“Pretty fliers,” he crooned. His mouth was half open, his heavy pink lips glistening in the overhead lights. “Pretty, pretty fliers.

LuEllen.

She hung around for a month or so in New Orleans, while I was recovering. One morning at breakfast she said, “Do you love me?”

I said, “Yes.”

“I don’t know if I can handle that,” she said.

“I don’t know what to tell you,” I said.

“I’m going away for a while.”

“Like Charade, or whatever her name was,” I said.

“Chaminade,” she said absently. “But not like her. ‘Cause I’ll be back.”

“For sure?”

“Yeah.” She has dark eyes like great northern lakes. “For sure.”

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Table of Contents

Prologue

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 14

CHAPTER 15

CHAPTER 16

CHAPTER 17

CHAPTER 18

CHAPTER 19