He tugged her head down again until it rested on his shoulder, then drew her arm over his chest. "And the leg. That's it," he said when she obliged. "That's perfect. "
The fact that it was gave her a nice warm glow under her heart. Quinn closed her eyes, and without a worry in the world, drifted off to sleep.
IN THE DARK, SHE WOKE WHEN SOMETHING FELL on her. She managed a breathless squeal, shoved herself to sitting, balled her hands into fists.
"Sorry, sorry. "
She recognized Cal's whisper, but it was too late to stop the punch. Her fist jabbed into something hard enough to sting her knuckles. "Ow! Ow! Shit. "
"I'll say," Cal muttered.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"Tripping, falling down, and getting punched in the head. "
"Why?"
"Because it's pitch-dark. " He shifted, rubbed his sore temple. "And I was trying not to wake you up, and you hit me. In the head. "
"Well, I'm sorry," she hissed right back. "For all I knew you could've been a mad rapist, or more likely, given the location, a demon from hell. What are you doing milling around in the dark?"
"Trying to find my shoes, which I think is what I tripped over. "
"You're leaving?"
"It's morning, and I've got a breakfast meeting in a couple hours. "
"It's dark. "
"It's February, and you've got those curtain deals over the windows. It's about six thirty. "
"Oh God. " She plopped back down. "Six thirty isn't morning, even in February. Or maybe especially. "
"Which is why I was trying not to wake you up. "
She shifted. She could make him out now, a little, as her eyes adjusted. "Well, I'm awake, so why are you still whispering?"
"I don't know. Maybe I have brain damage from getting punched in the head. "
Something about the baffled irritation in his voice stirred her juices. "Aw. Why don't you crawl back in here with me where it's all nice and warm? I'll kiss it and make it better. "
"That's a cruel thing to suggest when I have a breakfast meeting with the mayor, the town manager, and the town council. "
"Sex and politics go together like peanut butter and jelly. "
"That may be, but I've got to go home, feed Lump, drag Fox out of bed as he's in on this meeting. Shower, shave, and change so it doesn't look like I've been having hot sex. "
As he dragged on his shoes, she roused herself to push up again, then slither around him. "You could do all that after. "
Her breasts, warm and full, pressed against his back as she nibbled on the side of his throat. And her hand snuck down to where he'd already gone rock hard.
"You've got a mean streak, Blondi
e. "
"Maybe you ought to teach me a lesson. " She let out a choked laugh when he swiveled and grabbed her.
This time when he fell on her, it was on purpose.
HE WAS LATE FOR THE MEETING, BUT HE WAS feeling too damn good to care. He ordered an enormous breakfast-eggs, bacon, hash browns, two biscuits. He worked his way through it while Fox gulped down Coke as if it were the antidote to some rare and fatal poison in his bloodstream, and the others engaged in small talk.
Small talk edged into town business. It may have been February, but plans for the annual Memorial Day parade had to be finalized. Then there was the debate about installing new benches in the park. Most of it washed over Cal as he ate, as he thought about Quinn.
He tuned back in, primarily because Fox kicked him under the table.
"The Branson place is only a couple doors down from the Bowl-a-Rama," Mayor Watson continued. "Misty said it looked like the house on either side went dark, too, but across the street, the lights were on. Phones went out, too. Spooked her pretty good, she said when Wendy and I picked her up after the dance. Only lasted a few minutes. "
"Maybe a breaker," Jim Hawkins suggested, but he looked at his son.
"Maybe, but Misty said it all flickered and snapped for a few seconds. Power surge maybe. But I think I'm going to urge Mike Branson to get his wiring checked out. Could be something's shorting out. We don't want an electrical fire. "
How did they manage to forget? Cal wondered. Was it a defense mechanism, amnesia, or simply part of the whole ugly situation?
Not all of them. He could see the question, the concern in his father's eyes, in one or two of the others. But the mayor and most of the council were moving on to a discussion of painting the bleachers in the ballpark before Little League season began.
There had been other odd power surges, other strange power outages. But never until June, never before that final countdown to the Seven.
When the meeting was over, Fox walked to the bowling center with Cal and his father. They didn't speak until they were inside, and the door closed behind them.
"It's too early for this to happen," Jim said immediately. "It's more likely a power surge, or faulty wiring. "
"It's not. Things have been happening already," Cal told him. "And it's not just Fox and I who've seen them. Not this time. "
"Well. " Jim sat down heavily at one of the tables in the grill section. "What can I do?"
Take care of yourself, Cal thought. Take care of Mom. But it would never be enough. "Anything feels off, you tell me. Tell Fox, or Gage when he gets here. There are more of us this time. Quinn and Layla, they're part of it. We need to figure out how and why. "
His great-grandmother had known Quinn was connected, Cal thought. She'd sensed something. "I need to talk to Gran. "
"Cal, she's ninety-seven. I don't care how spry she is, she's still ninety-seven. "
"I'll be careful. "
"You know, I'm going to talk to Mrs. H again. " Fox shook his head. "She's jumpy, nervous. Making noises about leaving next month instead of April. I figured it was just restlessness now that she's decided to move. Maybe it's more. "
"All right. " Jim blew out a breath. "You two go do what you need to do. I'll handle things here. I know how to run the center," he said before Cal could protest. "Been doing it awhile now. "
"Okay. I'll run Gran to the library if she wants to go today. I'll be back after, and we can switch off. You can pick her up, take her home. "
CAL WALKED TO ESSIE'S HOUSE. SHE ONLY LIVED a block away in the pretty little house she shared with his cousin Ginger. Essie's concession to her age was to have Ginger live in, take care of the house, the grocery shopping, most of the cooking, and be her chauffeur for duties like doctor and dentist appointments.
Cal knew Ginger to be a sturdy, practical sort who stayed out of his gran's way-and her business-unless she needed to do otherwise. Ginger preferred TV to books, and lived for a trio of afternoon soaps. Her disastrous and childless marriage had turned her off men, except television beefcake or those within the covers of People magazine.
As far as Cal could tell, his gran and his cousin bumped along well enough in the little dollhouse with its trim front yard and cheerful blue porch.
When he arrived he didn't see Ginger's car at the curb, and wondered if his gran had an early medical appointment. His father kept Essie's schedule in his head, as he kept so much else, but he'd been upset that morning.
Still, it was more likely that Ginger had taken a run to the grocery store.
He crossed the porch and knocked. It didn't surprise him when the door opened. Even upset, his father rarely forgot anything.
But it did surprise him to see Quinn at the threshold.
"Hi. Come on in. Essie and I are just having some tea in the parlor. "
He gripped her arm. "Why are you here?"
The greeting smile faded at the sharp tone. "I have a job to do. And Essie called me. "
"Why?"
"Maybe if you come in instead of scowling at me, we'll both find out. "
Seeing no other choice, Cal walked into his great-grandmother's lovely living room where African violets bloomed in purple profusion in the windows, where built-in shelves Fox's father had crafted were filled with books, family pictures, little bits and bobs of memories. Where the company tea set was laid out on the low table in front of the high-backed sofa his mother had reupholstered only the previous spring.
Where his beloved gran sat like a queen in her favored wingback chair. "Cal. " She lifted her hand for his, and her cheek for his kiss. "I thought you'd be tied up all morning between the meeting and center business. "
"Meeting's over, and Dad's at the center. I didn't see Ginger's car. "
"She's off running some errands since I had company. Quinn's just pouring the tea. Go get yourself a cup out of the cupboard. "
"No, thanks. I'm fine. Just had breakfast. "
"I would've called you, too, if I'd realized you'd have time this morning. "
"I've always got time for you, Gran. "
"He's my boy," she said to Quinn, squeezing Cal's hand before she released it to take the tea Quinn offered. "Thank you. Please, sit down, both of you. I might as well get right to it. I need to ask you if there was an incident last night, during the dance. An incident just before ten. "
She looked hard at Cal's face as she asked, and what she saw had her closing her eyes. "So there was. " Her thin voice quivered. "I don't know whether to be relieved or afraid. Relieved because I thought I might be losing my mind. Afraid because I'm not. It was real then," she said quietly. "What I saw. "
"What did you see?"
"It was as if I were behind a curtain. As if a curtain had dropped, or a shroud, and I had to look through it. I thought it was blood, but no one seemed to notice. No one noticed all the blood, or the things that crawled and clattered over the floor, over the tables. " Her hand lifted to rub at her throat. "I couldn't see clearly, but I saw a shape, a black shape. It seemed to float in the air on the other side of the curtain. I thought it was death. "
She smiled a little as she lifted her tea with a steady hand. "You prepare for death at my age, or you damn well should. But I was afraid of that shape. Then it was gone, the curtain lifted again, and everything was exactly as it should be. "
"Gran-"
"Why didn't I tell you last night?" she interrupted. "I can read your face like a book, Caleb. Pride, fear. I simply wanted to get out, to be home, and your father drove me. I needed to sleep, and I did. This morning, I needed to know if it was true. "
"Mrs. Hawkins-"
"You'll call me Essie now," she said to Quinn.
"Essie, have you ever had an experience like this before?"
"Yes. I didn't tell you," she said when Cal cursed. "Or anyone. It was the summer you were ten. That first summer. I saw terrible things outside the house, things that couldn't be. That black
shape that was sometimes a man, sometimes a dog. Or a hideous combination of both. Your grandfather didn't see, or wouldn't. I always thought he simply wouldn't see. There were horrible things that week. "
She closed her eyes a moment, then took another soothing sip of tea. "Neighbors, friends. Things they did to themselves and each other. After the second night, you came to the door. Do you remember, Cal?"
"Yes, ma'am, I remember. "
"Ten years old. " She smiled at Quinn. "He was only a little boy, with his two young friends. They were so afraid. You could see and feel the fear and the, valor, I want to say, coming off them like light. You told me we had to pack up, your grandfather and I. We had to come stay at your house. That it wasn't safe in town. Didn't you ever wonder why I didn't argue, or pat you on the head and shoo you on home?"
"No. I guess there was too much else going on. I just wanted you and Pop safe. "
"And every seven years, I packed for your grandfather and me, then when he died, just for me, now this year it'll be Ginger and me. But it's coming sooner and stronger this time. "
"I'll pack for you, Gran, for you and Ginger right now. "
"Oh, I think we're safe enough for now," she said to Cal. "When it's time, Ginger and I can put what we'll need together. I want you to take the books. I know I've read them, you've read them. It seems countless times. But we've missed something, somehow. And now, we have fresh eyes. "
Quinn turned toward Cal, narrowed her eyes. "Books?"