Chapter 48

“She remarried,” Fox said to Seven, looking at his feet. “I never did like him, and he never tried to make an effort to be friendly with me. Only interested in my mum, and she didn’t notice.”

Fox took them back to the little inn and sat heavily at a table. “There, you’ve seen it all. Look, if you walk down this road and take a left and cross the first bridge you come to, that’s where me and my mum live, in a little row of houses.”

Seven didn’t sit, but instead stood behind Fox and rested both hands on his shoulders, not saying anything, just offering silent support.

“I guess it doesn’t matter, what the inside of my head looks like at any given time,” Fox said morosely. “It might as well be a desert.”

“Your village is lovely,” Seven noted. “It’s not like the desert at all.”

“Maybe,” Fox said, feeling as if the tiny Devon breeze might shatter him. “For what it’s worth, I wish I could take you to Paris. The real one.”