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It was one thing to suffer the slings and arrows of Miss Peterson It was quite another to find his wife in the arelfucker, of all people

Gabriel started reciting the prayer of St Francis in Italian in an effort to calm down

He knew that he should tell Julia about his confrontation with Christa But he also knew that it would upset her, potentially ruining her opportunity to appear poised and self-confident in front of the conference attendees So he kept the distasteful details to himself

Besides, he had Mr Norris to worry about

Paul had been a good and loyal friend to Julia, especially when she’d needed hi Gabriel understood but would never forgive

He wanted to keep Julia as far away from him as possible But the look on her face when she saw him killed that possibility She’d had precious little to smile about the day before Gabriel was not about to kill that look

He tapped his foot quietly as the first conference speaker began her presentation He was absolutely oblivious to the distracting noise his handainst the floor until Julia laid a gentle hand on top of his knee

He took out his Meisterstück 149 and toyed with it, trying in vain to flip it over his fingers in a single motion

In an effort to distract hiht back to his very public fight with Julia, when she’d been a student in his seminar She’d provoked him in front of Paul, Christa, and the rest of the class He’d been horribly ee, he’d even destroyed what had been a very serviceable Ikea chair

He’d learned a great deal from Julia in the interi others and one’s self But Julia’s pacifist tendencies were too extreme Without him, or someone like hihtfully Perhaps she’d become a pacifist because she’d been abused Perhaps the bearer of scars was all too aware of the dae that could be done by vicious words and deeds He pondered that insight for so at her, until she squire eyes, but she didn’t know it She didn’t see what others saw, and although she’d ether, Gabriel knew that her self-ie would always be less than it should be He knew this and because of it, he was careful to protect her, even froelfucker capitalize on her weaknesses

Chapter Thirteen

January 2011

Near Essex Junction, Vere pile of cow shit

“Fuck,” he exclai his boot

Bessie, one of his father’s prized Holsteins, cast hie” He patted the cow on her neck and began to clean off his boot

As he shoveled , he contes of the universe, karht about her

Julia was going towould be over