Re-Runners First Life: A Time Travel Suspense Series Read Free Page B

impressive, Sally. The state’s youngest ever recipient of the Willard Prize in Psychiatry.’
    Sally blushed at the compliment. ‘You read that?’
    ‘Naturally,’ he said. ‘I’m interested in everything you do.’
    ooooo
    She smiled at him, as his compliment sent a suffusion of warmth and delight through her. After all these years, he never ceased to confuse and intrigue her. He was brilliant, she’d always known that, but it was his ability to alternately charm and rebuff her that held her in his web. He was her drug and she, the addict. She was admired by her peers as a young and brilliant psychiatrist; and one who recognized her own dependency on Christian. It was a dependency she’d had since high school and she had neither the power nor desire to sever it.
    He was her first and only lover and she believed she was his. They had continued to see each other for nearly ten years, but always on his terms and in his time. Two or three times a year they would share a meal, spend a wonderful night together and then she wouldn’t see him again for several months. This had become their routine and she knew better than to expect anything else. She loved him with all her being. Did he love her? She doubted it, but she was certain she was the closest he had ever come to caring for a woman, any woman.
    He was an unusual man; aloof, yet charming. Their lovemaking was intense and passionate, but immediately following, he was coldly detached. He always left before morning and she wouldn’t hear from him again, except for the customary single yellow rose, which always arrived at her home the next day.
    The money Christian had received following the horrific death of his parents appeared to sustain him in a comfortable lifestyle. She knew he spent his days studying and travelling.
    ‘What subject is keeping you engrossed at the moment?’ Sally asked.
    ‘I’m continuing with forensics,’ he answered her and then changed the topic. ‘Would you like me to order for you?’
    ‘Yes I would,’ she nodded. ‘You always introduce me to something new. Whoever thought Italian food was just pasta and pizza was so wrong.’
    The waiter approached on Christian’s signal. He ordered food and wine for both of them in Italian, but with a Sicilian twist in deference to the waiter who had recently arrived from Sicily and appreciated the gesture.
    Sally was also fluent in Italian and recognized what he had done. ‘He will look after us better than anyone else in this restaurant tonight,’ she laughed.
    Christian shrugged. ‘It’s a small thing, but he is grateful. I believe people should be more grateful for the blessings they are given. As am I for you, dear Sally.’
    She blushed. His every word plucked at her heartstrings. She was obsessed with him and she knew it. But she also knew they had to play by his rules or she would never see him again and that was something she couldn’t bear. She lived for these moments with him, as few as they were. She excelled in her profession, but she also excelled in most things that involved Christian. She had studied Italian because he spoke the language and now she knew she would investigate forensics.
    He always took note of her achievements, even when they were apart from one another. She wanted to make sure he never found another partner more intellectually stimulating than she.
    ‘Do you still have plans to go to Italy in a year or two?’ Sally had asked this question before, but he never answered to her satisfaction. He only told her he wanted to immerse himself in the culture of the country and when he went, he didn’t expect to return to the US for several years. She was waiting and hoping he would invite her to visit him.
    He wouldn’t stop seeing me. Would he? The pain around Sally’s heart increased as the thought hit her. She couldn’t imagine life without him, but she knew he could manage quite well without her.
    As though he had read her thoughts, he answered her. ‘Yes. I