May 4, 1959
“Mrs. Hanover—” The
bungalow door slammed hard on Steve Flanagan’s foot, but he didn’t
budge; the second he withdrew his foot, he’d lose his last chance
to find his brother. “Frank Cable only gave me your name because—”
“Frank’s real good
at giving names.” The grey-haired woman’s bony fingers tightened
on the hem of her bath robe. “That’s how he got off the blacklist,
giving the FBI my husband’s name. That’s how we lost everything.”
“This isn’t like that.
Tommy Gould’s my brother!”
“Even if he is, what
the hell would that prove?” The door opened, then closed even
harder against his foot, forcing a gasp from Steve’s lips. “My
own brother hasn’t spoken to me since I was blacklisted, said
it was what I deserved for turning my back on AMERICA.”
“But that’s over.
There’s no blacklist any—”
“Tell that to my brother!
And there’s still a federal warrant out for Tommy, right? He
was a good kid; if I did know where to find him, I’d never tell
you.”
Steve shot a desperate
glance at Dani beside him, saw she had no idea what to say either.
He forced a smile as he withdrew his foot. “Okay, Mrs.—” The
door slammed in his face.
And just like that,
I’ve lost my brother for good.
“Steve, I’m so sorry.” Dani
wasn’t much for public display but she reached over and hugged
him before Steve started limping down the garden path. “We’ll
find someone else—”
“Who? How?” His heart
felt heavy as lead. “That’s the last of the names Cable gave
me, the people he thought might have helped Tommy hide. Now,
I got no leads, no names, nothing! And it’s not like I can run
an ad in the newspaper.”
Ten years. Ten
goddamn years. Getting out of reform school, learning
from the Summers Orphanage that Tommy had been adopted four
months earlier. Finally getting the name of the Goulds from
a sympathetic secretary. Trying to find them.
Then I got sent
to Korea, came home after Klaatu and Gort scared everyone into
making peace…and a year later, the FBI arrests the Goulds
as Red spies and Tommy’s gone on the run. And if the FBI ever
knew who I was, they’d never stop watching me until I led them
to Tommy.
“I have to face facts,
Dani, I’m never going to find him. I failed him.”
“The hell you did!” Her
fingers suddenly dug into his arm. “You wouldn’t have had this
problem if he’d answered your letters from reform school, or
told you about the adoption or if he’d made one goddamn attempt
to find you—”
“What the hell’s that
supposed to mean?” Steve slammed open the garden gate, letting
them out onto a quiet, wisteria-lined street of small, cheap
bungalows. The one he’d rented for them was just a few blocks
away.
“It takes two to tango,
doesn’t it? Your brother wasn’t dancing!”
“Tommy was a kid!
After my pop died, I was the man of the house.” Seeing she was
about to retort, Steve added, “Maybe he didn’t have a choice.
Maybe the guards at the reformatory tore up the letters or something.”
“Maybe he—” She reigned
in her temper with a visible effort and pulled out a package
of Starfire cigarettes. “All I’m saying is, your friend Matt
was right. You said he told you to stop putting your life on
hold, give up on Tommy, start a family—”
“Start a family?” Steve’s
heavy heart gave a sudden, crazy leap as the day turned around. “You
mean you’re finally ready to let me put a ring on your finger?”
From her shocked expression,
he realized that hadn’t been what she meant at all.
Since joining the
FBI’s Science Police division six months earlier, Harry Sato
had gotten used to weird.
The second-story man
with the anti-gravity belt. The triggerman who’d had a ray-gun
built into his arm. The crazy artist who’d killed critics with
the radioactive mutant hidden in his basement.
Even by Science Police
standards, Harry decided, the conversation with Ezra Novak was
completely screwball.
“Roboticus has the
mind of a child!” Sitting with Harry and Mickey Moon in the grey-walled
interview room, Novak mopped at his pasty face with his dirty
handkerchief. “He could be scared, confused—you have to rescue
him.”
“Now, hold on a dang
minute.” Mickey, Harry’s tall, blonde partner, said in his Texas
drawl as he scribbled Novak’s comments in his notebook. “Didn’t
you just tell us this robot was some sort of fighting machine?”
“Eventually he will
fight against all those who threaten America, yes. But it will
take time; he has to be taught, trained, given a firm moral foundation.”
“So—” Harry kept his
voice neutral. “—you’re saying you not only built Roboticus without
a TSC license, but he’s intelligent? Literally?”
“Well, of course he’s
unlicensed.” Novak smiled condescendingly. “It’s impossible to
get a license to build a true thinking machine, but once the
government sees what Roboticus can do, I’m sure they’ll admit
I was right to proceed without one.”
“Do you remember the
last thinking machine anyone built?” Harry said. I don’t believe
this guy! How can he be so reckless? “Hypnotized its controllers,
almost took over this country—”
“Bad upbringing, Agent
Sato. I, on the other hand, have spent the past year inculcating
Roboticus in 100 percent Americanism.” Novak puffed out his chest. “Bible
readings for morals. Watching Ozzie and Harriet to teach
him about family. Books on America and California. And when there’s
a war movie on the late show, I let him stay up and watch to
learn the importance of defending his country.” The man’s smile
became wistful. “I’ve never had a family of my own, but I think
I’ve proven a fine father.”
“And you sat with
your 100 foot tall robot in front of the TV?” Mickey said. He
was no longer taking notes. “How’d you get him on the couch?”
“He was six feet tall
at the time, Agent Moon. 100 feet is only his potential height.” Novak
replied. “You remember the Kronos robot in Mexico, with its ability
to convert energy into mass? That inspired me to develop a method
for expanding Roboticus by—”
“Kronos almost destroyed
the North American electrical grid,” Harry said. “You don’t see
a problem here?”
“Kronos was sent to
destroy us. Roboticus has been trained to protect us.” Novak’s
smile was reassuring, then it faded. “I can’t imagine whoever
kidnapped Roboticus can damage him—the alloy I developed is completely
indestructible—but he must be so utterly scared. Please, agents,
you have to find him!”
A few minutes later,
as the outraged Novak was informed of his rights, of the penalties
for violating science-licensing laws and led off to make his
one phone call, Harry glanced over at Mickey. “So is this worth
worrying about? I mean, a six-foot tall giant robot that watches
television with its dad? Maybe he’s a complete kook.”
“You know our boss’s
rule: Never say it’s impossible until you’ve proven it so.” Mickey
popped a stick of Juicy Fruit and chewed thoughtfully. “Back
in Germany in the war, if someone warned your platoon that—”
“About giant robots?
We’d have laughed. But yeah,” Harry said, nodding slowly, “if
someone warned us the Krauts were nearby, we made damn sure to
check it out.”
“We have Novak’s address,
so let’s go check it out.” Moon got up from the desk and clapped
his partner on the back. “Let’s ask Saul to go with us and see
if we got a real robot maker or not.”
Back in the drab
bungalow, Dani Taylor handed Steve his highball and joining him
on the moth-eaten couch with her scotch. Renting the bungalow
had been a break from signing in as Mr. and Mrs. in yet another
hotel register, but just then she wished she was a hundred miles
away. It’s been six months since the last time he asked, I
thought he’d given up. And then I got him going again!
Steve avoided her
eyes, fiddled with his tie, and Dani thought of those hands on
her body the night before. They were good together. Very good.
So why did he want to change things?
“So, the answer’s
still no?” Steve looked up and locked eyes with her. “You realize
it’s been two years since we started dating?”
“Do you still want
me to quit the Guard if we get married?”
“There’s a hundred
ways a doctor as good as you could save lives, baby. Emergency
rooms or—”
“Your work isn’t any
safer. Are you going to quit?”
“I’ve seen your scars.
Here.” His hand patted her back below her shoulder, where a Devilfish
claw had cracked three ribs. “Here.” His fingers rested on the
three year old scar where molten glass had splashed her arm. “And
I’ve seen how it scars you inside when you can’t save someone.”
“You’ve got your own
scars, you know.” Dani slammed her glass down on the side table. “Do
you know what it felt like seeing you in hospital after that
Torgo creature almost killed you?” Her guts clenched at the year-old
memory. “The cuts, the blood loss, the burns, those goddamn chemicals
that seeped into your body? Waiting three weeks for you get off
the critical list?”
Steve looked surprised. “You
never told me you were that worried.”
“Well of course not,
I—”
I didn’t want
to make a fool of myself when we’d only been going out four
months. It would have been…ridiculous.
“You had enough to
deal with. You didn’t need me crying on your bed.”
“I wouldn’t have minded.
And wasn’t it worth it? We smashed Torgo’s crime ring, stopped
him from transferring his mind to Newman’s body, freed everyone
that sex fiend had locked up for—”
“Do you know how many
lives I saved during the Deathworm infestation? When I was up
for 72 hours straight? Not just Pulaski and Hill, but the kids,
grandmothers—”
“And I’m proud of
that! It’s part of what I love about you! Only—” He paused and
took a long drag on his Winston. “Okay, let’s get one thing clear.
Are you saying that’s the only problem? If I was okay with you
staying on in the Guard—you’d say yes?”
“I—” Dani’s tongue
froze in her mouth as she realized she had no idea what to answer.
“You could just have
said you didn’t know.” On the other end of the phone line, Claire
White sounded amused. “Why didn’t you?”
“What if he’d asked
me to decide?” Dani clutched the receiver like a lifeline. “Claire,
you know men better than me. And you’re a genius. What the hell
do I do?”
“Well, true love has
never been my scene—”
“It’s not mine either.” Claire
made a small laugh. “What the hell gives you the idea I’m in
love with Steve?”
“Would you be this
upset if you weren’t? Back when we met, you had quite a few guys
on a string, but you’ve been dating Steve for two years.”
“We’re not exactly
dating. Exactly.” Dani jumped from the easy chair and began pacing
up and down, stretching the phone cord to its limit. “We’re both
free to go out with other people—”
“Which you never do.”
“—and I always buy
my own dinner. Just so he doesn’t get the wrong idea.”
“Which would be what?
Dani, it’s obvious that—”
“It’s not obvious!
Nothing about this is obvious!” Hearing how loud she was, Dani
felt glad Steve had taken a walk.
“Let’s cut to the
chase: If he did say he’d accept you remaining a Guard medic—”
“He hasn’t said that
for sure.” Dani saw the phone starting to fall off the table,
rushed back and restored it. “Claire, just because I can’t articulate
my reasons doesn’t meant I don’t have good ones. Maybe we’re
just not right for each other. Maybe I don’t want to get married.
Just because I don’t have your social life doesn’t mean I’m ready
to settle down.”
“What if he gives
you an ultimatum? Say yes or it’s see you in the funny papers?”
“At least we’d get
it settled. Then again, thinking about breaking up—” Scares
me as badly as saying yes. “Dammit, I’ve faced spacemen,
kaijin, protoplasmic blobs and not lost my cool!”
“This time it’s your
heart that’s at stake, not your life.” Claire exhaled thoughtfully. “Plutarch
said nobody but the cat wearing the shoes knows if they pinch.
You’ll have to figure this out for yourself.”
“At least you gave
me a sounding board.” Dani sank back into the chair. “If you’re
ever in the same boat—”
“In love? Pigs’ll
be flying first. Of course, with mutations these days—”
“Wow, Bob Hope’s got
nothing on you. But thanks.”
Shaking her head,
Dani hung up and lit a cigarette. I can’t lose Steve But I
don’t know if I can marry him…and I’m not sure why I don’t know.
Maybe if I sleep on it? By the time Steve got back, they’d
have to rush to make it downtown in time to see James Dean in Music
of the Spheres, then have a late dinner in Little Tokyo afterwards.
If she was really lucky, there wouldn’t be time to discuss it
again before tomorrow.
“I feel like Gregory
Peck in Earth is the Hostage.” Dark-haired, dark-eyed
FBI technician Saul Horowitz jabbed the stem of his curved pipe
at one of the blueprints he’d spread out over Novak’s garage
workshop floor. “Wondering why someone this smart has to go rogue
when he could have—”
“So, Novak’s not a
crackpot?” Harry said studying the garage door, which appeared
to have been ripped open from inside. A trail of heavy footprints
led across the lawn to what had once been the neighbor’s fence. “I
mean, it sure looks like Roboticus walked away, but the other
stuff?”
“You saw me shock
this thing.” Saul held up a six-inch cube of metal that had been
five inches before he jolted it with electricity. “And even my
diamond drill didn’t scratch it. Novak’s notes indicate not only
would the alloy have absorbed the energy for growth, it could
channel the electricity into an electromagnetic skeleton supporting
Roboticus’ larger body.”
“And it got up and
walked away.” Harry ran a hand through his prematurely receding
hair and lit a cigarette as Mickey crossed back through the fence. “Anything,
partner?”
“Mr. Kellaher next
door called in a police report last night.” Mickey leaned against
the heavy steel door. “He was watching Halls of Montezuma on
the late show, saw some ‘big guy’ stealing his station wagon.
Didn’t get a good look, but—”
“And Novak slept through
all this?” Saul said.
“Told Roboticus to
go to bed early, then took a sleeping pill.” Mickey sighed. “Guess
the kid didn’t do what he was told.”
“Is it possible, Saul?” Harry
asked. “Roboticus has a brain? A personality?”
“Novak’s computer
design is more sophisticated than anything coming out of Engineer’s
Row.” Saul held up one of the blueprints, not that it told Harry
or Mickey anything. “Without Roboticus here to perform a Turing
test, there’s no way to—hell, Novak didn’t program it to be a
car thief, did he? So I say yes.”
“So joyriding in the
neighbor’s car was Roboticus’ own idea?” Harry said. “Why? I
doubt he’s cruising for chicks.”
“At least, we got
the car as a lead,” Mickey said. “I’ll call LAPD, see if anyone’s
spotted it.”
“And if we find it,
what then?” Harry asked Saul. “How do we stop something harder
than diamond?”
“I’ve only had 90
minutes to study these plans,” Saul said. “Finding a weakness’ll
take time.”
“Find fast and call
us by wrist-radio,” Harry said, as he and Mickey stepped through
the shattered door. “We’re off to hunt down a robot.”
Steve knew that between
the World War II internment and the damage done by the Invasion,
Little Tokyo was a lot less Japanese than it had been thirty
years ago. Still, the First Street Buddhist temple and a couple
of other old buildings remained, enough to remind him of the
few days he’d spent in Tokyo before heading home from Korea.
That night, Steve
felt as detached from the street as he had from the movie. He
stared at Dani, walking beside him, at the dark, fine-boned face
under her brown, close-cropped hair and worried Tommy wasn’t
the only person he was losing.
She didn’t answer
my question, that means no, right? She wouldn’t marry me even
if she weren’t in the Guard. The thought gnawed through
his guts like battery acid. Not for the first time he wondered
how he’d fallen so hard for her. Sure, she was brave, good-looking,
smart, classy, but so was Steve’s partner Gwen and he’d never
wanted to kiss her the way he did Dani.
It’s love. There’s
nothing else that explains it. And she doesn’t feel the same. He’d
thought she did, lots of times; the smile over her last birthday
gift, the way she laughed at some of his cornier jokes, the
look in her eyes every time—okay, almost—that they made love.
But hell, I’m
a nobody from Brooklyn with a brother wanted for treason. How
could that be enough for her?
I know I’ll stay
with her as long as she wants, but—how long will that be?
And then, just as
they were entering into the restaurant, it went dark. The entire
street went dark. “Well, damn,” Steve said with a laugh. “Someone
forgot to pay the light bill.”
“You sure that’s all
it is?” Dani studied the scene warily; the only light came from
the full moon and cigarettes and headlights scattered along the
street. Somewhere up the street, two cars collided. “I should
have brought my medical kit.”
“They have ambulances
in LA. And we don’t know that it’s anything but—” Someone a couple
of blocks away cried out what sounded like a warning in Japanese,
then someone else screamed. “Hell, who am I kidding?”
They started running,
as fast as they could manage in the dark, hearing gunfire, more
screams, then the sound of metal smashing hard into stone. It
grew louder as they drew closer, and then they were pushing through
a panicked mob of Los Angelinos running away from whatever it
was; Steve grabbed a man to ask questions, but the guy shoved
him away and kept moving.
Breathing hard, Steve
and Dani turned the corner and saw a forty-foot tall robot smashing
a building with clenched metal fists.
“I keep telling
you Harry, you shouldn’t smoke—”
“Shut the hell up—Mickey.” Harry
wheezed out the words as they approached Little Tokyo, past intersections
gridlocked by the loss of traffic lights, using flashlights to
check the sidewalks ahead. “The screaming, the power loss, he’s
gotta be here.”
“If we’re wrong—”
“We’re not.”
When the police reported
finding the ditched station wagon half a mile from Little Tokyo,
Harry had suddenly seen it. A kid. Sitting, watching war movies
with his pop, dreaming of being a hero like father wants. So
one night he sneaks out to play soldier, and from something he
read or heard, he realizes where he can find some Japs in Los
Angeles… “I think the screaming’s coming from that road to
the left.”
“You realize even
if he’s there, we still have to find a way to stop him.” As they
detoured around a phone booth, Mickey glanced down at the jacket
pocket where he’d placed a couple of handmines. “If Saul’s wrong—”
“Pray he’s not. Pray
shooting into the cooling vent will blow up the brain.
Yeah, and it’ll be such an
easy shot in the dark, unless we get real close…
“You ready?”
“Like momma used to
say, nobody’s tougher than Texas.” They reached the next intersection.
Roboticus stood a hundred yards away, stomping on a row of parked
cars. “Don’t think she had critters like that in mind when she
said it.”
“Dig!” Dani barked
at Steve as she threw herself on the rubble, peeling it away
from the two Japanese men half buried under it. The robot, ignoring
the bullets someone was firing at it, had moved down the street. “They’re
unconscious, hold up your lighter, let me see their condition.”
“You’re are the bossiest
girl I ever met, you know that?” Steve said, pulling his lighter
out. They’d already called in the emergency on their wrist-radios. “Where
the hell did that thing come from?”
“Pluto? Rogue scientist?
The future? Doesn’t matter. Get closer.” Dani knelt down, studying
the unconscious men, saw multiple cuts and abrasions, prepared
to remove their coats—then suddenly, the light disappeared. “Steve?”
She looked up, looked
around, and saw him racing toward the robot. She couldn’t believe
he’d do anything so crazy, then she made out a little girl, standing
a few yards in front of the giant, screaming in panic. Dani almost
screamed herself as Steve raced through the robot’s legs, snatched
up the girl, kept running but not fast enough to avoid the robot’s
moving foot. It struck Steve as it rose and he went stumbling
into a building’s shadow, crying out in pain.
The seconds it took
Dani to reach him felt like hours, and it took more precious
seconds to find Steve in the dark, even with the girl’s wails
to guide her. “Steve?”
“I think I—” She saw
him sit up, gasp, sink back down. “My arm—!”
“Sit still until I
look at it!” The robot, thank God, was walked away; Dani dragged
the girl from Steve, held her when she tried to jump back. “I’m
going to have to get your coat off, but—”
“Give her back.” Steve
held out his other arm, took the girl; Dani carefully tugged
the coat off his other arm, ignoring the hammering of her heart,
forcing herself to think like a doctor … the coat came
off, her lighter clicked on, and she could see the bruises, swelling,
and a slight misalignment. “There might be a break. I’m going
to palpate your arm, which—”
She glanced up at
the sound of metal and falling rubble, and saw Roboticus thrusting
his arm through the front of a bar. An explosion of screams followed;
Dani made herself ignore them, set her hand on Steve’s wrist,
to work up to what looked like the injury site—
“He’s bleeding!” Someone
screeched from inside the bar, louder than the other screams. “Someone
help me, I can’t make it stop!.”
“Steve.” Dani glanced
at the bar, swallowed. “Can you sit still? Completely still until
I get back or an ambulance gets here?”
“I—”
“Without chasing
that thing?” She heard another desperate cry from the bar. “You
swear?”
“I—sure, I guess,
but—”
“Then stay put, don’t
move it, I’ll be back as soon as I can. It—it sounds like they
may need more help than you do.” Saying it didn’t make her feel
any less of a heel as she ran to the bar, praying that for once
Steve wouldn’t try to do anything heroic.
“Only forty feet high?” Climbing
off the fire escape onto the apartment-building roof Mickey stared
across the street at the back of Roboticus’ head as it resumed
crushing cars. “Guess Novak was a kook after all.”
“It’s looking away
from us.” Harry ran across the roof, drawing his gun, but there
were no openings on the back of the metal head. “If we want to
try the trick shot, we’ll have to get his attention.”
“And if we do and
we miss?” Mickey pulled out the handmine and set the magnetic
switch. “Or it doesn’t blow up his brain?”
“Then he squishes
us like bugs.” Harry forced a smile. “We knew the job was dangerous
when we took it, right?”
“What was your motto
back in the war? Go for broke?” Mickey hurled the grenade at
Roboticus’ shoulder, saw it land and cling, then explode a second
later. “Sure hope something breaks!”
Novak wasn’t so
screwy. The metal wasn’t even scratched that Harry could
see. But Roboticus halted in mid-step, its foot poised above
a VW Beetle, and swung around, reaching its leg across the
street. As it raised metal hands covered in powdered brick,
Harry studied its face: Eyes the size of hubcaps, bulges where
the ears and nose should be and where the middle of its mouth
would have been, the slit for the computer brain’s cooling
vent.
Both agents drew their
guns and fired into the vent. Roboticus’ arms kept rising toward
them and Harry fired his last bullet, praying to a God he only
half-believed in anymore as he slid a new clip into his automatic.
Roboticus paused.
A second later, with its foot still a yard or two above the sidewalk,
the robot began to wobble.
A second after that,
it toppled slowly forward.
Harry and Mickey scrambled
to the far side of the roof as Roboticus’ body struck, caving
in the building only to catch on something inside and stop falling,
leaving half the roof intact.
A second later, Roboticus
began to shrink.
“Holy cow,” Mickey
whispered. The robot dwindled, shrinking to six feet tall in
a matter of seconds and collapsing onto the rubble. “Harry—you
think it was really intelligent? A little kid like Novak said?”
“It doesn’t matter.” Harry
lit a badly-needed cigarette and sat on a skylight. “Believe
me, Mickey, if you start worrying that you just shot a swell
guy and it’s a shame he was your enemy, you’ll go nuts. Maybe
he was a kid, maybe not; either way, we had to stop him. And
we did”
“Six weeks in this
thing?” Shifting in the hospital bed, Steve glared down at his
cast as Dani fit a cigarette in his mouth and lit it off hers. “Crummy
robot. Crummy arm.”
“You’re lucky it didn’t
snap off. It happened with the Guard unit that attacked the Megalith.” The
thought made Dani shudder, which was stupid—he was fine, wasn’t
he? Despite her abandoning him. “What the hell were you thinking,
Steve?”
“I was thinking I’d
be faster.” He gave a small laugh. “Oh, don’t give me that look,
baby, you’d have done the same thing if you’d seen the kid.”
“That’s beside the
point. You could have been killed—”
“And you’d have cared?”
She stared at him
incredulously. “Of course I’d have cared! How can you ask that?” The
answer came to her immediately. “I’m sorry Steve. I shouldn’t
have left you, and I’d have been back but the man was hemorrhaging—”
“You think that’s
it?” Now he looked incredulous. “Yeah, it was a bit of a shock
when you ran out on me, but…Hell, even if we were married,
you’d have done it. That’s what you do, take care of people.
It’s part of why I go for you so much.
“I—I kinda do wish
you’d stuck around, but you got a job to do, just like me. It’s
just that…” He shrugged. “You’re number one on my hit parade
baby, and it sunk in after our talk yesterday that you don’t
feel the same.
“Steve—”
“Besides, I know you
ain’t gonna quit the guard, and the thought of seeing you in
this bed instead of me—and the kind of risks you take, it’s bound
to happen someday—tears my heart out. Only—” He swallowed, reached
out his free hand, caught hers. “Only I know walking away from
you now would feel worse. So I guess I’m around as long as you
want me.”
“Steve.” That should
have been good news, but the look on his face made her feel constricted,
like she couldn’t breathe. “I’ve never said I don’t love you.”
“You’ve never said
you did.” He was trying to hide it, but she could see the ache
in his eyes. “You won’t even agree to go steady.”
“You said you’d still
marry me if I did stay in the Guard.” She felt stretched to the
breaking point, but she couldn’t even be sure where the breaking
point was. “What you’re saying about not wanting me to be the
one in the bed—are you taking it back?”
“All I did was ask
if it would make a difference.” He took the cigarette awkwardly
with his left hand and tapped off the ash. “Even if it would,
I don’t know—”
“I told you, Steve,
it’s no easier for me, seeing you almost die.” A long awkward
pause followed. “I’d understand if you—if you don’t want to stick
around. If you wanted to find someone who’s ready to get married,
have kids—”
“I don’t want to
get married, baby, I want to get married to you.” Dani’s heart
skipped a beat. “I think I have ever since that first night in
Boston.”
“That’s ridiculous.
Love art first sight doesn’t happen.” But she could feel the
words relaxing her, warming her. “I don’t know I ever will want
to, you realize that? Especially if it means giving up—”
“Maybe next time I
ask, I’ll accept that.” He gave his old, cocky grin. “Or maybe
I’ll change your mind.”
“You won’t, but—” She
reached over onto the bed suddenly and hugged him, even though
doing it embarrassed her. “Don’t ever believe I don’t care. Or
that I’d have left you for one minute on that street if you’d
needed me there.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” And their
eyes met and for a second Dani felt something so intense she
wanted to sing. Or run away. Or something. But she only smiled. “So…how’s
the patient feeling?”
“I itch under my cast.”
“Everyone does. Can’t
be helped.”
“Six weeks of itching?
Jesus.” Then he laughed. “What the hell? How about my best girl
being the first to write something cute on it.”
Smiling, Dani picked
up a pen and tried to think of something sweet that wouldn’t
be too mushy.
