Hearing sadness in her tone, he wondered if it was for the leaving or the return or both. Too bad he didn’t know her well enough to ask, for he realized he’d like to know. But she wasn’t a person who encouraged too many questions. He was surprised she’d talked as much as she had. Probably a result of the scare she’d had, trapped in the flood and all.
They fell into silence then, but it wasn’t stiff and uncomfortable any more. It surprised Ben to find the thread of commonality, the similarities. He hadn’t imagined he could have anything in common with Super Model Francesca, or even someone who used to be anything that glamorous. Finally, he saw she’d fallen asleep, and he let her doze the last half-hour.
When they reached Chultova a little after two a.m., he realized they’d talked for at
