Under the Same Sun (Stone Trilogy) by Mariam Kobras Read Free Book Online Page B

“I’m only going back to our room.” Her hand on Jon’s shoulder, she added, “And I don’t want to listen to you any longer. You should be ashamed of yourselves. Sal would lie down and die to protect me, and you know that. I’m done with you for now,” and walked out without so much as a glance back.

    T here was no luggage.
    She hadn’t brought anything but the change of clothes she was wearing now.
    The door closed behind her, and it was only then that she realized she was still holding her napkin. It was a very nice one, damask linen, the hotel’s logo elaborately embroidered in one corner, larger than a handkerchief, heavy. Sadly she gazed at it, rubbing the fine material between her fingers. Only a few weeks before Jon had appeared on her doorstep in Halmar she had ordered nearly the same design for the hotel there, only they had been pale green. They had used them at their wedding a few months later, and she had flushed with pride when her uncle commented on them, complimenting her good taste and how well they went with the interior of the dining room.
    Longing for the Seaside spiked in her like a sharp, sudden pain.
    It was June. In a few days they would be celebrating Midsummer Night there, and she would miss it.
    She would miss putting on her white cotton dress, the one with the lace trim, and sitting in the meadow down by the sea with Solveigh and the other girls, watching the sun dip toward the water but never set. There would be no Norwegian folk songs for her this year, nor the spectacle of the bonfire or the taste of the fish grilled over it, no scent of dill from the vat with the crawfish and no tangy sip of aquavit, brewed by a local distillery and brought out only for special occasions.
Her hotel had always been fully booked for Midsummer, and most of the guests were the same ones, returning year after year like the geese traveling over the bay on their migrations. Often enough she had stood on the deck to watch their flight, wishing herself away with them, to warmer places, out of her loneliness and longing, dreaming of seeking out Jon and ending her exile. But the birds had vanished beyond the hills, and she had returned inside to her work, and everything had been as before.

chapter 5
    T here was a desk with a computer near the elevator. A security guard sat behind it to document who came and went.
    He pointed, very courteously, toward Sal’s room door.
    For a few seconds Naomi stood before it, hand raised to knock, a little scared, uncertain what to say.
    “Hey.” Tired lines were etched around his mouth, but they melted into the dimples of a smile when he saw her. “I’m sorry, darling. Never meant to get you into trouble. He’s really pissed, isn’t he?”
    “I don’t know.” She stepped past him into his room.
    Sal raised his eyebrows.
    “I didn’t bring any luggage,” Naomi said. “When I left DC I thought I’d go shopping here. I love to go shopping in London. But…” She hesitated and glanced at the open door. “I have the feeling Jon is not in the mood for Harrods. Would you like to go shopping with me?”
    “Not really.”
    Surprised, she blinked at him. For some reason this dry, calm response shook her; it was so unusual coming from Sal, who normally always did her bidding, and gladly.
    He pushed his fists into his jeans pockets and shrugged, still standing in the open doorway as if he was afraid to be alone with her, afraid of incurring more wrath from Jon. “I’m really sorry, Naomi, but I don’t think I can go out with you. He’s right. I shouldn’t have left you alone; it was my fault you were bothered. I’m too upset to be good company now.”
    His room was neat, tidy, nothing lying around, not even a shirt on a chair somewhere. It was a very nice room too, large and sunny, but nowhere near as grand as the suite she and Jon were staying in. There was only muffled traffic noise from outside; birdsong and the tinkling of a fountain were louder. She