Julie's Butterfly by Greta Milán Page A

indefinable longing to see her again, however unwise that may be.
    It seemed like a sign from above when he saw a young woman who looked much like Julie turn onto his street. He leaned forward to study her. The closer she came, the stronger his physical reaction. When she stopped outside the garden gate of his building and studied the mailboxes, he was sure it was her. His excitement mounted as she lifted the flap of his mailbox and peered inside. Confronted by a heap of junk mail, Julie let the flap fall and looked up at the building. From his top-floor apartment, he couldn’t quite make out her expression, but something or someone by the main entrance attracted her attention and she hurried toward it. With his nose pressed against the window, he watched her disappear from his field of view.
    It looked like she’d gone inside.
    Bastian hurried across his apartment and listened at the front door. Light footsteps were approaching. Then everything was quiet.
    All he could hear was his heart thumping as he waited for her to ring the bell.
    But she didn’t.
    And she wasn’t going to, which was hardly surprising given the way he’d treated her.
    Thrown into a panic by this realization, he flung open the door.
    Julie was crouched outside. She blinked in surprise as she looked up and stood hastily.
    “Excuse me,” she stammered. “I—” She blushed. “Oh, God. You must think I’m nuts, but I didn’t want to disturb—” She stopped and took a deep breath. “Isabelle got your address for me from Elena. Perhaps I should have rung the bell, but then I thought you wouldn’t want me to. I just wanted to return these.” She held up his black leather gloves. “You dropped them last night, and I thought you’d want them back,” she explained awkwardly. “I was going to leave them outside your door.”
    Her eyes fell to his hands, which were covered by another pair of gloves.
    “You’ve got a spare pair,” she observed, then laughed self-consciously. “Of course. How silly of me.”
    Bastian took his gloves from her.
    Say something to her, you idiot, he thought, but his power of speech had somehow vanished.
    Julie drew her dark-green cardigan more tightly around herself and folded her arms. Her brown eyes looked wistfully up at him. “I’d better go now,” she said softly and took a step back. “Bye.”
    “Coffee?” he blurted out. Wow, he could actually talk! He gave an agonized groan in his mind as Julie regarded him uncertainly. “At least, I would offer you some if I had any,” he continued casually. “But I do have hot chocolate. Or tea. Or soda. Or perhaps you’d prefer water?”
    “Is that meant to be a joke?” said Julie after a brief pause.
    He was already asking himself the same thing. Could this get any more embarrassing? He forced a smile. “I do have a sense of humor, but in this case, I’m serious.”
    Julie stared at him wordlessly, and Bastian’s smile faded to a stricken expression.
    “Listen, I’m sorry about what happened yesterday. I shouldn’t have just run off like that. It was all just a bit too much for me.”
    “No.” Julie shook her head. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have put you in that position.”
    Bastian’s eyes widened in wonder. He’d behaved like a complete ass, and she was apologizing? She would only do that if she considered him some kind of victim. He swallowed hard. “Would you like to come in? You must have one or two questions.”
    “I can’t,” she replied regretfully. “I’ve got a date with Luke.”
    “Understood,” he muttered. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that she was meeting someone else, however much he hated the idea.
    “I’ve told you about him.” Julie grinned as if pleased by his reaction. “He’s the one who used up all the astronaut bandages.”
    Of course. Her nephew.
    “We’re going to the zoo,” Julie continued with a cheerful gleam in her eyes. “You could come with us if you like.”
    Once more, she was having that