polenta, and cannoli, he looked—as Gran would say—fat and happy, despite the IV needle and blood-pressure cuff that were still attached.
“You were going with Elwood back in New York, right?” he said, taking her completely by surprise.
“Yes. We knew each other about ten, eleven years ago.” She kept it vague, not certain what Jake had told his father—and what Jake wanted him to know.
He nodded wisely. “That’s what I thought. Took me too long to put it together—getting a little foggy in my brain. You messed up my boy but good, you know. Back then.”
The lingering pleasure from her dinner and the time spent with Jake—and the kiss—disintegrated. “I didn’t—”
“I didn’t notice it, but my Margaret did. She always had a better sense of the kids than I do. Now, Elwood, he wouldn’t talk about it much, but she was worried about him for a while there, with him moving all the way to Raleigh and all.”
“I’m—”
“Now, if you keep trying to interrupt me, he’s gonna come back before I get to my point here. Don’t know how long it takes to lecture up a doctor, but I guess my boy will take his time, do it right.” He grinned under his mustache. “Still, we ain’t got all night.”
Vivien nodded, trying to ignore the block of stone that had settled in her middle.
“All right, then.” He seemed pleased with her silence. “You had the sister, the twin, didn’t you? The one who died?”
Again, he surprised her. She nodded, uncertain whether answering his question was permitted at this time or whether she was still required to remain silent a little longer so he could get to his point.
He started to speak, then hesitated, looking nervously toward the door. Mystified, she nevertheless remained quiet and waited for him to go on. He shifted awkwardly in the bed, fumbling with the controller that raised and lowered the mattress, and finally got himself positioned a little more upright—a little closer to her.
Vivien leaned nearer as well and didn’t expect it when he gripped her hand with callused, gnarled fingers. “I gotta question for you.” His voice was very low, hardly audible over the sounds of the machines beeping and humming in the room. “Do you ever… Does she ever…well…visit you? Your sister?”
Vivien heaved a mental sigh of relief. “Yes.” She looked at him and saw hope and anxiety in his eyes, and she understood what he was really asking. “We talk, you know? I know she’s there. Sometimes I feel her—her name was Liv—touching me on my arm. It’s always my left arm, because she always stood on that side of me. It was a habit from when we were little because it was easier to tell us apart if we were always on the same side of each other.” The hair prickled a little on her left arm just then, and she rubbed it gently. Thanks, Liv.
His fingers loosened a little on her hand. “Good.” He was about to say something else, but the door to the room opened and Jake came in.
He gave Vivien a curious look then said, “Well, Pop, I’ve given them all the instructions. They’re going to wait to give you the shots till after we leave—much as I love you, I don’t need to see your hairy white ass—and they promise to be gentle when they jam the catheter in. Sound all right?”
His father rolled his eyes and chased them out of the room as well as he could, being in bed and wired up, as he put it.
“I’ll be back tomorrow in the morning. First thing,” Jake promised. “Don’t bug the nurses too much, all right? I told them they could knock you out if you were too demanding. All right? I love you, Pop.”
Vivien was still chuckling when they climbed into the car for the ride back, and when they got to the outskirts of Wicks Hollow, it was after eight o’clock.
The sky glowed in a showy blaze of magenta, crimson, and gold just above the horizon line, and its reflection shimmered with every movement of the lake below. Beyond the splashes of breathtaking color, the sky was still pale blue. But Vivien knew that as soon as the sun began to dip below the edge of the world, darkness would come quickly and everything would phase into dark blues and dusky purples, and end with the inky black of night.
“I’m really sorry to keep you from your work all day,” Jake said, obviously noticing she