“Yes.”
“How do you feel about that?” Jenn said.
“It scares me,” Sunny said.
She turned right off the northbound surface road and onto the Summer Street Bridge. Fort Point Channel was thick and dark beneath them.
“But,” Sunny said, “I guess I understand. I’m quite close to my father.”
“I envy you that,” Jenn said.
“You don’t have family, or you’re not close?”
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H I G H P R O F I L E
“Not close,” Jenn said. “What is he like, Richie? I mean, to be with.”
“He’s nearly impervious,” Sunny said. “Very contained. Quiet. But there’s something going on in there. Something that you think might explode someday.”
“At you?”
“No,” Sunny said. “Not at me.”
“Sounds a little like Jesse,” Jenn said.
“Yes,” Sunny said. “He is rather like Jesse.”
“Jesse is so controlled, but you know that he has some thing very dangerous in there.”
“Dangerous to you?” Sunny said.
Jenn opened her eyes and looked at Sunny and smiled.
“No,” she said. “Not to me.”
They parked on the street in front of Sunny’s building.
“It’s exciting, isn’t it?” Sunny said.
“Exciting?” Jenn said.
“Yes, having that kind of power.”
Jenn stared at her. The interior of the car was dimly lit by the street lamps. Sunny couldn’t see Jenn’s face very well.
“I never quite thought of it that way,” Jenn said after a time. “But yes. To be with someone who is dangerous but would never be dangerous to you . . .”
“So why are we both divorced?” Sunny said.
“I don’t know. I wish to God I did know. He’s like the one necessity in my life. He’s all I have for family. I know he loves me. I would trust him with my life.”
“But?” Sunny said.
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R O B E R T B . P A R K E R
“But I can’t stay with him. I can’t be faithful to him. When I try I get claustrophobic.”
