Then, one tri-folded but lying open.
I shall try one more time to reach you, my darling. I dare to hope that now things might be different between us and that you’ll forgive whatever injury I might have caused you. I cannot help but hope this time you will answer. That you’ll allow me to visit. Perhaps time has softened your heart, for now you are a married woman…
The King’s Head Inn is a tall, narrow affair with beveled windows and a cross-hatched door. I slip inside and inhale the heavenly aroma before making my bargain with the publican. He doesn’t want the candlestick, but he’ll put a pasty on credit.
“Merryn Winthrop,” I say boldly when he asks for my name. I almost change it to Merryn Dunn of Dunn Cottage, just to see his reaction, but he’s gone before I can think.
I lean against a partition while I wait, and it vibrates with the low voices of the booth’s occupants on the other side. “Dishonest business, this.” The man has an accent, and he isn’t local.
“But worth it.”
I gasp, press my palms against the wood. That last one…that’s AJ.
“Look, I’m in a desperate position, Nigel. Everything’s gone upside down, and this is the only way I see to right it. So stay out, you hear? Stay out. This ismyaffair. I’ll do what I must.”
I shiver. He’s the angry man from the telephone booth again. I lean against the tall back of their booth that separates us, and strain to hear more about this “dishonest business.” AJ is a high-spirited adventure-loving bloke who never takes the world or himself too seriously. I cannot imagine himkillingsomeone.
He might, though. Anyone could.
“Shewillfind out, Winthrop. She’ll find out what you’re up to and leave you so fast your head will spin.”
I fist my hands and feel my last thread of sanity slipping through them.
“The truth? Thetruth? You cannot be serious.” He shifts. “She’s not ready for it.”
He’s right. Humans will believe a lot of nonsense before they’ll allow themselves to believe the one person on whom they depend…cannot be depended upon. I’ve been doing that for weeks, and now that I cannot ignore it, the truth vibrates through me and panic rises.
A voice from the bar calls, “Winthrop. Order here, Winthrop!”
I crouch against the partition and focus on breathing. Onnotpassing out.
“WINTHROP!”
That’s me. He means me. I turn and collide with a man—one that has lifted me and spun me, carrying me over life’s hot coals a time or two. “AJ!”
“Ah!” He breaks into a wide grin. “’TisMrs.Winthrop they mean. Well now, I’ve not lost my mind yet.” He scoops up the pasty wrapped in brown paper and offers it as if bestowing a gem upon a queen. “My lady.”
The very normalcy of this action tangles up my heart. I accept the paper-wrapped food and return his contagious smile with a flicker of my own.
“May I escort you back to your castle, my lady?”
I look into his penetrating eyes that make the inn’s chaos fade away. “I won’t take you away from what you are doing. I can manage.”
“Nonsense.” A flash of hardness in his jaw. “I wasn’t doing anything important.” Anyone else might have missed it, but I am coming to know him well, now that I’m paying attention. “Come,I’ll even carry your parcel.” He slips it from my grasp, then he’s gently guiding me out the door.
I glance over my shoulder to thank the publican and catch sight of the man in AJ’s booth. He’s glaring death at me. And his face…it’s familiar. I’ve seen him before.Where, though?
I look up at AJ, my heart pounding as if I’m staring over the rocky cliff at the edge of town. “So whatwereyou doing, AJ? Not causing trouble, I hope.” I inject a playful tone and steal back my food.
Then it happens. He turns to face me, that magnificent, disarming smile. Time slows as he leans in, kisses his favorite spot on my jaw, his fingers indulging in my hair. I feel myself melting. “Were you this pretty when I first met you, luv?”
I stiffen with new awareness.
The park. That’s where I’ve seen that man before—at Pittville Park, where I later met AJ. He stared at me that day until I grew uncomfortable. I left early.
AJ’s words tumble back into my mind.So stay out, you hear? Stay out. This ismyaffair. I’ll do what I must.
My vision blurs at the edges. It’s like a code I cannot decipher, because none of it adds up. I try for a smile. “I’ve forgotten something inside. Go on ahead.”
