Emily Kimelman - Sydney Rye 04 - Strings of Glass Read Online Free PDF

forearm as he leaned toward her. When I walked up to them
Monica was blushing. “Oh, Sydney,” she said. “Your
friend is so charming.” Mulberry smiled up at me, squinting against the
sun behind me.
    “Really?”
I said. “Not usually.”
    Ignoring
me Monica said, “I’ll send Badlu out with some drinks for you. What would
you like?”
    “Two
tequila gimlets with a splash of cran,” Mulberry answered.
    “You
two must know each other well,” Monica said.
    “Yes,”
Mulberry said, not taking his eyes off me. “We go
back a long time.”
    Monica
laughed again and I saw her resist touching his broad shoulder. Mulberry looked
good. He’d lost the weight I’d last seen him carrying around. Those boulder
arms were back, the same ones he had when I first met him in New York, a
full-on lifetime ago. “You look good,” I said as I sat next to him.
“Back in shape.”
    Mulberry
smiled. “Nothing like a near-death
experience to make you remember you want to live.”
    I nodded
but didn’t say anything, scared by how the man was saying my thoughts out loud.
Maybe he’d always done that and I’d just never noticed. “It’s hot out
here, huh?” Mulberry said.
    “The
sun will be down soon.”
    “Come
on,” he stood up and pulled me out of my chair. “Let’s sit with our
legs in the pool.”
    I
laughed. “You’re kind of like a kid.”
    “Only
when I’m around you.”
    He
rolled up his khakis and I sat on the tiled edge, slipping my calves into the
cool water, pulling my dress up to my thighs. Mulberry settled next to me,
close enough that our hips almost touched. Badlu came out with our drinks and
Mulberry held up his glass to mine. “To happiness,” he said.
    I
clinked my glass, brimming with light ruby liquid, against his. A little splashed
down his hand as our glasses touched. Mulberry reached down and sucked it off
his hand. I watched as the sunlight caught the saliva on his lips making them
sparkle in the final rays of the day.
    “Are
you happy, Mulberry?” I asked.
    He
looked up at me and the glints of gold that floated in his deep green eyes
twinkled. “Enough,” he said. “I’d be happier if you-” He
cut himself off and shook his head. “I’m happy that you’re happy.”
    I turned
away from his penetrating gaze looking out onto the river that meandered by.
Two fishermen
rowing with strong strokes propelled their wooden canoe through the muddy
water. One of them said something and the other laughed. The sound carried
across the water like an echo.
    “I
miss you sometimes,” I said.
    Mulberry
wrapped his arm around my back. “I miss you,
too.”
    We sat
like that, sipping our drinks, his heavy arm hugging me close. I leaned into
his chest smelling a man I realized I knew so well. Mulberry saved my life in
more than a physical sense. The man pulled me out of my misery, my denial, and
my loathing; he always came and got me when I needed him
to. Did he need me now? Was I
missing a call for help? Or was it the other way around?
    The sun
set behind us and the stars began to pop out of the pale blue sky. Our glasses
sat empty by our sides and we didn’t talk. Blue came and curled up against our
backs, resting against us. There didn’t seem to be anything to say. We shared a
past filled with violence and triumph, strong emotions and death. Is this what
kinship meant? I wondered.
    “I
should get going,” Mulberry
said,
breaking into my thoughts.
    I
nodded turning my face into his chest, pressing my eyes so hard that spots
exploded in my vision. I loved it here, squeezing against him. It felt like a
kind of home, a safe place.
    Mulberry
turned and brushed his lips against my hair. A thrill ran down my spine,
something I’d never felt with him before. He kissed my
forehead and reached a hand up,
stroking the back of my neck. Heat rose to my cheeks and I pulled away looking
up at him. Mulberry stared out into the darkening sky, his jaw clenching. I
watched the muscle jump and thought about