circle around in the fields. Ask for Father Lucian. Understand?”
Fear bobbed in her chest. She nodded.
“Still have that club of yours?”
She patted her jacket pocket. It did little to persuade her of bravery. “Of course, but I won’t need it, because you’ll be back soon.”
A muscle worked in his jaw as he studied her with hooded eyes. His fingers twitched over the handle of his knife. “Remember. Father Lucian.”
The bobbing fear pricked and spilled out like oil, sucking the air from her lungs. “Please stop saying that like you’re not coming back. We’ve come so far, Barrett. We’re leaving together.”
His muscle ticked harder, pulsing a vein in his neck. As she said his name, he looked at her. For the first time since they’d fled Chablis really looked at her. Weariness hung on his face, and his shoulders rolled forward. The teasing light that so often danced in his eyes was smothered beneath deep, penetrating waves of misery.
His despair harpooned her.
She reached out, desperate to soothe the sorrow from him, but he reared back as if she came at him with fire. The iron curtain crashed back in place, separating them. Turning on his heel, he marched to the door.
“Wait! Take these with you.”
He eyed the apple and bread she thrust toward him and shook his head. “Not hungry.”
“Liar.”
Warring with himself for a second, he finally grunted and grabbed the bread, shoveling it in his mouth. “Keep the apple. Never cared for them much.” Swallowing, he leveled her with a stare that could freeze water. “Stay out of sight.”
The door slammed in her face. Its resolute finality echoed off the empty stall and crumbling walls and hit her from behind with a force to shake back her senses. Tossing the apple into the haversack, she raced out the door after him.
“What is your problem?”
He spun around, the angles of his face hard in the steely predawn light. “I told you to stay inside.”
“For the past two days you’ve barely spoken to me, never once looked at me, and recoil from my touch as if I’m a leper. What’s happened, Barrett? Please tell me, because I can’t take the silence anymore.”
“What’s happened? Have you not noticed the Nazis on our trail? I’ve been doing everything I can to keep us safe and get out of here, so excuse me if I’ve been a little too preoccupied for long conversation by the fire.”
“It’s more than the Nazis, more than just getting out of here. I know you well enough by now to know when something deeper troubles you. Whatever this is started when you came back from that long walk in Chablis.” She stepped toward him, pleading. “Won’t you tell me what you’re hiding deep down in there?”
“You have a bad habit of prying where you’re not needed. Stop thinking your guiding hand is needed at every turn, because it isn’t. Your sister will tell you that.”
She tried to ignore the barb as his callous words hit their mark. “I pry because I care.”
“You shouldn’t.”
“Well, I do. I care very much for you. More than I’ve ever allowed myself to care for anyone.”
A warning ticked the vein on the side of his neck. “Go back inside, Kathleen.”
“Not until you tell me what’s going on.”
“Nothing is going on except your flat-out refusal to listen to me for your own good. Now, do as I say and get inside.”
His words cracked at her like a whip. A whip she’d felt time and time again her entire life, though wielded by a different hand. A fatherly hand that insisted it knew what was best. She’d had enough of that nonsense.
“The only thing I refuse to listen to is your continued lies. I know something happened that day. Something that twisted you inside, and now you’re shoving me away because of it. Do you think it’ll frighten me like some skittish shadow? I tell you true, Barrett Anderson, I’m not going anywhere.”
“You should. You should flee as far away from me as possible.”
“No.”
Anger flashed in his eyes, hands curling at his sides. “Don’t you get it? I’m dangerous for you. Every second near me taints you, and I won’t witness you so far covered in my muck that there’s no hope of escaping.” His jaw ground back and forth, tempering the searing anger. “Leave me be to crawl back into the hole I came from.”
“Barrett, I know your past holds many ghosts, and the roads you’ve taken have been less than desirable, but they do not