SAFEHOUSE

“I was also pretty shy, not to where I would only keep to myself, but more along the lines of not wanting to be around a whole bunch of people at once. I guess I’m still that way…”

“You seem to be handling it well,” Julien replied, waving at the people walking along with us.

“Maybe I’m just faking it… You know? My mama was a really strong woman, and I don’t want her to look down and see a scared little girl…”

It felt like I had almost given up a part of myself, admitting all of that. Julien was silent. He quickly cleared his throat.

“So this place I’m taking you, don’t laugh. But there’s a place just like it where my mother grew up, and she used to always tell me about it when I was a child. It’s right around the corner, I think.”

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Chapter 16

As we turned around the bend, I saw a small cluster of houses. Off to the side of the homes was a well that looked like it was straight out of Snow White. It was wooden, with a small bucket and crank to go with it, brilliant green ivy having taken over most of the sides and top of it.

I definitely hadn’t been expecting that, but as I had learned since I got to France, not everything in life is to be expected.

I found myself smiling as we walked up to it, holding my hand out to test the crank. It wouldn’t budge, but that didn’t take away from the magic of it. It just looked like it was something that belonged in a fairytale, and those kinds of things are not something you see every day.

“You don’t see things like this growing up in a big city,” I muttered to myself, shaking my head. It wasn’t that I was bitter, I was just glad that I was here.

“I suppose not, but we are here now. They say that this is l’eau de puits qui souhaitent. A real wishing well.”

I really wished I had pockets right about then. “Really? That’s pretty cool.”

He nodded, pulling out something from his pocket. “I only have one coin, but you can have it. Maybe you’ll get your wish,” he said, his voice light and cheerful.

I smiled in return, thinking about the little girl I used to be… The one that believed in wishing wells.

I took the coin from his hand and lifted in over the well, closing my eyes for added effect.

I wished for a better life…

I didn’t want to be a downer, but the idea was sort of a novelty to me at this point. After narrowly escaping death at the end of a gun barrel, I was just happy to make it alive to the next day. Being here in France was wonderful, but at the end of the day, I was still nothing but a maid cleaning rooms for a living…

“Did you make your wish? What did you wish for?”

I rolled my eyes at him, my hands on my hips. “Really, Julien? Don’t you know it’s bad luck to tell someone your wish? Then it might never come true!”

“Ah, I forgot about that part. I hope it was a good one. You wouldn’t want to waste a perfectly good wish on something like a new pair of earrings, or something,” he replied.

“I think a pair new earrings is a perfectly good thing to wish for, actually. I can’t remember the last time I actually bought myself jewelry. Or anything, really,” my voice trailed off.

He nodded, almost looking guilty. I raised my brow, wondering what he was up to. He slowly reached into his pocket again, pulling out a small, white, squared box. I had no idea what it was, but for some reason it put me on edge.

“What’s that?” I tried to sound casual, wincing when I realized my voice sounded much too high.

Julien shifted the weight on his feet, quickly wetting his lips as he did. I hadn’t known him for entirely that long yet, but I already knew that this was something he did when he was nervous. What would possibly make him feel nervous?

“I guess it’s a good thing you didn’t wish for a new bracelet,” he mused, placing the box in my hand. “Because I already got you one of those...”

I didn’t want to take the top off of the box. I didn’t want to see what was inside, because if it was what I thought it was then things were about to get dramatically different. And I wasn’t sure how to feel about it.

I bit my lip, slowly pulling the lid back to reveal the beautiful handcrafted bracelet that I had been ogling over back at the jewelry store. It was a dainty silver charm bracelet, with different colored stones set in tiny heart-shaped charms. How did he know? Was he in the bathroom when I had been staring at the store’s window? But more importantly… why did he give me this?

I quickly tried to suck in the air around me, feeling as though I was going to hyperventilate. It was an odd reaction, sure, but I had honestly never been given something so beautiful, or so expensive, in my whole life. I didn’t exactly know how to react to such a gift. And then… there was the underlying suspicion I had before. What was all this about really?

“Don’t you like it? You don’t seem too… happy about it,” Julien observed, frowning.