Page 12 of Eternal Craving

“You read and write, I hear?”

I nodded, half-distracted.

“I’d like you to teach me,” he said.

“Now?”

Miguel stared at me for a long time. “Who is that woman with Roelle?”

My gaze fell away from his all-seeing eyes and lingered on his book.

“She’s not from around here, is she?” His lined face softened, and he raised his grey, bushy eyebrows. “You chose not to tell Roelle that she’s not your sister?”

“I wasn’t sure?—”

“How he’d react?”

“Perhaps I should check on her?”

Miguel tut-tutted his disapproval.

“What are you reading?” I asked, my stomach twisting.

“I have no idea. I don’t read, remember?”

Miguel closed the book and then turned and gazed up at Roelle’s window. “Now that we know it’s not Alicia, we can sleep.” He winked. “Get some rest. Tomorrow will be a long day.”

“Here, it’s always a long day.”

“Life is fluid. It changes. That’s one of life’s guarantees.”

“In my experience, there are no guarantees.”

Miguel sighed. “So young to be so jaded.”

“What they say about me, about what happened to my brother, it’s not true.”

“I know.”

“How do you know?”

“The animals trust you, which means you trust yourself.”

“How do you know that?”

“I don’t know what happened that night, but I do know that Roelle carries with him a tremendous guilt. I see it in his eyes when he looks at you. He treats you as a son and yet punishes you for things you do not do. He’s punishing himself.”

I stared down at my worn shoes.

“I may not read words,” he said, “but that doesn’t mean I can’t read people.”

My gaze met his. “You wanted me out of the house? You advised Roelle to have me come out here?”

“I choose to sleep near my animals. I don’t expect such dedication from another unless?—”

“You thought I might be safer?” I wanted to believe this. For the first time, I’d found someone who had glimpsed the good that I’d always hoped was in me.

“Go to bed.” He dropped the book, and it landed silently on the straw-covered ground.