Page 7 of Stolen Moments

The laugh piqued Luka’s annoyance. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing. It’s just we must look so miserable to anyone passing by. I look like I’m leaving the house of my lover, disgraced.”

“I’m the lover?”

“Yes, the lover who’s scorning me. That’s why we’re both frowning.” She laughed, uncontrollably now. It lightened his mood as well. He shifted the boxes into the trunk of Melia’s car. “It was nice of you to come. But you really could have driven over. I could have followed you in the car.”

Luka shrugged. “It would have been bad for the environment. I try to carpool when I can, and it seemed wasteful to drive two mostly empty cars.”

“Tree hugger and book lover…okay.” Melia smiled.

Luka looked at her with confusion on his face.

Melia playfully rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on. No one owns a book store like yours unless they love books.”

Luka nodded. “I’ll drive. It’ll be easier than trying to explain to you where we live.”

“Is it far?”

“Nope. Just a few miles away.” Melia looked up at the window of the apartment she had shared with Victor for the last few months. Things were finally starting to look up for her.

“You’ll be able to come back whenever you have free-time. It really is close.” Yes. It’ll be okay.” She smiled and tapped the roof with her knuckles. “Let’s get this show on the road. I’m dying to meet this Susan.”

Chapter Four

Luka’s house was beautiful. Modest sized, but bigger than anything Melia had ever lived in. She wondered who’d had the biggest hand in decorating the house; it was a mash of different cultures, different colors and textures. It was homey, and welcoming — which made it that much more difficult to reconcile with the frowning and bitter man she was getting to know.

Luka had warned her that the guest bedroom seemed smaller than it was because the bed was quite large. He’d told her he used it as a place to hide out with his thoughts. And the second Melia walked into the room, she could feel it impregnated with his presence. It was beautiful and eclectic. The one window in the corner was huge. A thin white curtain filtered the sunlight in a way that lit the room in a soft, warm glow. The crimson patterned wallpaper evoked images of Morocco. The walls were lined with wrap-around shelves filled with books. Artistic prints adorned the walls.

“We used to travel a lot,” he said when he saw her interest in the photos.

“They’re beautiful.”

“Susan took them. She’s got a real eye for beautiful things.”

The large bed was covered in pillows. Luka pointed to the large armchair in the corner. “You can put the pillow there. That’s what I do—did — when I slept in here.”

Melia felt a little thrill imagining herself sleeping in the same bed where he had slept, putting her head where he had put his own. “Feel free to read any of the books if you want. I stocked it with some of my favorites.”

Luka placed Melia’s boxes and suitcases on her new bed and excused himself. Sitting down on the armchair, Melia looked around. Luka was everywhere in the room; she could smell the musky intoxicating smell of his cologne... A moment of panic rose in her chest. It was going to be hard to do her job, to take care of this dying woman —his wife— in a place where Melia was surrounded by the energy of a man she was so attracted to. It would hard to leave this room, a place that already felt so much like coming home, when the time came to move on.

But that had been her whole life, hadn’t it? Moving from one place to the next.

“You’d think you’d be used to it by now,” she murmured as she began to unpack her clothes, shaking her head to clear the ghosts of a past that both haunted and propelled her forward.

Melia turned just in time to see Susan come shuffling into the room, supporting herself by leaning a bony hand against the wall and dragging her slippered feet across the floor. At the sight of Susan’s warm smile, Melia saw instantly why Luka had fallen in love with the woman. Her smile was disarming, despite the lack of hair, and her red-rimmed eyes. She was bald, puffy, sick…dying. But her striking beauty remained. Melia imagined that before the disease had ravaged her body, Susan had oozed radiance. Few people with cancer at that stage managed to retain some of the looks they’d had in health. In Melia’s experience, it was those who were dazzlingly gorgeous who were able to do so.

Susan’s gaze, though warm, held a piercing quality to it, and it left Melia feeling naked and threatened. This woman had Luka’s affections, and Melia couldn’t help but feel the primordial competitiveness that has existed between women competing for the same man since time immemorial. She was fully aware of the ridiculousness of this feeling since she had shared nothing with Luka.

“Hi. I’m Susan.” She clasped Melia’s hand with both of her thin ones. “You must be Melia.”

Melia nodded, feeling out of place, skittish.

Susan’s smile spread across her face and shone from her eyes. “Welcome to our home, I hope you like your new room!”

“Yes, it’s beautiful. It’s more than I could have hoped for.”

“That’s great to hear. I know Luka will be sad to not have his ‘special place’ anymore, but I for one am so glad that you’re here.” Susan sat on the corner of the bed and clutched her chest for a second surveying Melia. “You’re even prettier than the picture that came with your file,”