Page 49 of Wandering Souls

Impressive. “Deal.” He couldn’t wait and there was not a hope in hell of him forgetting to remind her. “What other countries did you visit?”

She looked right through him as she counted them off on her fingers. “India, Paris, Germany, Spain...” Her focus snapped back to him. “Shall I go on?”

Smarty pants.“Which was your favorite?”

“Switzerland, by far. We spent Christmas in Grindelwald when I was nine. It snowed on Christmas morning.” The fondness in her gaze roused jealousy. She’d traveled the world. He’d been to Bali. “It’s a magical little village where the skiing in winter is phenomenal and the hiking in summer is stunning. I even learned to rock climb when we were there.”

“At nine years of age?”

“No. I was twelve, I think.”

Inspired by her sense of adventure, he picked up the second pair of chopsticks and split them the way she did. He studied her fingers for a long moment and tried to emulate her hold on the thin sticks. The movement felt entirely foreign and his fingers threatened to cramp up, but he swallowed his ego.

He attempted to lift a piece of chicken out of the carton and dropped it twice. Persistence paid off and he finally got a decent grip on the morsel. Not wanting to risk losing it, he rushed it into his mouth.

Abi clapped his achievement and chuckled. “There was genuine fear in your eyes for a minute there.”

He pulled a face as he chewed. “How many languages do you speak?”

“I’ve lost count, though I speak some better than others,” she explained, waving chopsticks in the air. “I’m fluent in French, German, Italian and Mandarin, but there are others I have reasonable ability in, like Spanish.”

“The Army would’ve loved that.”

She agreed with a small nod and he noted his mention of her profession barely flustered her. “They would’ve loved me more were I fluent in Arabic or Hebrew. I wasn’t a lot of help in Afghanistan in the linguistics department.”

“You’ve fit far more adventure in your life than I have in thirty-two years.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Thirty-two?”

He raised an eyebrow. “And you?”

“Twenty-three.”

Ray’s heart skipped a beat at the age difference. “Wow.”

Abi wiggled her eyebrows. “Old man.”

Ray chuckled. “Sure as hell don’t feel it when I’m around you.”

“Oh.”

They continued to eat, Abi feeding him more fried rice in between bites of the chicken drenched in lemon sauce. He forgot all about the cold night air and the darkening sky and found himself completely lost in Abi. For someone so young, she’d lived twice as much as he had.

“So, you ski?”

“Not so well, but yes.”

He suspected her assessment of her ability was understated. If she had learned to ski in the Swiss Alps, then the Victorian high country would be a cinch.

“What about you, Ray Wells? Can you ski?”

He chuckled but when he really thought about it, he let out a hearty guffaw. “Hell, no. I’m an A-grade klutz.” He remembered back to winter when he’d ventured into the Wills Crossing snowfields and how many times he’d fallen over trying to ski on the gentle slopes. “I grew up in the city.”

Abi set down her chopsticks and dabbed at her mouth with a napkin. “You’re built for cross-country skiing. Those long, lean limbs are designed for endurance.”

“It’s just a pity my heart and lungs don’t agree.”

If he were honest, his fitness was non-existent. While he wasn’t exactly a donut-munching, whiskey swilling copper, he may as well be. Since moving to the Crossing, he hardly exercised. He was in no doubt which of them sitting at the table had the better level of endurance.

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