The Flight of the Silvers (Silvers #1)(140)

Amanda peered at David’s plate, still half-filled with boiled peas. The sisters had initially tried to prepare more elaborate vegan dishes for him. He never took more than a few polite bites before returning to his vegetable piles.

“And we’re absolutely sure this woman wasn’t Esis?” Zack asked.

David squinted at Mia. “Describe her in detail.”

“I don’t know. She was thin. Pretty. Short.”

“No,” said David.

“No,” said Amanda. “Esis is not short.”

The cartoonist shrugged in grim surrender. After exploding a deer today, he wasn’t confident in his opinion about anything.

Hannah sat back in her chair and seethed. In the four hours since the death of the fawn, her melancholy had turned into something hard and prickly. She found herself despising everyone at the table for reasons of little merit. She hated David for his stupid vegan diet. She hated Mia for her inexhaustible sweetness. She hated Zack and Amanda for not screwing like rabbits already. She hated Theo for all the usual reasons.

At the moment, she hated the fact that her companions were all brilliant in one way or another, and yet none of them considered the obvious.

“She’s an actress.”

The others glanced up at her with blank expressions. She met their gazes one by one.

“Evan’s messing with us again, only this time by proxy. He hired that woman. Coached her through and through. And now once again we’re all dancing to his tune, wondering if up is down, left is right. It’d be funny if it wasn’t so tragic.”

The clock ticked five more times before David broke the silence.

“That’s a very solid theory.”

Zack nodded. “I’ve been wondering why we haven’t heard from him in a while.”

“I don’t know,” said Mia, her nervous eyes fixed on Theo. “I’m hoping it’s all a lie.”

Hannah peered across the table and was surprised by the tender smile Theo shined at her. He didn’t think she was right at all, but she killed the discussion and he loved her for it.

At five minutes to midnight, Hannah made a drowsy trip to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water. She crossed into the darkened living room and jumped at the shadowy figure in the easy chair.

“Just me,” Theo croaked.

She pressed her chest. “Jesus. You scared the hell out of me.”

“Sorry.”

She turned on the lamp and faced Theo from the sofa. His eyes were dark. He slumped against the cushions as if he were boneless.

“Are you okay? You don’t look good.”

Theo couldn’t help but grin. Hannah never looked better in her snug white tank top and panties, her bed-tousled hair. While the angel on his shoulder plotted a course of emotional reconciliation, the devil in his sweatpants insisted he was a few deft moves away from couch sex.

“I’m okay,” he assured her. “For now.”

“So you think that girl was telling the truth.”

“I know she was. I see it now, clear as day. Right after breakfast, I’m going to get a nosebleed. Then a splitting headache. By noon, I’ll barely know where I am.”

Hannah sat forward. “God, Theo. Are you sure this isn’t some self-fulfilling, psychosomatic thing?”

“Yup.”

“That’s crazy. You were talking about infinite futures at dinner. How can this be so certain?”

“Well, there’s some wiggle room on the nosebleed.”

“This isn’t funny. I’m worried about you.”

“I know. I can see that. I have to say it’s kind of nice, all things considered.”

Hannah shot a hot breath at the floor, then matched his lazy stance.

“I’ve been pretty pathetic, haven’t I? Taking two weeks to get over a one-week fling.”

“Well, I certainly haven’t helped.”

“I don’t know,” she said. “I think I’ve been angry just for the sake of being angry. Hell, I got mad at you all over again today when that poor fawn died.”

“How was that my fault? I wasn’t even there.”

“Exactly. I was upset and I needed someone to screw me numb. I’m not like my sister. I can’t just draw on inner strength. I don’t have any.”

“That’s not true.”

“I don’t know. Feels like it. So while I understand your reasons for the breakup, and even agree with them in retrospect, I’m still mad that you took away my crutch.”

Theo struggled to stay noble, even as he ripped the clothes off her mental image.

“I’m sorry I can’t handle the kind of relationship you want, Hannah. Sorry for both of us. I’m looking at you now and I’m thinking about what’s coming. I wish I could screw us both numb.”

The grandfather clock chimed in the midnight hour, heralding the official start of October. By the twelfth echoing ring, Hannah clenched her jaw in tense resolve.

“First thing tomorrow, I’ll go to the pharmacy with Amanda. Get you a ton of painkillers.”

“They won’t help.”

“Well, we’ll try, goddamn it. Just because it’s destined to happen doesn’t mean we can’t fight it.”

Once again, she was surprised by Theo’s thin and tender smile, out of place given the situation.