The Lady of Charlotte, Part 2

In which we meet Olivier...

Read Part 1 here

Photo by Jonathan Bean on Unsplash

Olivier didn’t understand Americans.

There was a lot he’d loved about his time in the US, but six months here, and he was still extremely confused about a few key points: why did they smile at people who weren’t their friends? Why did credit scores exist? Why did they eat something called cheese that definitely wasn’t cheese? And why did they pay high taxes but then not demand their government give them healthcare?

It was a long list.

Olivier understood Americans who were experimental archaeologists even less. Particularly one named Charlotte Caruthers.

He had known Charlotte briefly in France at Labouré, when she’d come to learn how to work at an experimental archaeology site that doubled as a tourist attraction, and then he’d gotten to know her better here at Ozark Medieval Castle, where they were building a thirteenth century fortress using only medieval techniques.

It was actually hard not to know Charlotte. She talked. A lot. In French…