God be thanked for books! they are the voices of the distant and the dead, and make us heirs of the spiritual life of past ages.
W.E. Channing
ePub
A4Chapter 36
“W
HY WOULD I be troubled?” asked Reggie.She made no move toward Shaw, so he came to her.
“Sorry, guess I was wrong about that. How was dinner?”
“It was fine. He knows his wines very well. Good conversationalist.”
“I’m sure.”
“Is there a problem?”
“I told you one of his guys was spying on you. Then they block off the street like they own it—”
“Evan apologized for that,” she said, interrupting him.
“Oh, it’s Evan?”
“That is his name. In fact he told me his last name too. Unlike you. It’s Waller.”
“Young. Bill Young.” He paused. “Someone searched my room the day we went kayaking.”
Reggie looked genuinely startled by this news and both her respect for and suspicion of Shaw increased. “Was anything taken?”
“Not that I can tell, no.”
“Why would someone do that?”
He shrugged. “Gordes is certainly turning out to be more exciting than I thought it would be.”
They started to walk along. Up ahead, near the village square, a band of teenagers were playing guitars and drums and a small crowd of people had stopped to listen and drop money in their basket.
“He asked about you,” said Reggie.
“About me? Why?”
She smiled. “I think he wanted to know if you were serious competition for him.”
“And what did you tell him?”
“That I hardly knew you. Which is true.”
“You don’t know him either,” he pointed out.
“He seems nice enough. I mean, he’s far too old for me.” She playfully smacked his arm. “He’s even older than you.”
“For some reason I don’t think age differences matter to a guy like that.”
“Well, I think that’s my decision to make, not his. If I tell him to back off, I’m sure he will.”
“He doesn’t look like a guy who takes no for an answer.”
“But you don’t know him. You’ve never even met him.”
“Did he tell you what he did for a living?”
“A businessman.”
“Well, that covers a lot of possibilities.”
“I’m sure it’ll be fine. This is Provence after all. What’s he going to do?”
Shaw quickly looked away, his pulse hammering at a vein near his temple.
“Are you okay?”
“Dinner’s not agreeing with me.”
“You want to go back to your room? I can make my way back to the villa by myself.”
“No, I’ll walk you.”
They took the shortcut and arrived at her villa a few minutes later. “Seems like our boy’s out for the night,” he said, looking at the empty parking spaces in front of Waller’s villa.
“He did leave rather abruptly after dinner,” she noted. “Said he had some business to take care of.”
“Busy guy.”
Her next words sent a cold dread down Shaw’s back. “He’s going to Les Baux, to see the Goya exhibit. He asked me to go with him.”
“And what did you tell him?” Shaw asked, a bit too sharply.
She stared at him, perplexed. “I told him I’d think about it and get back to him.”
Shaw thought swiftly and the words tumbled out of his mouth. “You don’t have to do that.”
“Why not?”
“Because you’re going with me to Les Baux. Tomorrow. I’ve wanted to see the exhibit. I’d meant to ask you earlier.”
“Really?” she said skeptically.
“We can make a day of it. Have some lunch in Saint-Rémy?”
“Why are you doing this? Are you thinking this is a competition too? I’m not a prize to be won.”
“I know you’re not, Janie. And if you’d rather go with him instead, I’ll understand perfectly. It’s just that…”
“Just what?”
“I just wanted to spend some more time with you. That’s all. No fancy explanation. Just be with you.”
Reggie’s features softened and she grazed his arm with her hand. “Well, how can I turn you down since you asked so nicely.” She smiled. “It’s a date. Now the critical question is, Vespa or car?”
“It’s a little far for the Vespa, so I think your Renault would work out far better. Let’s say nine o’clock? I’ll walk down to your place.”
“Let me come up and get you.”
Shaw looked at her curiously.
“I just think it’ll be easier that way. We can drive straight out to the main road.”
“And Waller won’t know anything about it, you mean?”
“That’s right.”
“I can take care of myself.”
“I’m sure you can, Bill.” She paused. “And so can I.”
