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"And your friend Caroline is also due back this weekend, yes?"

"Yes," I answered frowning at hiood I left a few notes for you on soes you want to make; please review them before Friday so we can discuss"

"What?" I asked, confused

"Friday It comes after Thursday, which comes after Wednesday, which is preceded by--"

"Clark, stop," I interrupted "Are we back to this? Listen, I knohat happened back there wasn’t--"

"Please review the notes before I come back on Friday," he said curtly, and started for the back door

"Wait, just wait ato keep up with hi sun "I’ to see you until Friday?"

"I’h tione through those notes" He headed out through the door, stopping when he was at the bottohtly, but still notto rain later this week I noticed while you were gone that the tarp had come loose on the southwest corner, so I took care of it You shouldn’t have any trouble"

"Thank you," I said quietly

He finally turned back and met my eyes, and I was crushed by the coldness in theht I slept with the knight on guard once more The chilly ocean wind buffeted the house on all sides, but inside, it arm

Well, the house was

I wasn’t

Chapter thirteen

I looked at the calendar that weekdown to the last day of school I was planning Caroline’s visit and getting things ready for the contractor to arrive,sure I had as much done as I could before the real work started

I missed Clark Ithere, tellingfactoids and bits of trivia Used to hi fro fireplace is essential to life as we know it I was used to his neatly parted hair, his dusty eyeglasses, and his low chuckle when so I did truly tickled hiht into the man behind the tweed, the man as interested in nificance I missed the innuendo after he had a Scotch or two and the delicious way his deep voice slid over htti out Aunt Maude’s bedrooht keep watch fro with the bowling balls down the center of the bed I put fresh sheets on, along with a new duvet I’d picked up in town I cleared out clothes, clutter, and stacks of oldwindfall Buried behind an old chest of drawers, in the deepest part of the closet, was another trove of paintings I dragged the entire stack out into the late afternoon light and went through them one at a time

These were not landscapes They were of a decidedly more intimate nature Sensual, erotic, beautiful, in fact The faces were ested rather than shown clearly, but the one or two that did include features showed that the woman involved was Aunt Maude, and the man wasNo