«And who have we got here?» Isabel asked, coming back into the room.
«Jason,' Max performed the introductions, «this is my sister, Isabel. Isabel, this is my friend Jason.»
«Nice to meet you,' Isabel said, giving the boy's hand a shake.
«Hi,' he stammered with an odd look on his face. «Glad you're feeling better.»
«Thanks.» She smiled. «Well, if you don't mind, I've got a phone call to make.» She grabbed the cordless phone as Jason's eyes followed her every move.
«We were on our way out.» Max watched Jason watch his sister. «I may be home later this afternoon, depending on things.»
Isabel silently cursed her dumb luck. «Well, since I've been cooped up all morning, I might go out tonight, so I'll see you later.» She was out of the room before he could ask her anything about her plans.
«Well, we should get over to Liz's place,' Max said, noticing that Jason's eyes were still locked in the direction Isabel had just gone. «And maybe you and I should continue that conversation about changes that we started last night,' he added in a conspiratorial whisper.
«I call the front seat,' Jason yelled as he ran out to the car, slightly embarrassed.
«He's a good kid.» Max took Liz's hand as they also walked out to the car.
«So, do you have any more fears about raising your own son?» she asked.
Her gave her hand a little squeeze. «I'm sure I always will. But as long as I have you around to help me out, I
have a good feeling that everything will be just fine.»
He leaned in to kiss her, feeling secure in the knowledge that he would get his son back one day. With Liz by his side, not only did he think he would be fine raising his child, but he felt secure in the knowledge that he was growing up and into the role of the leader that he had been bom to fill.
Back in the house, Isabel stopped in the doorway to Max's room before continuing on to her own. Checking in on Kyle, she saw that he appeared to be sleeping peacefully, all curled up in the fetal position.
Since there was a shadow across his face, she couldn't be sure, but it appeared that he was sucking his thumb. She could, however, see his right hand clearly and, unlike the previous night, she could tell that it was completely still. The tapping had ceased and she expected that the dreams had stopped as well. She smiled at the sight, hoping that, for a while at least, Kyle and all her friends would have nothing but pleasant dreams.
EPILOGUE
Summer was back with a vengeance.
The cool weather had broken, and early Sunday morning it was already ten degrees hotter than Saturday's high. Isabel hardly felt the heat, however, as she climbed the hill. Max had lent her his car since he was spending the day with Jason, Liz, and her family before they all went back to Artesia together to speak with Jason's mom. Even though she knew the car could make it up the hill, she did not wish to disturb the quiet, tranquil setting and had left it behind at the bottom.
Brushing away a bead of perspiration, Isabel knelt on the ground with a bouquet of sunflowers laid out before her. She always found sunflowers to be the most interesting variety of flora. To look at them, they certainly weren't as pretty as roses, lilies, or even carnations, but their bright color and sturdy look always cheered her up when she was down, much in the way a particular friend used to have a similar effect on her.
She'd had a wonderful date with Jesse the night before,
once they'd managed to avoid running into Kyle and his dad as the pair were out to dinner together at the same place she had chosen to go. Jesse had been totally understanding of her blowing him off because of her fake illness, too. Just another lie in the dozens she had told to friends and loved ones. But, somehow, it felt wrong to be thinking of Jesse, considering where she was at the moment.
«This is a nice surprise,' a voice came from behind her.
«What? After yesterday, you didn't expect to see me here?»
«Well, yeah, but it's still nice to see you.» His voice was drawing her in. «It would be nicer to be seen by you.»
«I can't,' she said, her eyes firmly fixed to his tombstone.
His name… Alex Whitman. Born… 1983. Died… too young.
«I think I'm pretty good looking,' he said, «all things considered.»
Isabel tried not to smile at the gallows humor. «You know what I mean. It hurts too much to look at you… after seeing how you died.»
«You'd rather remember me like that?» he asked. «Doubled over in pain? Begging for-'
«Stop!» she cried. «I don't want to remember it at all.»
«You have to,' he said. «It's the price you pay for helping Kyle.»
«No good deed ever goes unpunished.»
«Isabel.» She could feel his breath on her shoulder even though it was not real. «Look at me.»
She finally turned to see Alex, or at least the image of Alex. He looked just as she remembered him, with the same goof-ball smile he always had plastered onto his face. She loved
that smile because she knew it had always gotten just a little brighter whenever he'd noticed she was in the room. This was not his first visit to her since his death, and she had hoped it would not be his last. She wasn't sure if he was a ghost, a dream, or something else entirely, but Isabel didn't care.
«I know it was hard to watch me die,' Alex said. «Trust me, I was there.» Even in death, his pitiful attempts at humor would still elicit a sad smile from her. «But now, knowing you were there too… it makes my death a little less lonely. It took so long for us to really get together in life, and now I feel like we were also a little bit together in death. If anything, it makes us closer.»
«I miss you so much.» She had a tear in her eye.
«I'm never far,' he said. «You know that.»
«I know,' she replied. «And I'm glad.»
«Good, now stop being such a mope,' he smiled. «This place is depressing enough as it is. Everyone's crying when they come here. And if they're not crying, they're really quiet, as if they would wake anyone. What I wouldn't give for The Whits to make an unscheduled appearance.»
«That reminds me,' she said, smiling for the first time. «We did that talent night that you, Maria, and Liz had every year.» Isabel proceeded to tell him all about the evenings festivities. It didn't matter that he wasn't really standing in front of her, or that if he was actually a ghost, then he probably already knew everything she was saying. It just felt good for Isabel to be talking to him. In fact, she continued talking for a good half hour, updating Alex on almost every part of her life, although she left the whole Jesse thing out of it, not wanting to spoil the mood. By the time she had covered just about every subject, the sun had pumped up the temperature by a few more degrees, making it a little more uncomfortable.
A gentle breeze blew up the hill, cooling Isabel. She half suspected that Alex had arranged for the breeze to cool her. He had always been trying to take care of her in life, so it would stand to reason that he would continue to do so in death. Maybe he was going to become her own personal guardian angel. I could think of worse people to have watching over me, she thought.
«Thanks, Alex,' she said, wrapping up their conversation. «It's good to have a friend to talk to.»
«You have plenty of friends,' Alex reminded her.
«But none of them understands me like you did,' she said, standing up and smoothing the wrinkles out of her sundress. «Like you do. None of them cares like you.»
A bluebird swooped out of the sky and landed on his tombstone. It perched itself along the edge as if wanting to be a spectator as the scene played itself out.
«I should get going,' she said as she turned herself in the direction of Max's car, preparing for the long walk back down but not really wanting to go yet, for a number of reasons.
«Really?» he asked, feigning surprise. «Before you say what it is that you came here to say?»
«I just wanted to see you,' she said, lying to both Alex and herself. «You know… after yesterday.»
«Who exactly do you think you're fooling?» he asked. «I know what's going on in your beautiful, yet pleasantly
