Safe Passage Read Online Free PDF Page A

at her and arched an eyebrow, the look she fixed her students with when she knew that they weren't giving her the whole story.
    "What? I was curious, once I found out you went."
    Jules laughed. "It was great to go, Athens was fun. So it sounds like you know more about me than I know about you. That's hardly fair."
    They talked for awhile, and Jules glanced at the clock in the living room and grimaced when she realized it was already almost eleven. "I hate to do this, but I have to be on the water with the girls by six, which means I wake up at 4:45—so I have to kick you out."
    "I'm so sorry, Jules, I didn't think."
    "It's okay. I'm a big girl, if I needed you to leave sooner, I'd have said."
    Jules walked Gen to the front door. Gen turned to look at her. "I never got that tour."
    Jules held up her hands in surrender and grinned. "Next time, I promise."
    Gen smiled at her and leaned against the door. Jules nodded and stood stiffly, not sure what kind of goodbye to say. Gen rolled her eyes and reached up, draping her arms around Jules' neck. "Thanks for dinner," she murmured in Jules' ear.
    Jules meant to say thank you for helping with the letter, she really did, but all that came out was an appreciative hum at how great Gen smelled and she shivered at the play of the warm breath across her ear. Her arms automatically started to move to snake around Gen's waist and pull her closer, but when she realized what she was doing, she stopped herself and patted her shoulder instead. Gen kissed her quickly on each cheek and then backed away. Jules was sure she was blushing, but she tried to act calm.
    "Goodnight, Jules."
    "Goodnight, Gen," Jules replied, opening the door.
    "I'll see you tomorrow."
    Jules grinned. "Yup."
    Jules watched Gen get in the car, start it, and pull away from the house. Then she closed the door and turned off the porch light. She turned to look at Samson, "Well, Sam, mommy is in trouble. And she probably won't be getting to sleep any time soon."
    *~*~*
    Jules' alarm went off at 4:45, as usual. Not as usual, she groaned and had to fight to sit up. She'd spent forty-five minutes on her rowing machine after Gen left trying to get her out of her head. She had been unsuccessful, but had at least tired herself out enough that Gen could haunt her dreams instead of her waking thoughts.
    She stood by the boathouse at 5:40, waiting for her girls to show up. Every member of her team was there by 5:50 and they had the boats in the water before six. Jules sometimes took down a single scull and rowed with them. Today, she didn't have the energy and she watched them from the shore, drinking her coffee and tracking their times. As practice was winding down, she heard a car pull up. She turned and saw Gen get out of her car with two cups of coffee and a bag.
    Jules took in Gen's black pencil skirt and green top. Her hair was in another of her elegant knots, exposing her long pale neck that Jules was itching to explore. Jules realized she was staring and shook herself alert. She grinned and called out to Gen. "Are you here to join my crew, because we're full up."
    Gen shook her head, laughing. "I felt bad keeping you up so late after you fixed me dinner, so I brought you breakfast."
    Maggie and Katie, two seniors who rowed pairs, were just coming up to the boathouse getting their boat out of the water. Maggie snorted and Jules figured she had seen her and Gen having breakfast. "Do you need to do extra dryland this afternoon, O'Connor?" Jules barked.
    "No, coach," Maggie said quickly as she and Katie put their boat back on the racks.
    "So, I had a thought about something in the letter," Gen said once Maggie and Katie had left.
    "What was that?"
    "Well, when she was talking about Vincent Bartier, she said something about how he was so far from her tastes it made her laugh."
    "Yeah."
    "Well, it struck a chord with me, and I remembered something. I think E might have been a woman. What she said there sounded like something I said to