make Gelber beg for it.”
“No, damn you.”
She laughed, and her pace increased. “You will, Pierce. You will…”
* * *
“SHOULDN’T JOE HAVE CALLED BY NOW?” Beth asked as she leaned back in the lawn chair and looked up at the night sky. “He and Billy have been gone over two hours.”
“Unless he decided just to come back and pick us up.” Eve lifted her coffee to her lips. “Don’t worry. Either way, I have a feeling it’s okay.”
“A feeling isn’t knowing,” Beth said. “And I can’t believe you’re taking this so calmly. They could be in trouble. Feelings don’t mean anything. I need to have facts.”
“Can’t help you there,” Eve said. “And I’m so close to Joe that I believe I’d know if anything had happened to him.” She smiled faintly. “I’d feel it. Sometimes, you have to look beyond hard-and-fast reality to find answers.”
Beth was silent a moment. “I … don’t know how to do that. All I know is reality. The reality of the hospital, the reality of school and sports and competition.” She paused. “Unless you mean when Rick asked me not to tell anyone I was his daughter. That wasn’t real, that was pretense.”
“No, that’s not what I meant. It’s not the same at all.”
“Now you sound angry.”
“Not at you.”
“Rick, again. You shouldn’t be angry with Rick. You wouldn’t be angry if you knew him.”
“It’s better not to discuss him. We tend not to agree. As I said, by looking beyond reality, I believe I’d sense it if Joe was in trouble.”
“Would you? That’s strange. Kind of spooky.”
“I guess I believe in spooky stuff sometimes. I found it was the only way I could survive.”
Beth didn’t speak for a moment. “I read about what happened to your little girl when I looked you up on the Net. I’m sorry. It must have been pretty bad.”
“Understatement of the century.”
“I know,” she said awkwardly. “I’m not very good with words. I don’t even know what I am good at yet. I just wanted to tell—you’ve gone through so much. You’ve lost a child. You’ve had a career. You found the love of your life. You’re still young, but you’ve lived through more than most people.” She said haltingly, “That makes you a person who—it makes you … rich inside … and wonderful.”
“Bullshit.”
“No, it’s true. Me, I’m still pretty much of a blank slate.”
“That only means you have all the time in the world to write your own story on it.” She reached out and touched Beth’s arm. “I hope your story will be a little happier than mine from this time forward. You deserve it. We’ll have to see that it does.”
“‘We’ll’? That sounds as if you’re going to stick around after this is—I’m not asking you to—I know you’re busy and you have Joe and Jane and your work—”
“That you find very spooky,” Eve interrupted. “Stop stuttering. We’ll just have to see how this plays out. You may want to walk away and never see me again.”
“I don’t think so. And I don’t mind your being spooky. I’ve just never felt anything like that myself.” Beth was silent. “Except maybe once. I had a dream about you, Eve.”
“What? When?”
“A few nights ago. I dreamed you were at the hospital, running away, running down the road. It was crazy.” She made a face. “Because I’d never met you. But I knew who you were. Oh, not that you were my sister. Just your name. I knew your name was Eve. I knew it. And when you showed up at the house, I recognized you. It kind of scared me. I guess that was one reason I reacted so … violently. Yeah, that was pretty weird.”
Eve stiffened. More than weird. She touched her jaw. “Remind me not to scare you again.”
“I’m sorry. I always seem to be saying that to you, don’t I? But it’s true, I just struck out without thinking.” She looked away. “I was wondering … do you think my dreaming about you is a … sister thing? I was watching one of those paranormal shows on TV, and they said that sometimes dreams and stuff like that happen.”
“Yes, it could happen.”
“I thought maybe it was the drugs that could still be lingering in my system.” She moistened her lips. “Unless you had the same kind of dream … But I suppose you didn’t. That would be even more weird.”
“No, I didn’t have the same kind of dream.”
“Oh,” she said, clearly disappointed. “Of course you didn’t.”
“When I