The Alice Network - Kate Quinn Page 0,62

still hoping for something from them. We were like actors who had missed the cue that their scene was over. Life ought to be more like a play; the entrances and exits would be a lot cleaner.

Finn’s tousled dark head leaned out the window, and I saw the ember glow of his cigarette. “Couldn’t sleep.”

I thrust my hands into my pockets, unlit cigarette and all, so I wouldn’t start patting my hair. Is there any ensemble less glamorous and appealing in the entire world than a bathrobe and slippers? “Do you always climb into your car when you can’t sleep?” I managed to say tartly.

Finn rested his bare elbow on the Lagonda’s rolled-down window. “She’s calming. Good cure for bad dreams.”

“I thought Eve was the one who had bad dreams.”

“I get my share.”

I wondered what they were about. I didn’t ask, just patted the fender again. Strange to think I wouldn’t be driving off in her in the morning. Tomorrow it would be a train to Vevey for me, and then—what did they have in Switzerland to ferry girls to their Appointments? Cabs with cuckoo clocks? Drivers in wooden clogs? I shivered in the summer night.

Finn opened the Lagonda’s door, sliding across to the far side of the seat. “Get in if you’re cold.”

I wasn’t, but I climbed in anyway. “Can I have a light?”

He flicked a match. The brief flare gave me a shot of his profile and then left me night-blinded, wrapped in shadows. I drew in a mouthful of smoke, letting it out slowly. “How did you end up with a car like this?” I asked just to be saying something. If you weren’t in the backseat of a car to make out, it seemed appropriate to make polite conversation.

“Inherited a little money from an uncle,” he said, surprising me. He rarely answered direct questions, not with the truth anyway. “He wanted me to go to school, make something of myself. But a boy with engine grease under his nails has other ideas when he gets his hands on some silver.”

“You mean he goes out and spends every cent on the car of his dreams.” I could almost hear Finn smile.

“Aye. Couldn’t quite stretch to a Bentley, but I found this girl here, being driven to scrap by a bawface idiot. I bought her, fixed her up, and she liked me right away.” Finn thumped the seat, affectionate. “During the war, most of the soldiers I knew had pictures of their lasses. Maybe their mother, if they were fresh out of school. I didn’t have a lass, so I had a picture of my car.”

I pictured Finn in a uniform and a helmet, looking at a snap of the Lagonda on the deck of a transport ship. The thought made me smile.

He tossed his cigarette butt and lit another, match flaring in the dark. “So you’re off tomorrow?”

“Yes.” I nodded. “My mother found me here. We’re off for Vevey in the morning.”

“Not Limoges? I thought you were ready to burn Limoges down to find your cousin.”

“Limoges later. This”—I waved at the Little Problem, even though he probably couldn’t see the gesture—“won’t wait much longer, Maman says. What do I know, I’m just the girl who got in trouble.”

“And Vevey is where you go for—trouble?”

“You never heard of a Swiss vacation?” I stretched my lips in a smile. “It’s where girls like me go.”

“Thought they went down the aisle in a white dress.”

“Only if they’ve got a boy on the hook.”

He had that grim Scottish amusement in his voice. “Unless you’re the Holy Virgin, you’ve got a lad on the hook.”

I gave a harsh little laugh. “Finn, I’ve got half a fraternity on the hook. And I can’t marry all of them.”

I wondered if he’d exhale disapproval. If he’d pull away. But he just sat on the other end of the soft upholstered seat, looking at me through the dark. “What happened?”

If it had been broad daylight, I couldn’t have said it. It was all so cheap and commonplace, so stupid. But the enveloping shadows were kind, and I turned my head so he’d only be able to see my profile and the glowing tip of my cigarette. My voice come out flat and matter-of-fact.

“If you’re a girl, you’re divided up into three neat parts.” The fractions of dating, as I thought of it, and even the dumbest girls in my sorority knew exactly how to add those fractions up. “There are the parts boys can touch,” I

readonlinefreenovel.com Copyright 2016 - 2024