Not today.
She took a few bites and put the sandwich down next tothe latte on the bedside table. Julien had claimed the only chair in the small room, so she’d sat up on the bed to eat. “It’s delicious. Thank you.”
Before she could say more, he added, “I thought we could go check out that beach you mentioned, and maybe take a packed lunch—”
“We need to talk about last night first.”
He drew his hand back through his dark hair, where it fell back across his face exactly as it had been in a perfect slump. “I’m trying to apologize. I was upset, but I shouldn’t have stormed out of here like that, and I should have come back with you.” His mouth turned in the rueful smile that she loved. “I only played one song. I couldn’t concentrate because I was worried about you.”
She didn’t ease his conscience by telling him that the captain had seen her home, knowing how sensitive Julien already was on that subject.
“You didn’t seem too worried,” Annie pointed out. “You seemed... occupied.”
Though she hadn’t had an ulterior meaning, Julien assumed she was referring to the woman. “Sofie is an old friend, Anne. You have nothing to worry about.”
Strangely she wasn’t. Although after what she’d seen, perhaps she should be. “You seemed to know each other well.”
He gave one of his nonresponsive shrugs. “I met her through Jean Paul years ago.”
There was more he wasn’t saying, but she didn’t feel like pressing him.
“What’s she doing here?” she asked instead.
“The same thing we are.”
“What?” Annie sat up straighter. “She’s going with us?”
He laughed her off. “Non, non.Sofie is here for the protest only. She knows nothing about anything else.”
Annie wasn’t sure she believed him. “Then what were you talking about when I arrived?”
He frowned. “Why are you questioning me like this? I told you there is nothing for you to worry about. You are acting as if you do not trust me.”
She was surprised to realize that she wasn’t sure that she did. “Ever since we arrived, you’ve been acting—I don’t know—different somehow.”
“What do you mean?”
She shrugged. “Distracted. Anxious. Testier than usual.”
His brow wrinkled. “Testier?”
She tried to come up with a translation. “A little moody and irritable. You seem on edge about something.”
“Aren’t you? We have important plans tomorrow, and I just want to make sure everything goes smoothly.”
“Maybe we should wait. Push it back a few days.”
The calm, easygoing, conciliatory demeanor showed its first crack. He looked truly upset—almost alarmed. “What are you talking about? We can’t push it back. It has to be timed—” He stopped. “It has to be tomorrow. Everything is ready. You aren’t thinking of backing out now? It’s too late. Jean Paul has it all arranged.”
Annie decided that there was no use in holding back any longer. She had to be honest with him. “That’s part of the problem. I’m sorry, Julien. I tried, but I don’t like your friend. There is something about him.” She bit her lip, trying to find the right words. “He makes me nervous.”
Julien seemed genuinely wounded. “There is no one I admire more than Jean Paul. He is a great man. You don’t know him as I do.” Nor did she want to. “Why are you saying this?” he demanded. “Is it because of what he said about your special soldiers?” SEALs. She didn’t bother correcting him a second time. “I thought you hated the military.”
That wasn’t quite true. Her feelings were difficult to sort through. She didn’t object to everything they did, just that the costs were sometimes too high. And the way the military chewed up and spat out the men who devoted their lives to it without taking care of them afterward?Thatshe did hate.
She’d never told Julien about her father. She didn’t talk about him with anyone.
“It isn’t that.” She hesitated. “Weasely vibes” and “looks as if he could give Tony Soprano a run for his money” weren’t the greatest ways to explain. “I don’t like how he looks at me.”
