The Paris Affair by Kristi Lea Read Free Book Online Page B

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    “Betty, it’s Helmut. I’m very sorry to call you at home.”
    “That’s OK. What do you need?”
    “Do you have Claire’s cell phone number? Or a land line?”
    He heard the background noise on Betty’s end grow louder and then go silent, as if she’d shut a door.
    “Claire? You mean Sheffield?”
    “Yes.” Helmut walked to his coat closet and pulled out his old leather jacket.
    “I can pull it up on my laptop computer. Darned fancy technology. This is going to take me a few minutes to power up. Are you in the office? Can I call you back?” Helmut heard the rustling of papers.
    “I’m at home. Leaving it actually. Call my cell.”
    “Sure. What’s going on?”
    “I, uh, was supposed to go over, uh, something with her tonight. But I’ve got a family emergency.”
    “Did something happen to your mom?” she asked, the pitch of her voice rising. Helmut could picture the concern on her face. Betty had only met his mother once or twice over the years, but the two women got along well.
    “No, no. It’s Kelsie.” He heard the faint chime of the laptop powering on.
    “Your sister? You’re going to Florida? Do I need to rearrange your schedule for Monday?”
    “Calm down, Betty. Kelsie’s fine. She’s just stranded in Peoria. And no, I don’t know how that happened. But I intend to find out in a few hours.”
    “Some crazy college stunt, no doubt,” she said. “I found the number. Are you ready?”
    Helmut grabbed the first envelope off a stack of mail and hurriedly scribbled down the digits as she read them off. “Thanks, Betty. Again, I’m sorry to interrupt you.”
    “I know you are, Helmut. Go take care of your sister, and I’ll see you at the baseball game tomorrow afternoon.”
    The Cubs game. He had almost forgotten. He had arranged for his department to use the company box for the Cubs-Cards game. “About that. Any chance that there’s an extra ticket? In case I have company for the weekend.”
    Betty chuckled. “I’ll see what I can do. Safe driving.”
    Helmut clicked off his phone and headed out the door to the elevator. As he rode down the twenty-three floors to street level, he dialed Claire’s number. It went straight to voice mail. Helmut frowned into the phone as the doorman handed him his car keys.
    “Claire, it’s Helmut. I hate to cancel on you like this, but something came up. I will make it up to you as soon as I can.”
    He slid behind the driver’s seat of his BMW, slamming the door shut at the same time he clicked off the phone.
    The caustic mix of anger, frustration, and fear had faded into weariness by the time he pushed open the glass door of the little restaurant. The monotonous landscape of rural Illinois had droned the fight out of him.
    He immediately spotted the familiar petite brunette, sitting in a corner booth with her legs stretched out before her, reading a paperback book. He slid into the opposite end of the booth and signaled for the waitress. And Kelsie pounced.
    “You’re here!” She threw her arms around him and buried her head in his chest.
    Helmut gave her a squeeze and carefully set her away from him. Her eyes were puffy and red and she exhaled a shuddering breath. Clad in a pair of faded, low-hipped jeans and a gray hoodie with her long hair pulled back into a simple ponytail, she looked far younger than her twenty-one years.
    “What happened, kiddo?” he asked.
    “We were on our way to Iowa City, to visit some friends—”
    “We who?” Helmut demanded.
    Kelsie’s cheeks reddened and she twirled the straw in a half-empty soda glass. “It doesn’t matter. I’m never seeing him again.”
    “Kelsie.”
    She looked back up at him, with the same stubborn set to her chin that she used to have when she’d get in trouble as a kid. “His name is Chris. We’ve been dating for a couple of weeks, and we both have friends at Iowa State, so we decided to take a road trip. I told Mom I was headed up to Laura’s in New York. I