Forever a Soldier by Genevieve Turner

Author:Genevieve Turner
Language: eng
Format: epub

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Lale tucked her foot more securely under her, the rocker bobbing softly with her movements.

The breeze was soft but blowing hard enough to whisper as it went past her ears. And then there was the creak of the rocker against the porch floor, the leaves of the oak as they rustled against each other, and the occasional call from a mourning dove. Or maybe that was a quail.

It was quiet, and yet there were so many sounds.

She pushed her hair behind her ears and went back to reading Franny’s diary, which she’d been doing for several days now between her work on the letters.

The porch wasn’t exactly a proper workspace, but the day was so nice, and this wasn’t technically taking the diary out of the house. Lale had meant to skim through the diary until she got to the period she was interested in, but instead found herself pulled in by Franny’s personality. And her ongoing love-hate relationship with Felipe. Lale almost wished she wouldn’t come to the end, she was enjoying it so much.

She uncurled her toes, lifting them from the sun-warmed planks of the porch, and turned the page. This really was a lovely way to read—it’d be a disappointment when she got back to LA and had to use the university library, especially during finals week when it was stuffed to the rafters with overstressed, overcaffeinated undergrads.

The porch steps creaked, and she looked up to see Hank walking toward her.

Now that was something she never saw among the stacks—a tall, dark cowboy, sleeves rolled up and jeans gripping his thighs. He’d cause quite the stir among the undergrads, looking like that. Most of the grad students too.

He slipped off his hat and rubbed his sleeve across his forehead. The tendons in his neck stood out when he did, and something inside her tightened at the sight.

He set his hat back on his head and propped his hip against the porch railing. He was always leaning, but since he looked best like that, she wasn’t complaining.

Gus padded over to her, touched her hand once, briefly, with his cold nose, then went to lie next to Hank.

“Find anything yet?” Hank gestured with his chin to the diary.

“No.” She closed the journal, keeping her place with her forefinger. “But I’m taking my time with it. I’m almost done with the letters though.”

There were more hints there, enough for her to spin a decent analysis around. At least, she assumed it would be. Susan still hadn’t answered any of her e-mails. Lale would have to catch her advisor in her office, which was a fun thought.

Hank nodded without meeting her eyes. He looked as if he were holding in a question, his mouth tight and his shoulders hunched. A question for her, maybe.

“You’ll be gone soon then.”

That wasn’t a question and she didn’t think that was the question.

But she said with as much polite cheer as she could find, “Yep. And then I’ll be out of your hair.”

“Yeah.” That was as tense as the set of his shoulders.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.