In the Shade of Olive Trees by Kate Laack

Author:Kate Laack [Laack, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9798986305622
Publisher: Olive Street Publishing LLC

CHAPTER 13

The climb up Mount Castellana evened out from the series of steep switchbacks to a gradually sloping trail that traversed the sun-drenched hillside. Tall grasses, reeds, and wildflowers grew in abundance along the slope, alive with gliding butterflies and buzzing bees that flitted between the vibrant blossoms. The crashing surf and screaming gulls of the seaside below had been replaced by a whisper of the breeze through the meadow, the crunch of gravel underfoot, and the occasional songbird.

Julia, Alex, and Harriet continued up the path three abreast. They walked the first short stretch in silence, Julia searching for the words to begin.

“Will and I met three years ago in a hotel bar,” she started. “Cliched, isn’t it? Though maybe not when you consider I work in hotels, so hotel bars are kind of like my office break room. Anyway, I’d stayed late to finish up the details of a large convention coming in that weekend and stopped for a quick drink with a colleague, and there he was at the opposite end of the bar, sipping a gin and tonic and reading the Wall Street Journal.”

Julia swallowed hard. She could instantly picture him there, shirt sleeves rolled up, gold watch glinting in the dim light of the bar. Their eyes had met briefly as he glanced over the top of his newspaper and her stomach had done a backflip.

“I meet a lot of people ‘just passing through’ in my line of work,” she continued, “and as a general rule, I don’t look to make connections with people who are in town for just a few days. So, when he approached as we were getting ready to leave, I politely declined the offer to stay for a night cap and didn’t give the interaction a second thought.” She sighed. “But then, there he was again the next morning, sitting in the hotel lobby, reading The New York Times with two cups of coffee on the table next to him.”

“Sounds pretentious,” Alex muttered.

Julia laughed half-heartedly and shook her head. “Not really. The papers are around the bar and lobby for free. Lots of people grab them to flip through while they wait.”

“And that second coffee was for you,” Harriet prompted the story back on track.

“Right,” said Julia. “He said he understood his advances probably made him look like an out-of-towner in search of a fling. Therefore, I should be relieved to learn that he was actually from Chicago. It happened that he’d purchased a condo, but his apartment lease had expired before the work had finished on the new building. He had put his belongings in storage and had taken up residence in the hotel until it was ready. Given these new circumstances, could he take me to lunch?”

A group of hikers approached from the opposite direction, and Alex and Harriet slid in behind Julia on the path to pass by single file. Julia nodded politely and muttered greetings to the group as they went by. The interruption in the story

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