Immune (The Rho Agenda #2)(87)

“Don’t worry, I’ll take it easy until I get the hang of this.”

The sound of the garage door rising caused her to put a finger to her lips. “Not a word to Mom and Dad. They’d never go for this.”

“What’re you going to do about your meds?”

“Doctor Sigmund has them watching to ensure I take the pills. I’ll have to fake swallowing them.”

The conversation was interrupted by Gil McFarland’s entry into the house, grocery bags in each hand.

“Hello, Mark. How’d the study session go?”

“Hi, Mr. McFarland. I think we’ve got it down pretty well.”

“That’s good,” Mrs. McFarland said as she followed her husband into the kitchen. “Biology tests can be tough.”

Mark helped carry in the rest of the groceries and then excused himself. For once, Mrs. McFarland did not invite him to stay for dinner.

He found his mom and dad watching television in the living room, an old Bonanza rerun. Mark had seen this one, the episode where Hoss and Little Joe thought they had found Leprechauns on the Ponderosa. It was one of his favorites. Seeing that his parents were chuckling at a particularly hilarious sequence, Mark resisted the urge to ask about dinner and made his way upstairs.

Pausing just outside Jennifer’s closed door, Mark considered knocking, but decided to wait until after dinner to talk with her. Except for the last couple of months, he had been as close to his sister as any twin could be. She had always seemed so frail, a delicate but brilliant source of light in his life. He had always imagined himself her protector, and although it now seemed that Jennifer no longer wanted or needed his protection, he was determined to restore their mutual affection. Perhaps if he did a little less talking and a lot more listening that could happen.

After dinner would be better. Besides, he hadn’t gotten in his workout yet today. If he hit the weights for a half hour, he should have time to shower before Bonanza ended. Closing his door and locking it, Mark glanced at his unmade bed and the pile of dirty clothes in the closet. He had intended to carry those down to the laundry room. Oh well, no use picking up the room now. It wasn’t that many hours until he’d be getting back into bed anyway.

Mark added weight to the Olympic bar until there was no more to add. He had been wanting more, but that would have meant trying to explain to his dad why four hundred and fifty pounds wasn’t enough. He didn’t actually know what his max lift might be. He’d never had the privacy required to find out. Not that it really mattered. The neural augmentation he had received on the Second Ship had made his muscular system so efficient that it seemed he could do pretty much whatever was required, at least for any physical activity he had attempted to date.

Mark changed into his sweat suit, lay down onto the workout bench, and lifted the barbell from its support, the weight causing the bar to bow slightly in the center. Inhaling deeply, he lowered the bar to his chest, exhaling as he raised it to the original position, repeating the action in a smooth, steady rhythm. As he worked the bar, Mark employed one of his newest mental tricks, playing back one of his favorite Evanescence albums in his head, letting Amy Lee’s haunting voice power his arms, every note exactly as he had heard it through his headphones.

By the time Mark completed what he thought of as a mini-circuit and showered, he could hear his mother calling from the kitchen. God, he hoped Dad had grilled burgers. His nose told him the good news as he reached the bottom of the stairs: it was a cheeseburgers and hot dogs night.

“Thought you were going to let me eat your share.” His dad grinned as Mark grabbed a plate.

“Hah. I was just cleaning up after my workout.”

Mark piled his plate high with a pair of burgers and dogs, then set about adding a healthy stack of condiments.

“Don’t forget the potato salad,” his mom added. Seeing him eye the bowl with suspicion, she laughed. “Don’t worry. I didn’t make it. I bought it at the store.”

“Oh good,” Mark said, without thinking. “Oops. Sorry, Mom. I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”

Once again, Linda Smythe’s laughter trilled out. “Yes, you did, but it’s okay. I may be a lousy cook, but I’m an incredible shopper.”

As he reached the table, Mark looked around. “Where’s Jen?”

“Oh, she’s out with some of her school friends.”

Mark almost dropped his plate. “What? I thought she was grounded.”

Mrs. McFarland shot a quick glance at her husband. “She is. But we had a very nice discussion with her this afternoon, and your father and I decided that it would be okay to let her have a break for this evening.”

Mark fought to regain his composure. A break? This was her first day of being grounded. As he sat down, he felt his appetite fading.

“So who’re the friends that she’s visiting?”

“Jillian Brown and Kristy Jacobs.”

Mark almost choked on the first bite of his sandwich.

“The cheerleaders? Wasn’t that who she got grounded for seeing in the first place?”

His dad nodded. “I know it sounds odd, and I guess it is when you look at it that way. But like your mom said, we had a very nice chat with Jen today. Sometimes you have to be able to recognize that the right thing to do isn’t necessarily the logical thing. We both felt this was the right thing to do.”