Free Loving Your Lies by Piper Shelly

the
charity work I was bound to do cast an eerie shadow over the
surreal peace. The strangers in the front seats tried to make
friendly conversation with me, which I was so not interested in.
But apart from all that, I might have even liked it here.
    A soft poke in my ribs made me jump. Julian
jerked his chin to the windshield. “We’re almost there. This is—”
He paused and pursed his lips. “The residence of your
vacation.”
    “We might as well call a spade a spade.”
With one eyebrow cocked, I offered, “The place for slave
labor?”
    “Your temporary hometown.”
    “How very nice.” Flashing my teeth in a
parody of a smile, I dismissed him and read the place-name sign
next to the road.
    Bienvenue à Fontvieille.
    Albert steered through the narrow streets of
the small town and a little farther until the line of houses and
shops gave way to woods and stony paths. The car came to a halt in
the driveway of an impressive property.
    I climbed out of the car when the others did
and gaped at the estate. To call it beautiful would have been a
vast understatement. It looked like somebody had waved a wand and
I’d arrived in a fairytale.
    Surrounded by a caramel brown picket fence,
the house stood to two stories. Front door, window frames, and the
long balcony on one side adopted the color of the fence, while the
sun reflected off the shiny white exterior and blinded my eyes.
    I couldn’t name the red, yellow, and violet
flowers giving dwellings to butterflies and bees, but they hung
profusely from the rectangular planters attached to each
windowsill. A gentle wind fluttered the curtains like the twirling
tutu of a ballerina. I couldn’t wait to get inside to find out if
the interior measured up with the fantasy façade.
    Too amazed to even flinch, I stood rigid
when my aunt rubbed both my upper arms with her soft hands.
“Welcome home, Jona.”
    Home . The word lingered in my ears
like the soft rustle on a midsummer’s evening.
    Marie let go of me, leaving my skin chilled
in the uncommon French heat. She walked to the front door with my
mother’s arm looped around hers, followed by Albert, who carried
our baggage.
    I was set to fall into line with them, when
a brown and white furred beast trotted around the corner of the
mansion. I stopped dead. It came right for me with a murderous
glint in its eyes, cutting me off from the safety of the house.
Shit, the beast must have devoured a kid only minutes ago. The
white shoelaces still hung from its jaws.
    I froze. The pony-sized dog lifted its
muzzle to my hand and sniffed. Afraid my wince might stir its
appetite for dessert, I strangled the frightened sound in my
throat.
    The giant animal angled its head, gaping up
at my face. A low grumble in its gorge grew to the most blasé bark
the world had ever heard. The laces tore away from its mouth and
dropped as a puddle of dog-drool.
    Julian’s laugh made me jump. “And here I was
thinking the dog was mute.”
    I squeezed my eyes shut and bit my lower
lip, hating how he caught my every moment of fear.
    “Sit, Lou-Lou,” he said. The mountain of fur
lowered her butt to the ground. Her long tongue lolled out sideways
between huge, but not very sharp canines. While her tail swished
back and forth over the stone patio, Julian rubbed behind her wooly
ear then dared to sling his arm casually over my shoulder and
around my neck. “Shall we add dogs to the list of things that scare
you senseless?”
    The guy seriously begged to be introduced to
my great right hook. I dared him with a pissed scowl as he dragged
me toward the house. Before we reached the front steps, I managed
to escape his grip and entered alone.
    Hopefully, he would go to his own house
soon, so I could be safe from his sneaky remarks and the bunch of
butterflies he woke in my stomach each time with his touch.
Actually, I couldn’t wait.
    My newly discovered family-members gathered
in the wide hallway of the house, speaking to each other in fluent
French. They