Perhaps he was just amusing himself with the naivety of this awkward, flustered American student who’d wandered like a fish out of water into this remote and beautiful mountain village that he himself probably knew so well. After all, he did seem like the kind of guy who could readily get lost in a fantasy world of his own design (and, lord, how she wished he would take her with him there too), but somehow she felt that he might be telling the truth here. He seemed so honest and open about it, almost as if he truly was at peace with his own death now. The thought terrified her, not least of all because now that she’d met him she wanted the chance to spend many more days and perhaps even weeks in his company, if that was even remotely possible. But regardless of the attraction, no matter who he was, she couldn’t let another person walk willingly into the face of death like that. Maybe she should just make her excuses and leave, she considered. I mean, he probably wasn’t serious anyway, was he?
