'Do you like me?' she asked him.

'You know I like you,' he replied, adding, 'You're the only thing I like.'

'Is that true?'

'That's true.'

'What about Momma and Daddy?'

'They're nice. But they're kind of busy a lot, aren't they? Your mom, she's never home.'

Kristina smiled. 'She likes to keep busy.'

'We've got to stick together,' said the boy.

'I know.'

He stood up from the bench. 'In sickness and in health, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, till death do us part.'

The girl was silent. 'Isn't that what married people say?'

'They say it because it makes sense,' the boy replied. 'And I'm saying it because it makes sense.'

'Okay,' said Kristina. 'Till death do us part.' She fell silent again.

'But,' she said, disturbed, 'I don't really want to die.'

'Who does?' he said. 'We're not going to die. We're too young to die.'

'So maybe we don't have to say that part?' she asked.

He sighed. 'You're a pain. Okay, we won't say that part. Come on, let's go. It's getting late.'

The children left their secret place amid castle ruins, rolled down the hill, and ran down the stone stairs.

There was no one else in the park. Only a little boy balancing himself on the wall that separated the land from the sea, and a little girl, arms out, stepping carefully behind him, looking at her feet and at him. The salty air carried the sounds of the wind and the rustling leaves, and the girl's voice, calling out, 'Wait for me ... wait for me ...'

Keep Reading

If you enjoyed this novel, then make sure you look out for the brand new epic love story, Lone Star, from Paullina Simons.

Life isn't about the destination, but the journey...

Chloe is eager to drink in the sights and sounds of the Old World as she embarks on a European adventure with her closest friends. Buried in the treasures of the fledgling post-Communist world, Chloe finds a charming American vagabond named Johnny, who carries a guitar, an easy smile - and a lifetime of secrets.

As she and her unlikely travelling companions traverse the continent, a train trip becomes a treacherous journey into Europe's and Johnny's darkest past - a journey that shatters Chloe's future plans and puts in jeopardy everything she thought she wanted.

From Treblinka to Trieste, from Carnikava to Krakow, the lovers and friends crack the facade that sustains their lifelong bonds to expose their truest, deepest desires and discover only one thing that's certain: whether or not they reach their destination, their lives will never be the same.

Acknowledgments.

This is a work of fiction. Any inaccuracies are intended, and any mistakes are mine.

To Bob Wyatt, for being my friend, for making me laugh aloud in the most unexpected places of the edited manuscript, and for living this book with me for nine months, and to Joy Harris, thank you.

Thanks to police officers Patrick O'Neill and E. Douglas Hackett for your details and patience.

To Oron Strauss, editor in chief of the Dartmouth Review, for letting us play with your Labrador.

To Clint Bean of the Hanover Chamber of Commerce, and to Kris Wielgus of the Dartmouth women's basketball team, thank you.

A heartfelt thanks to Jackie Feldmann and Kerri Basso for looking after our little Mishie-guy. Where would I be without you guys?

Natasha, Misha, and our yet unborn Mommy loves you.

About the Author.

Paullina Simons was born in Leningrad and emigrated to the United States in 1973. She lives close to New York with her husband and four children. Go to her website paullinasimons.com, for more information about he novels.

Also by the Author.

Tully.

Eleven Hours

The Bronze Horseman.

Tatiana and Alexander.

The Summer Garden

The Girl in Times Square

Road to Paradise.

Tully.

Paullina Simons.

Tully Makker is a tough young woman from the wrong side of the tracks and she is not always easy to like.

But if Tully gives friendship and loyalty, she gives them for good, and she forms an enduring bond with Jennifer and Julie, schoolfriends from very different backgrounds.

As they grow into the world of the seventies and eighties, the lives of the three best friends are changed for ever by two young men, Robin and Jack, and a tragedy which engulfs them all.

Against the odds, Tully emerges into young womanhood, marriage and a career. At last she has life under control.

And then life strikes back in the most unexpected way of all ...

'You'll never look at life the same way again ...' Company.

Eleven Hours.

Paullina Simons.

Didi Wood is nine months pregnant, doing some last-minute shopping before the baby is born. Stepping out of the air-conditioned Dallas shopping mall into the cruel heat of the parking lot, she hears a voice behind her ... and the nightmare has begun.

Abducted by an increasingly unstable young man, Didi must endure an epic drive across the Texas plains, heading through the relentless heat towards a destination that only he knows.

Meanwhile her anguished husband, Rich, is on the trail with an FBI agent who may or may not be as good as he says he is at rescuing hostages ...

Road to Paradise.

Paullina Simons.

Two girls, an open road, a shiny yellow Mustang. It promises to be the trip of a lifetime. And it is but it is also nothing they ever expected ...

When Shelby and Gina pick up hitchhiker Candy Cane, their troubles have only just begun. The spirited, pink-haired Candy is on the run from a past darker than anything the two suburban girls have ever seen.

They should have stuck to their no hitchhiker rule, but it's too late. Across the vast American landscape, Gina and Shelby are drawn into a terrifying game of cat and mouse with no place to hide. As everything familiar is stripped away and every certainty is turned upside down, they will find their friendship, their faith, and themselves tested in ways they never imagined.

'Pick up this book and be prepared to have your emotions wrung so completely you'll be sobbing your heart out one minute and laughing through your tears the next'

Company.

Paullina's Website.

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Visit Paullina Simons' website, www.paullinasimons.com, to learn more about the author, read exclusive interviews, and read an excerpt from Tully.