It took us another day before we rejoined the caravan, and another two days before the caravan reached Hanover. Not much happened in those days, except Lena tried to talk to me again over the course of the journey there. For the sake of keeping the peace, I decided to humour her, remaining as friendly as my unease would allow. Perhaps her manner and the flashes of irritation I saw were merely because she was feeling horny that night, and I'd denied her release.

I'd hoped that was all.

I also tried to put the situation with Eveline out of my mind, knowing that for the moment, there was nothing I could do to fix it, and also knowing that there would probably be a hard line I could make a call to the Cuisset residence when I arrived in Hanover.

That gave me a sense of hope that I might be able to do something right. At the very least, I owed her parents an explanation for why she was no longer travelling with me, although given her capabilities, I imagine she would be back with them by now.

I also had another contact to meet in Hanover. Frederich Dietsze was a control subject for the programme, much like Klaus Richter was. He had a healthy baseline profile and was an excellent specimen of individual. His nanocloud, if he had one, should prove to do little more than to bolster his natural defences, and provide immunity to the ageing process.

That got me thinking about the project all over again, and I started to speculate on the nature of the outbreak. Very little information on what happened after the nanocloud had been unleashed into the wild existed, and I still had no idea how this had happened. Was it a mismanagement issue on the part of Synergy technicians or scientists? Or was it a deliberate attempt at sabotage that went wrong? Maybe it had been deliberately released by someone, either a Synergy employee, the Synergy board, or someone who wanted the nanomachines for themselves. The board releasing it into the wild was highly unlikely, since nanotechnology patents would have made them the richest company on the planet, but who knows the minds of some people?

Eventually after making a last push to march on through the night, we arrived in Hanover shortly after sunrise, and all of us booked a suite at the Bei Hölzchen Hotel and Restaurant near the city centre. It served as a decent base for us to venture out and collect what we needed for the next leg of our journey.

We then parted company with the caravan, as they were diverting on to a city to the south, before heading back to Dortmund, while I was heading to Berlin.

"I've never been to Berlin before," Suzie piped up while we sat around a table enjoying some cherry-filled Brötchen along with either Tee of Kaffee, which I understood to be...

Yeah.

"Me either," Lena quipped. "It'll be interesting to see what we can find when we get there."

I frowned. "You're going to Berlin?"

Lena shrugged. "Why not? You're headed there after you're done here, and we know a few contacts there who can provide us some work. Wouldn't you like the company?"

I had no objections to Ralf joining me on the trip, but Suzie never really spoke much to me, and Lena was something of a mystery. I was also beginning to wonder if she had some sort of agenda, but I had nothing to pin it on, and no evidence of foul play. So, I shrugged. "Travelling the road does get awfully lonely," I admitted. "And we've had some fun so far."

Plus it also gave me a chance to continue learning combat lessons with knives that Lena still made the effort to teach me.

Her smile was slow, languid. "Good," she finally said to me. "We should make today a day of relaxation, given how hard we paced ourselves getting here today. How about we all enjoy Hanover's hospitality?"

How about it? I thought to myself. "Sounds good," I replied. "Shall we meet up here after sunset? I'm sure we can find out the marketplace situation and whatever entertainments are available, then talk it over tonight?"

Lena grinned at me like the proverbial cat that caught the canary. "Indeed," was all she said.

Frederich Dietsze proved to be a difficult man to find. While Bart's information provied useful in locating his more recent whereabouts - they had corresponded a fair while over the last decade up until maybe three months before - Frederich tended to move around a lot. He was already cautious by nature, and never maintained a permanent dwelling, preferring to use a mobile home that he'd discovered apparently from the old world, one that he must have retrofitted in some fashion, though how he did this was anyone's guess. Since I had no clue what this vehicle was, what it looked like, where it might go, I was left relying on picking up clues as to its existence, things like tyre treads in muddy areas; those were largely infrequent as well, given how clean Hanover was ept and how regular the city liked to maintain its roads and streets. The region was also going through something of a dry spell. Rain was not particularly commonplace, so the few dirt roads I was aware of would be dry.

This was going to be a challenge.

Asking around the various marketplaces, I managed to get an idea of what this vehicle looked like, and discovered that the locals were all familiar with Frederich, though they knew him via a variety of aliases. He seemed to help them out a lot with their operations, and being one of few people alive who had access to a vehicle that was suitable for use in the new world, he turned out to be pretty popular.

By the time I had discovered enough information to predict where he might be going next, sunset had already descended upon us. I headed back to the hotel and decided to give it up for the night.

Once I arrived back at the hotel, I took off up to my room, changed into some more casual wear to get out of the travel gear I'd been wearing throughout the day, and made my way back down to the bar. When I got there, I found Lena with Suzie and Ralf in a corner of the bar room, all in fairly relaxed conversation. I wasted no time in heading to the bar, ordering a drink, then heading over to join the trio.

"Hello, stranger," Lena quipped with a grin. "Fancy seeing you here!"

Deciding I needed to relax for the night, I sat with her, setting my glass down on the table and dragging a stool across to sit on. "How's the day been so far, everyone?"

Ralf spoke up first. "We managed to find some new clothing markets," he volunteered, grinning across at Suzie. "Some nice travel gear that should be fairly comfortable."

Suzie giggled. "Always the practical one, aren't you?" She quipped, though I soon noticed the new clothing she was wearing, a lightweight shirt with a set of draw-string slacks and what seemed to me to be a pair of foot wrappings. No doubt they were intended for stealth purposes, given the fact that so far, Ralf and Suzie both seemed perfectly fine walking bare-foot on concrete, stone or dirt, with no difficulties whatsoever.

I still had trouble with walking barefoot on grass, much less anything else.

Human feet. Soft and weak!

Lena then spoke up. "I found a weapons vendor who had a nice stock of blades for throwing, as well as an assortment of other weapons like crossbows, longbows and swords. None of use those, but the blades would come in handy."

"I ran some errands," I said quickly. "On the other hand, I'm looking forward to the evening's entertainments. What's everyone enjoying this evening?"

"Ralf," Suzie quipped, squeezing a bicep.

"Suzie," Lena spoke, imitating Ralf, who said at the same time "This beer."

Suzie giggled, Lena smiled, and I didn't really know what to say to these jokers. It did relax me somewhat, though.

"Feel like taking a walk?" Suzie suggested to Ralf, who cocked his fox-head sideways. "It's a nice evening for it."

Ralf slowly nodded. "Excuse us?" He said, then stood, waiting for Suzie to stand.

Within just a few minutes, I was left there with Lena, who took a slow sip of her beer, looking at me with a lustful gaze. I knew where this was heading. "So-"

"Let's just enjoy a few drinks tonight," Lena cut me off before I could make an excuse to leave. "Right here, in the bar, just relaxation. That's all."

I couldn't reasonably object without sounding like an arsehole. I wasn't tired, and that much was clear from how I'd entered the bar earlier. I also had no other pressing matters to attend to, and it wasn't particularly late, the sun still setting outside. "Sure," I eventually said, nodding. "Let's see where the night takes us."

After drinking an obscene amount of alcohol, which my nanocloud was busy trying to process so that my liver coud avoid any damage, I soon found myself talking up a storm with Lena. Most of it was banter, some of it was meaningless small-talk, and a lot of it was flirting.

It soon turned abruptly passionate, as she grabbed me from across the table and started to kiss me passionately, taking control of the situation and dragging me up the stairs to her room. I was more than willing by that point, and looking forward to what was to follow.

Lena pulled me to her door, fumbled with the keys as she giggled, unlocked the door, and then grabbed my shirt, pulling me as she stumbled backwards. She kicked the door shut, twisting so that I was propelled to the bed, and as I collapsed backwards onto it, she climbed her way up my body with a smouldering look in her eyes, as she licked her lips. "I've been waiting for this moment for days," she breathed. "For a moment, I thought you'd lost interest."

What was she talking about? I had no idea. All I knew was I wanted to have fun tonight, and she was more than willing.

Without any further hesitation, I grabbed her waist and pulled her closer, lifting my head so that I could kiss her. She pushed against my chest with her hands as she lifted herself forward so her pelvis was level with my own, and I felt myself stiffen as she began to grind against me, breathing rapidly as she did so. I felt frenzied, desperately pulling at her clothing.

She stopped, grinning as she lifted herself up, and stepped onto the floor, keeping one hand on my chest in a signal that I should remain on the bed. Quickly, she stripped off all of her clothes, revealing lily-white skin and more-than-ample breasts with reddening aureolas, her nipples hardening as she grinned at me. "You like?"

I answered her with a grin of my own. "What do you think?"

"Oh, you like!" She said with the supreme confidence of a woman who knew the effect she had on men. "Now suck on them!"

"Someone's taking charge today," I laughed, and Lena laughed right along with me, as she then dropped her leggings and her underwear, revealing her shaved mound and a string of wetness that snapped apart as her clothes hit the floor, whipping to one side and leaving a wet streak up her left leg leading right back to her entrance.

I didn't think I could be any more aroused, but that sight drove me wild. Before I knew it, I was grabbing her by the hips, but she pushed me back on the bed, her eyes holding my own as she grinned at me. "I'm taking charge, remember?"

I couldn't keep the smile off of my face, and I didn't want to, as she lowered her face to my shaft, taking it all in one smooth motion, the tip reaching the back of her throat as she pushed all the way to my pubic region, holding there, and then slowly lifting herself back, suckling all the while. It felt both strange and wild at once.

Then she did it again... Once, twice, three times. By the third time she lifted back off of my shaft, I was clutching the bed sheets, feeling an agony at my over-sensitive glans and a building pressure at my impending orgasm.

"You're still growing," she cooed, and I realised she was right, as I felt the blood pumping through me, the swelling almost painful, then she pushed herself down again, sucking so intently, it became too much, the pain stopping me from reaching the final state of bliss, instead I passed by that state and felt like I was on the back-end of a cresting wave.

But Lena was far from finished.

"Now you're ready," she told me, as she lifted herself up, and I saw even more of her juices drip out of her pussy as she climbed on top of me, lowering herself onto my shaft in the next instant.

There was little build-up, no pre-amble, and Lena grinned through the whole act. Impaling herself on me, she lowered herself all the way, until she was resting on top of me, then she bent forward, brushing her ample breasts against my chest, the hardness of her nipples exciting me more, as she grinned down at me. "I'm going to enjoy this," she told me.

And then she lifted herself up, slowly, almost taunting me, until the tip was almost outside. Then with a sudden motion, she slammed herself down onto me, grunting slightly, causing an almost painful reaction in my groin and all along my shaft. Then she did it again, lifting slowly, then slamming down on me like a hammer. This happened again and again, and for the next two minutes, she built up her speed.

I wasn't about to just lay there and do nothing, so I grabbed her nipples with my hands and gently squeezed, causing her to gasp, losing her rhythm slightly, until she recovered, and with a determined expression on her face, she redoubled her efforts, slamming down onto me repeatedly, getting ever quicker. It was a race to see which one of us could make the other come first, and it was a race I was determined to win. Lena was competitive in the sack, I realised, and she seemed to get off on the idea of winning whatever game we seemed to be playing.

So, I pinched her nipples harder, and she let out a slightly pained moan, then I let go of her breasts and gripped tightly onto her arse cheeks, grabbing them so tightly that I left handprints. She moaned loudly in response, her eyes lidding, her mouth dropping open as she started to breathe raggedly, and in response, she dug her fingernails into my chest as she redoubled her efforts and bounced up and down.

So, I did the only thing I could. I grabbed hold of her arse, held her up, and started hammering her myself, taking advantage of my enhanced strength and speed, hammering away so quickly, everything seemed ot be a blur. Lena let out a shout of pleasure, exclaiming without words, as I kept hammering away, and she lifted herself up and arched her back in reaction, the pressure building in myself as I felt my impending orgasm, and then it happened.

She came first.

Her back arched even more, and she started to convulse, her breasts bouncing, her breathing hitched several times, and her pelvis gyrated against my shaft uncontrollably, for some seconds, and then with slow degrees, she slowed, her breathing calmed, and she seemed to come back to herself, looking down at me, and letting a slow smile creep up on her face. After a moment, she fell sideways next to me, pulling herself off, and laying back in a languid pose of repletion.

"So," Lena said, as we languished in the afterglow. "Berlin?"

I looked at here sideways. "Berlin?"

"Yes," she smiled gently. "When do you want to set off? I know of a nice hotel we can stay at. It's usually fairly empty this time of year, so their rooms are fairly cheap."

Money wasn't an issue for me, given the amount Laurent had left me with, but Lena didn't need to know that. "Sounds good," I admitted.

Lena gave a slight nod. "While we're there, we can see about finding other work. I'm sure there are some towns around which would appreciate someone to come in and clean up, or help with their defences."

For a moment before, I wondered if she was going to ask a whole bunch of questions about what I would do when I got to Berlin, who I was meeting, and so on. I was therefore relieved, when she took the conversation on this very different tangent. It helped me not think about what I needed to do when I got there, who I needed to meet. It set me at ease.

Lena snuggled closer to me in the bed, as she pulled the blankets over us to avoid a chill. I felt another odd sensation, like an electric current, as she wrapped her arms around my torso and let out what sounded like a contented sigh, closing her eyes. "Want me to be here when you wake up?"

This felt nice, I realised. It wasn't what I'd expected, and certainly not who I'd wished it would be, but it beat sleeping alone. "I'd like that," I told her.

It didn't take long before I drifted off into a deep slumber.

Morning came by, we both woke up, taking our time getting out of bed, cleaned up and dressed. I then decided that I needed to get back to looking for Frederich, and getting up to speed on any information he needed me to have.

I also needed to make a phone call I was dreading making.

Best get it over with.

I looked for a phone booth or some form of calling office, somewhere that an accessible hardline would be present. This was one of the most frustrating losses of the technological height of the old world, in that mobile phones were not particularly commonplace nor useful, and having the nanocloud act as an equivalent was of little use, given there didn't appear to be very many functioning cellular towers at the moment.

Eventually, I managed to get some time on a handset when I spoke with the receptionists at the hotel we were staying at. It made me wish I'd asked them in the first bloody place. They asked for five data credits for the use of the phone, and another twenty-five for each hour I needed the room for. I didn't need it for anywhere that long, but I paid the credits over and then walked to the indicated room, entering it, locking the door, and flipping the sign to occupied.

Then, with a heavy sigh and a feeling of dread, I dialled Laurent's residence.

"The Cuisset residence," Bernhard said in a punctilious tone.

"Hello Bernhard," I announced. "Is Laurent available to speak with, please?"

"Who shall I say is calling?" He asked, his tone studiously courteous.

"Rick Reyes," I replied.

"He's been expecting your call, Mister Reyes. A moment, please?"

I waited a few minutes, listening as footsteps echoed across Laurent's hard marble flooring, and heard a knock, then a pair of voices.

"Good morning, Rick," Laurent greeted me in a friendly tone, which immediately set me on edge. Either Eveline hadn't contacted him yet for some reason, or he was looking to put me at a disadvantage.

I decided honesty and directness would serve me well, here. "I wish I could call with better news," I began. "Have you heard yet from Eveline?"

"No," Laurent replied, his voice taking on a slight edge. "Why? And why is she not with you now?"

I sighed, wishing I had more patience. This directness of Laurent's was similar to Eveline's blunt attitude. "Laurent, do you remember when I told you that if I had any problems with Eveline's attitude, I would be sending her back to you?"

The pause at the other end of the phone had me wondering if the line had dropped out. However, before I was about to prompt for a response, Laurent let out a sigh. "What happened, Rick?"

"She has been difficult with me from the very first day we set out," I began, feeling a need to vent my frustrations. "If I'd have sent her back to you that first day, I wouldn't be feeling like I am right now."

I didn't expect the pause I got at the other end of the line. "Why is that?" Laurent asked me, his voice unexpectedly soft.

For some reason, that made me feel less ill at ease discussing this with her father. "We seemed to be getting along a bit better by the time we reached Dusseldorf," I began, feeling a weight on my chest. "She had started training me in hand-to-hand combat, and that seemed to make her feel more... I don't know, I don't pretend to know how her mind works."

"Go on," Laurent prompted me when I didn't speak for a moment.

"We joined a trio of travellers there, and her barbed comments resumed, not just at me, but at all three of them. I don't know, Laurent. I really don't understand, but for some reason, not only did she show utter disdain at the group, she also seemed to get really angry at me. It... I think it messed everything up."

"How so?" His voice was almost a whisper. "Rick, what happened next?"

Something about the softness in his tone was unsettling. It was as if he knew something, but wanted to give me a chance to tell my side of whatever he had heard.

"You have spoken to her, haven't you?"

"Rick, please," Laurent insisted. "I need to hear you tell me what happened next."

Why? This was strange. Still, I had a feeling that Laurent would not budge, nor be pushed to explain anything if he did not choose to do so himself, so I didn't push the issue. Instead, I continued. "I'm still trying to put everything together in my mind," I began. "But shortly after we left Dusseldorf, we headed to Dortmund with the other travelling companions. Our training sessions became more intense, I don't know why, but it was like she was pushing me. Whether she wanted me to lose my temper, or become a better fighter, or what, I don't know, but I was exhausted by the time we got to Dortmund.

"Anyway, we checked into a motel type place nearby, a pair of apartments next door to each other, then we went back over to the tavern that we'd all agreed to meet at. Eveline was just being... Well, you know... Eveline."

That elicited a chuckle from Laurent. "I know she can be thorny at times," he admitted gently. "Go on."

"The others were just trying to be friendly," I continued. "The human in our group suggested she take over my training. Eveline didn't like that and demanded to speak to me outside, so I joined her. Only..."

For some reason, I couldn't bring myself to continue like this was a clinical exercise. That night had more implications on the two of us than I'd realised, now that I was talking it over with Laurent.

"Go on Rick," Laurent prompted me gently. "What discussion did you two have?"

I blew out a sigh that embodied my frustration and resentment all in one. "She demanded to know why I wasn't trying to get... Intimate with her."

"I understand," Laurent said when I stopped. "Then?"

Fuck, I didn't want to have this discussion with the woman's father. "Long story short, we ended up going back to her place. Everything seemed to be going well, until... Until I said something that seemed to bother her."

"Then?"

"She asked me to leave, so I left."

"Yes? Then something else happened. What was that?"

Now I knew for sure, that Laurent and Eveline had spoken about this. "Look, I'm sure she's already told you-"

"Rick," Laurent interrupted, but his voice remained soft. "There are two sides to every story, and right now, I want to hear yours. Please," he took a breath. "Continue."

I let out a sigh of resignation. "One of my fellow travellers came to visit me. We had a few drinks, we did something I probably shouldn't have allowed, and the next morning, Eveline confronted me about it. Things got to a point where she stopped talking to me altogether."

Laurent let out a sigh. "Alright," he finally said. "And yes, your guess is correct. I have spoken with Eveline since the last time you saw her."

I let out a sigh of my own, annoyed that this conversation had taken this turn. All I wanted to do was to let the guy know that I was sending his daughter back to him. Frankly, I was surprised that she hadn't arrived back there, yet. It wouldn't have been an issue for her, given her speed and stamina. "I figured as much," I told him, letting my irritation reveal itself.

"The events you told me about what happened are pretty much what she told me herself," he continued. "Your perspective is how you felt about what had happened, and I needed to hear it. I only had her own perspective before, and I think you might appreciate hearing it for yourself, but-"

I interrupted him. "Laurent, with all due respect, for two days, she gave me the silent treatment. That's abuse, and I won't stand for it. And not for nothing, but she tried to fucking kill me-"

Laurent cut me off. "You're right about the silence being abusive, and I let her know it was unacceptable the last time we spoke." His voice grew hard in the next instant. "But she never had any real intention of doing any physical harm to you." Laurent then let out a sigh. "But I can't really blame you for thinking otherwise, since you don't know my daughter like I do."

My head was beginning to hurt, and despite my better judgment, I found myself asking "How is she?"

"She's very upset with this entire situation," Laurent said, his tone sounding heavy.

No shit, I thought to myself, thinking this was the understatement of the world. "Yeah, I mean, she wanted to tear me a new one, she was so angry-"

"You misunderstand," Laurent cut me off again, but this time, his tone was dejected, wearied. "She's in a great deal of distress at the moment."

"What?!" I exclaimed. "I don't understand," I told him. "She's not the sort of person who distresses easily."

"No," Laurent agreed, his tone sounding somewhat defeated. "Which is why it concerns me that she is, Rick."

"Shit," I exclaimed quietly. "How did this get so messy?"

"Rick, listen to me, this is important," Laurent continued, an edge of determination now imbuing his tone. "Eveline... When she pinned you down and held a clawed hand to your face, it made her realise that she allowed her self-control to slip too much. I've discussed it with her, and she reacted not out of outrage, but out of a feeling of rejection."

Wait, what's this he was trying to tell me? "I'm confused. How can someone want to attack another person just by feeling rejected? And how does that come about from a conversation about her apparent dislike of human beings in general?"

A tired sigh blew the speaker on my receiver into overdrive, causing the sound to distort for a moment. Laurent continued after taking another pause. "I imagine you may find this difficult to believe, given how adversarial she has been with you lately, but Eveline isn't someone who treats every human being alive on the planet like they're all out to abuse her."

"But-"

"Rick, she finds it difficult to trust anyone!" Laurent didn't give me a chance to object. "I know my own daughter very well after having known her for more than twenty years now, and I want you to realise that when I say her attitude is a shield she uses to protect herself, I mean she really fears trusting the wrong people."

"Like human beings-" I said, and even to myself, I sounded churlish.

Laurent was also not having any of it. "Rick, this petulance does you no favours. Please give it a rest," he then stopped, and took a breath before carrying on with his point. "Look, she will most likely never forgive me for telling you this, but you have a right to know."

This was all drama I didn't need to get involved with, and to get this all done and dusted, I simply asked the question that I knew he was expecting me to ask. "Know what?"

"Eveline, as you may well suspect, was bred as a compliant and docile slave, to be used and abused by any who wished, and never to put up any complaints."

"They clearly fucking failed there, didn't they?" I retorted bitterly, before realising with horror what I had blurted out loud.

For some reason, that elicited a laugh from Laurent. "Indeed, Rick. Indeed. Now," his tone became abrubtly serious once again. "Her most obvious traits are a combination of human and various types of feline, mostly a tiger and a lion. But she also had some wolf DNA infused into her, as well as some direct manipulation of her growth while in the breeding facility she escaped from."

Canine genetics. Right, so what did that mean? "Got it," I said.

"That wolf DNA not only made her very powerful for her size, it also meant that she was, and to some extent still is, at the mercy of her instinct to imprint under certain circumstances."

"Imprint?" I asked, not really understanding what Laurent was talking about. I was a technical engineer, not a fucking biologist.

"It's where certain forms of behaviour are essentially seared into the consciousness of a given person or animal," Laurent explained. "In Eveline's case, she has imprinted with two people I know of. Her mother and myself. It leaves her more open to accepting what we tell her, but it's also left her very wary of it happening with any other people."

"Why?" I was confused. "You two aren't exactly the picture of abusive parenting."

"No," Laurent sighed heavily. "But when she began staying with us following her escape from the breeding facility she was created in, she treated us much the same way she treated you. Disdainfully, adversarially and with open hostility. Aline and I were patient, and that patience was eventually rewarded when she accepted us. It was a slow process, but eventually, she got to a point where she could trust us. Then she imprinted, and initially, it caused her terrifying anxiety. The week it took to settle into her system and to accept we were not going to abuse her trust was one of the most difficult weeks of her life, and she is frightened of it ever happening again, especially with someone she doesn't know."

"Laurent," I took the opportunity his latest pause gave me to interject. "While this is all fascinating, I fail to see how her fear of imprinting has anything to do with her open hostility toward me."

"Because she's doing it to keep you at a distance," Laurent retorted, sounding impatient. "She barely knows you. It's her defence mechanism."

I sighed, annoyed and losing my patience. "Then why on Earth did you think it was a good idea to send her on this journey with me?!"

There was a pause, and it soon became uncomfortable. "I'd hoped that maybe she would learn how to deal with strangers without disdain or hostility, that she could be civil and courteous to people on a long journey, realsing that she didn't need to imprint on people to be a model citizen, so to speak."

"And instead, she ends up..." I took a breath. "Getting hurt."

"Yeah," Laurent said, melancholic. "The unexpected intimacy was an added complication."

Shit, fuck, damn, I thought to myself, feeling sick. "Laurent, can you do me a favour?"

"What is it?" Laurent asked, though his tone, while still dejected, was kinder than it had been.

"Tell Eveline when you next speak to her... For what it's worth, I'm sorry."

The pause this time was almost painful. "I'll make sure she knows, Rick."

I let out a sigh. "Thanks. I'd better get back on the road. My next contact is nearby, and I need to get to him quickly."

"Alright," Laurent said in a slightly louder tone of voice. "Take care of yourself out there, and if you do find yourself in Eindhoven any time soon, feel free to visit."

"Really?" I asked, astonished. "I thought given how Eveline and I ended things, you'd be far less welcoming of my presence."

Laurent laughed. "Sometimes things happen."

"I'm not exactly blameless in this situation though," I persisted.

"No," Laurent agreed. "And you'll need to reflect on what you said and did, just as I'm sure Eveline will be doing. But Rick," Laurent took another breath before wrapping up what he wanted to say. "Your thoughts are good ones, and your heart is in the right place, to borrow an expression."

"Thanks," I replied. "I'll talk to you again soon, I guess."

"Indeed," Laurent said in way of a goodbye. "We will."

The line went dead. With a heavy sigh, I hung up the handset, stood, stretched out my cramped muscles, and then left the room.