Free Julie's Butterfly by Greta Milán

face made Julie laugh despite herself.
    “You came to my rescue yet again,” she said incredulously.
    His mouth twitched at the corners. “You sure make it easy.”
    “True.”
    She reached down to pick up the object that had threatened to knock her senseless. It was a heavy brass globe engraved with the contours of the continents. She scrutinized the heavy sphere in her hands.
    “Good as new,” she announced, relieved, as Bastian lifted the box off the floor.
    She put the globe in the box, then looked up and lost herself in Bastian’s green eyes. Close up, Julie could make out the light and dark flecks that sometimes appeared gray in the light.
    If Isabelle and Elena were telling the truth—which she had no reason to doubt—she was wasting a precious opportunity right now. Perhaps she should swallow her pride, at least enough to see whether the face he presented to the world was only a carefully constructed facade.
    Bastian cleared his throat uneasily and took a step back.
    “Let’s take a break and have a bite to eat,” he suggested. There was a mocking gleam in his eye. “After that you can go wrestle with the next box.”
    Julie nodded in a daze as Bastian picked up his phone.
    “Is Italian OK?” he asked.
    “Yes, thanks.”
    “What would you like?”
    “Lasagna and a large coffee, please.”
    While they waited for their food to arrive, Julie worked out how many pieces were left.
    “We should be done by this evening,” she announced.
    “Good.”
    They sat down at the table where Bastian had spread out the food. Julie took the lid off her lasagna and inhaled appreciatively. “Almost like being in Italy,” she said, picking up a fork and spearing the cheesy top layer.
    “Have you been there?” asked Bastian.
    She nodded, her mouth full, trying not to get too optimistic about his interest.
    “Isabelle and I traveled after graduating from high school. Through Switzerland, down to Milan, and then to Florence.” She laughed. “We spent two weeks in a rattly old Beetle. Our very own road trip.”
    “Sounds exciting.”
    “It was fantastic.” Julie paused, waiting to see if he would ask any further questions, but he took a silent bite of his extravagantly topped pizza. “We hardly ever took the freeway,” she continued bravely. “We both agreed that would mean missing out on the best parts. So we spent our days chugging through the countryside, stopping wherever we felt like it, and slept in the car at night.”
    While she ate, Julie described her adventure with Isabelle in great detail, and Bastian even interrupted her with a question now and then. It was the first time they’d really talked to each other.
    “We originally wanted to go as far as Rome, but sadly, we ran out of time.”
    “How come?”
    “My university was offering a preparatory course I didn’t want to miss before starting law school.”
    Bastian frowned. “Shouldn’t you be in class now?”
    “Law just wasn’t for me,” she explained with a shrug. “I’m working as a waitress at the moment, but only while I figure out what I really want to do.”
    He raised a skeptical eyebrow. “And that is . . . ?”
    “I have no idea.”
    “Can you sing?”
    She blinked in surprise, then laughed. “No.”
    “Dance?”
    “I used to take ballet lessons, but I’m a bit rusty.”
    “Then a career as a pop star seems out of the question.”
    “Or as a C-list celeb,” she added. “I’m also an appalling actress.”
    “A professional athlete perhaps?”
    “You must have noticed by now that I’m not exactly blessed with coordination.”
    “A scientific career?”
    “Too dry.”
    “Teacher of some kind?”
    Her brown eyes widened. “Too stressful.”
    He leaned back, looking pensive. “We seem to be a little picky, don’t we?”
    “At least I know what I don’t want. That’s got to count for something,” she said with a smile. “I want to make sure I make the right decision this time.”
    “The right