Read Online The Color of Forever by Julianne MacLean - Free Book Online

nerves. I took a few large, unladylike gulps as soon as the waitress set it down in front of me.
    “Slow down there, Sparky,” Bailey said. “You don’t want to stagger out of your chair when you stand up to shake their hands.”
    “No, definitely not. That wouldn’t do at all.” I removed my sweater and draped it over the back of my chair, and picked up my phone to check the time. It wasn’t quite noon.
    The bells jingled over the door and I jumped. Three men walked in.
    “It’s not them,” I said to Bailey, who sat with her back to the entrance.
    Taking a deep breath, I clasped my hands together on my lap and fiddled with the garnet ring on my middle finger, turning it around and around. Then I spotted a couple walk by the windows. They stopped out front, talked for a moment, and pulled the door open. The bells jingled again and I sat up straighter. “It’s them.”
    They paused just inside and looked around. In those few brief seconds, I was able to take in Chris’s appearance. Though it had been ten years since we last spoke in person, I felt as if I’d known him intimately, forever. Slim and fit, with light brown hair, he looked exactly as he had in my memories of our so-called marriage, and I felt as if I were being reunited with an old friend—a man of integrity, someone who had been good to me.
    Someone I had foolishly betrayed. I felt a dreadful stabbing of guilt in my belly.
    As for Sylvie, she was tall, blond and beautiful, and although she appeared to be about my age, I felt intimidated by the fact that she knew so much more about this than I did. At least, that’s what Chris had implied on the phone.
    They spotted us and approached the table. I rose from my chair and held out my hand. “Hi Chris. Thanks for meeting us.” We shook hands, then I turned to his wife. “And you must be Sylvie. It’s nice to meet you.”
    Our eyes locked and I felt a sudden rush of butterflies as we clasped hands, for there was something guarded in her eyes, an overall wariness in her manner.
    “It’s nice to meet you, too,” she replied, nevertheless, mustering up a courteous smile.
    “This is my friend, Bailey.” I gestured toward her as we all sat down. “She’s from Seattle as well. We’ve known each other since kindergarten.”
    Bailey shook hands with them over the table, and then the waitress arrived to take their drink orders. A moment later, we all stared at each other in awkward silence.
    “Well,” I said pointedly, leaning forward to break the ice. “I’m really curious to talk to you both. I mentioned on the phone that I’d had a vision, of sorts, when I had my cycling accident, and for some reason, Chris, you were in it. When we talked on the phone this morning, you seemed to know something about my accident—that there was a guard rail and a ravine. Can I ask how you knew about that?”
    Chris glanced at Sylvie and raised his eyebrows. “I didn’t know, actually. It was Sylvie who told me about it.”
    She sat directly across the table from me. I met her gaze. “When?”
    “It was almost a year ago,” she replied, “not long after Chris and I started seeing each other.”
    “But how did you know about it?” I asked her.
    She glanced uneasily at the other people seated in the pub. “It’s kind of a strange story, and I’m not all that comfortable telling you about it, since we hardly know each other, not to mention the fact that you’re a reporter. I’ve never told anyone except for Chris, and one other person.”
    I spoke gently, hoping she would warm up to me and trust me with whatever secret she was keeping. “Told anyone what ?”
    “How and why I know certain things. Why I knew who you were. And you have to give me your word that you won’t use this for a news story. This is off the record. Otherwise I won’t talk to you.”
    “I promise,” I said without hesitation. “That’s not why I’m here. I’m on vacation. This is completely personal.”
    Chris and Sylvie