book. Men are from Mars, women are from Venus, and I’m guessing dogs are from Pluto?
It’s the silliest thing, but it makes me smile and forget, even just for a while, that life will never be the same again.
****
CALIXTE WATCHED THEgirl vanish through the doors before pulling out his phone.
“Zacharie,mon ami.” He kept his voice light, but his eyes were sharp. “Are you aware that the girl you rescued speaks French?”
Eden pressed close to his side, tilting her head to catch the response. When it came, Calixte shook his head at her, and his wife’s lips formed a small ‘o’ of surprise.
“If that is the case,” Calixte continued, “then is it possible she overheard you speaking in French? And learned of something she was not supposed to know?”
The silence on the other end was answer enough.
“I thought so.” Calixte’s smile was almost gentle. Almost. “Perhaps you should consider what exactly you said...and what she might have understood.”
****
ZACHARIE STOOD AT THEwindow of his study, the phone still in his hand, Calixte’s words ringing in his ears, his free hand curling into a fist at his side as he recalled her first night in his home.
Ironically, it was also Calixte he had been speaking to at that time, when he had said...
Je compte la marier.
I plan to marry her off.
And perhaps...that was where her accusation at her cousin’s wake was coming from.
You were the one who pretended first!
That time, her words had made no sense at all, and so he had simply assumed she was projecting her guilt on him.
I know I’m a burden to you.
All this time, he had been trying to figure out what changed. And what caused her to build walls when she didn’t even seem to be the wall-building type in the first place.
All this time—
The phone creaked in his grip.
He had been the answer.
He was the one who had changed in her eyes.
And maybe...that was life telling him it was better this way.
