Although he usually drank beer—and he'd had a couple at Gia's before cabbing over here—Jack was determined to do the wine thing tonight. And do it with gusto. Because after the day he'd had he felt he deserved an ambitious blood alcohol level, even if it meant reading tomorrow's Light with a hangover.
Maybe a hangover was the only way to go, because God knew what that kid was going to write.
But that would have to wait till morning. At the moment he meant to concentrate on Jeanette. And Kate too, of course. But Kate and Gia had their heads together in the living room, discussing Jack's boyhood he was sure. He hoped Kate wouldn't spill anything embarrassing like his bed-wetting problem.
Jack had filled Gia in as best he could on Jeanette's brain tumor treatment and subsequent personality change. That hadn't deterred her; she still wanted to meet Kate. Sitting at Gia's and sipping beer as he watched her work on a painting commissioned for a paperback cover had eased his Sandy Palmer-jangled nerves.
He glanced at Kate now and sensed that her nerves could do with a little easing. She wore a sleeveless cotton jumper and the humidity had made her honey blond hair curlier than usual, but she didn't look well tonight. Tired and worn. And jumpy. Something was eating her.
Jeanette on the other hand was cool and serene. She leaned against the kitchen side of the counter, physically three feet away, mentally somewhere at sea off Bora Bora. Seemed to be watching him open the wine, but her gaze was unfocused.
Jack rated his small-talk skills with those of the average geranium, and usually counted on others to carry the conversation load. But Jeanette was barely here. Had he bored her into a trance?
He glanced longingly at the couch. He'd much rather be over there where he could try and censor whatever Kate was telling Gia…
Kate said, "Our folks worried about him sometimes."
"Imagine that," Gia said with a wry smile. She wore a long summer dress that brought out the intense blue of her eyes.
Kate had taken an instant liking to Gia. She'd sensed that here was someone not only very pretty and very bright, but also very much her own person.
"He was something of a loner."
Gia sipped her wine. "He's still not much of a team player."
"He was on the track team but he ran cross-country. Not a lot of friends, either. But it was the movies that most concerned our folks. He couldn't get enough of those junky old horror and sci-fi movies."
"That hasn't changed."
"It would be a sunny Saturday afternoon and Jackie would—"
Gia grinned. '''Jackie? Oh, I love it!"
"That's what our mother called him and we all sort of picked it up. Anyway, on a beautiful Saturday he would say he was going to the park but if you drove by the local theater you'd see his bike chained to a post nearby. Every Saturday the Lenape would show two old horror-sci-fi movies in a double feature and he'd rather sit there alone in the dark than play with the other kids."
"That child was definitely father to that man." Gia said, pointing to Jack.
Jack and movies… Kate remembered when he was nine she heard Jack's alarm go off at two in the morning, then heard him pad down-stairs in the dark. When ten minutes passed and he hadn't returned, she went down to see what he was up to. She found him wrapped in his bedspread cross-legged on the floor before the TV with the sound very low, entranced by some cheap black-and-white movie. She told him to get back up to bed but he pleaded with her, saying he'd been trying to catch Invasion of the Saucer Men forever but it never played in the movies or on TV or anywhere anymore until tonight. He had to see it. He might never get another chance. Pleeeeease?
So she'd sat next to him under the spread, her arm protectively around his shoulders, and watched with him. She soon knew why no one showed it any more: Invasion of the Saucer Men was awful. But to Jack it was some sort of grail he'd finally found and he loved it. Looking back now it was a special shared moment, a closeness fated for extinction with the advent of the VCR.
Kate glanced over to where Jack stood with Jeanette. Would that life were still so sweet and simple.
And then she remembered: "The dip. I forgot to heat the dip."
The extended silence was getting awkward. Jack noticed that Jeanette's tank top revealed lean, muscular arms. Good deltoids, the kind that come only with weight training.
That looked like a conversation opener.
"You work out, Jeanette?"
"Hramm?" She blinked and returned to North America.
Jack cocked his arm in a bodybuilder's pose. "Do you work out?"
She smiled. "I used to, back when I thought that sort of thing was important." A shrug. "Now it seems kind of silly. So many things seem silly now."
Jack could see how being told you were going to die long before your time could change your perspective on just about everything. Especially working out. Not much point to a well-toned body if the next stop was a casket.
"You were at the house last night," she said, staring at him. "Why?"
Pretty damn direct question. How much could he say and not contradict anything Kate might have told her?
"I was just tagging along. Kate was worried about you and doesn't know the city, so I ferried her around."
"Everything's fine now," Jeanette said with a smile. "And getting better every day."
"Great," he said, holding up the open wine bottle. "Can I pour you some?"
Jeanette shook her head. "No, thank you. I don't need that anymore."
Good, he thought. That leaves more for me. And I do need it.
"Do I take it that means you've found a replacement?"
Another smile. "In a way."
Jack hoped this might provide a segue into this cult of hers, but his sister bustled into the kitchen before he could move on it.
"The dip," Kate said, pulling open the refrigerator door. "Hot avocado. Forgot all about it. And yes, Jack, I'll have another glass of that. So will Gia, I'm sure." She shoved a covered dish into the microwave and began jabbing buttons. "Just let me nuke this on reheat for a few minutes to warm it up. There. Now, where's that—?"
"Kate!" Jeanette wailed, her voice a terror-laden plea. "Oh God, Kate, why haven't you done anything?"
Her cry was so abrupt, so heartrending, that Jack nearly dropped the wine bottle. He stared at her agonized features and saw that her earlier remoteness was gone. The woman on the far side of the counter now was reaching out with her eyes, with her hands and arms, panic radiating from every pore.
"Jeanette!" Kate cried, turning Jeanette to face her. "What is it? What's happening!"
"I'm losing, Kate! I can't hold out much longer. Pretty soon there'll be nothing left of me! You've got to help me, Kate!" Her voice rose to a scream. "For God's sake help meV
And then her knees buckled. As she fell against Kate, Jack started around the counter to help but Gia was already there.
"Get her over to the couch!" Gia said.
The three of them helped the barely conscious Jeanette across the room where they stretched her out. Kate placed Jeanette's ankles on the arm rest, positioning them above the level of her head, then took her pulse. Gia ran back to the kitchen and started running water over a dish towel. Jack stood back and watched, a little shaken.
"This is what happened yesterday morning," Kate said. "Jeanette, are you—?"
"What's going on?" Jeanette said, shuddering and starting to sit up.