Because You're Mine(62)

The fascination on his face was an exact copy of Liam’s when he played with his bubbles too. Alanna couldn’t speak, couldn’t breathe. This was more than coincidence. “Liam,” she finally managed to whisper. The sound was too soft to reach Jesse’s ears.

She stared at the man in front of her and tried to convince herself it was all her imagination. But she knew Liam. Knew him well and intimately. Though it was impossible, something of Liam had transferred to Jesse, but how? And would it last once his memory came back?

The rest of Ceol trooped into the ballroom. Laughing and talking, their presence made her gather her composure.

Ciara stopped when she saw the room. “Whoa, this looks fantastic! You did this?”

Alanna shook her head. “Grady did it.”

“I’ll have to be thanking him.” Ena picked up the guitar on the stage and strummed it lightly.

Jesse put down his bubble loop and strode to the drums. He picked up his sticks. He ran through a few preliminary beats as the others got their instruments and filed into place. As they segued into the first song, Alanna could almost close her eyes and imagine they were back at Hibernian Hall playing together before everything changed.

“Sing, Alanna,” Fiona urged. “We’re just not the same group without your voice. I love it when you play your fiddle, but we need your voice too.”

She lowered her fiddle to her left side. “I don’t know, Fiona. Barry thinks you sound better without me.”

“Barry is an eejit,” Ciara said. “Give it a go, Alanna. See how your voice feels.”

She did miss singing. “Let’s try an easy song,” she said. “‘Scarborough Fair?’”

“I need to run to the loo,” Ena said. “My coffee went right through me. I’ll be back.” She dashed for the door.

Jesse picked up her guitar. “Let me see what I can do with it while she’s gone,” he said. “I think I might be able to play it.” He flipped it to his other hand so it was upside down and backward to the way Ena played.

Everything slowed as Alanna watched him play with the flattened tips of his fingers, just like Liam.

Just. Like. Liam.

Backward and with the tips of his fingers. Surely her mouth must be hanging open, but she couldn’t control her reaction. She dimly heard Ciara’s quick inhalation, Fiona’s smothered exclamation.

Oblivious to the disbelieving stares around him, Jesse strummed the guitar in the chords of the song. Alanna couldn’t have sung the words if someone held a gun to her head.

All she could do was watch in fascination as Jesse transformed into Liam right before her eyes.





Twenty-Six


Jesse let the guitar music fade when he realized how the rest of the band was staring at him. “Why are you all looking at me?”

“Wh-where’d you learn to play like that?” Alanna asked. She swayed where she stood, and she licked colorless lips.

He shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s just when Ena put it down, I thought I might be able to play it. I guess I could.” His fingers seemed to know just what to do the minute he’d picked up the guitar.

“Liam played the guitar backward like that,” Fiona said. “And he flattened his fingertips just the way you did.”

Jesse glanced down at his fingers, which throbbed a little from the unaccustomed pressure on the strings. “Liam probably showed me how. I don’t remember, but we shared a room for four years.” He gave a crooked grin. “And there’s that whole possession thing.”

His stomach plunged, and the tune he’d been humming filled his head. The words from the song floated just out of reach again. Was Liam trying to take over his life? Maybe he should just let him. It would be the only way his best friend could live again.

“Who are you?” Alanna asked in a choked voice.

Did she expect his head to swivel like the possessed girl in The Exorcist? Or for Liam’s voice to suddenly come out of his mouth? He started to say he was Jesse Hawthorne, but he wasn’t sure anymore. Who was he, really? Little by little he seemed to be changing into Liam Connolly and losing his own identity. Maybe that was for the best.

He lowered the guitar to the floor and walked out, colliding with Ena in the doorway. Alanna called after him, but the words seemed far away and distorted. He couldn’t face her now. He raced down the steps to the van. The keys were still in his pocket, and he fished them out. Someone had to know who he was. His mother.

He drove to his parents’ home and parked the van at the curb. The aroma of gumbo filled the house, but his stomach was clenched too tightly to feel any hunger, though he hadn’t eaten since eleven. He walked through the living room to the kitchen and found both of his parents at the table.

Dan and Alice. Even their names suddenly had a foreign ring to him, as if they were strangers. He stared from one to the other. Alice in jeans and a pink T-shirt. Dan in the gray suit he wore to the office.

His mother rose and came toward him with a welcoming smile. “Jesse, I wasn’t expecting you.”

His earlier certainty that Liam had taken him over faded with his mother’s warm greeting. Surely she’d sense it if another spirit resided in her own son. He embraced her and inhaled the aroma of her perfume, some kind of flowery scent that was becoming familiar and dear. She’d stood by his side through every step of this nightmare. The love he felt for her intensified. He clutched her to his chest.