I grinned and pressed her gloved hand. “Anyway, Cliesh, if I hadn"t signed that first contract, we"d probably never have met again.”
I felt her warmth through the fine leather of her glove. Cliesh smiled a beautiful meld of regret and gladness. “I know. I"ve thought a lot about that these past days.”
“You should see me handing out the Christmas presents to my men.”
“Tim, Tim. Why did you have to choose such a hard life?”
“Perhaps it chose me.”
We walked on. A force drew us to Cliesh"s house. It was empty now and would be up for sale soon. All that remained was the Pleyel piano shrouded in a dust sheet, the stool in front of the keyboard. The old Baluchi rug on the floor beside the piano.
She tugged the dust cover from the piano. I helped her fold it. We propped the lid open. She remo
