According to Mrs. Riley, there were a lot of girls in Thomas’s life before he settled on Avril. It occurred to me that his love for Avril was not a proven fact. Mrs. Riley told me what she believed at the time, but for all she knew, Thomas may have been planning to break things off with Avril the night she had died. He and Avril might have had a terrible fight. Perhaps the negative feelings from that time had carried over; it sure seemed as if Matt had set his mind against me before we met.
By eight-fifteen Thursday evening I had spun so many theories in my head I didn’t know what I thought about Thomas and Avril. But my belief in the possibility that Matt and I had been reincarnated waned: The two of us meant for each other in a previous lifetime? No. He and I were nothing more than a pair of high school kids, cousins who occasionally got along, heading for a party. We set off in his Jeep to pick up Alex and Sophie.
“I hope Kristy won’t mind Sophie and me coming,” I said, when we stopped at a red light.
“She told us we could bring whoever we wanted,” Matt replied. “Which doesn’t mean she’ll be nice,” he added. “But you can handle her.”
“Of course I can,” I said, which made him laugh. “It’s Sophie I’m worried about.”
“I’ll look out for her,” he assured me.
We picked up Alex by the college.
“Stay where you are, Megan,” he told me as he climbed in the back. “It’s a short ride to Sophie’s.”
She lived on Shipwrights Street, in the middle of a block of small wooden houses, each one two stories high, two windows wide, with a porch spanning the front. Their tiny yards were neatly hemmed with picket fences.
As soon as we drove up, Sophie came out, followed by her three younger sisters, the oldest of whom looked about nine. The trio lined up on the porch steps to watch.
“Girls,” we heard a voice coming from the house. “Gi-irls.”
They made stretchy faces and slowly trooped back inside. Meanwhile, Alex had run around the Jeep to open doors.
“Hey, Sophie,” I greeted her, about to climb out of the front seat so she could sit there.
I saw her hesitate.
“Oh, yeah,” Alex said. “I forgot about that. Megan, do you mind riding up front?”
I looked at him surprised.
“Or I can,” he offered.
When I saw Sophie blushing, I quickly pulled in my feet.
“No problem.”
As soon as she and Alex were settled in the backseat, she leaned forward. “Sorry, it scares me a little up there.”
“Don’t blame you, the way Matt drives,” I replied.
Matt glanced sideways at me, one side of his mouth curling up. “Sophie,” he said as we drove off, “have you been to Kristy’s new house?”
“No. I heard it’s awesome.”
“It’s got bathtubs big enough to row across,” Alex said.
“Deep enough to drop a trot line?” Sophie asked.
He laughed. “No, it’s nice, but not perfect. Hey, guess what I noticed tonight while getting dressed?”
“I don’t think I want to,” Matt quipped.
“Your valentine,” Alex said to Sophie. “I had it tacked inside the door of my bedroom closet. You know, the card with the crab legs drawn around the heart and a boat oar going through it?”
She gazed at him, speechless, then turned to look at me.
“I was wrong,” I told her. “I suppose one in a million guys are sentimental.”
“Did I miss something?” Matt asked.
“How many things would you like me to list?” I replied.
He rested a hand on mine. “Glad you decided not to be on your good behavior tonight. I wouldn’t know what to do with you.”
I didn’t answer. I was too aware of how his hand felt touching mine.
“You actually saved my valentine?” Sophie said to Alex.
“Is it too late to apologize for being a jerky fifth grader?”
Her voice was gentle. “You weren’t jerky, just a fifth grader, a fifth-grade boy.”
“How come you don’t hang around with Kristy anymore?”
Alex asked.
“I don’t have the time,” she replied. “I help Mom with her job and take care of my sisters. After Mom and Ron had Jenny, I couldn’t do all the things Kristy wanted to do. And with Kristy, you’re either in or out. I’m out.
They continued to talk, catching up on news about his family and hers.
“Okay, guys, I’m going to need some help finding the turnoff,” Matt said.
Only our headlights brightened the dark country road.
“It’s about a half mile beyond Dead Man’s Curve,” Alex told him.
D e a d Woman’s, I thought, remembering Evie’s annoyance with the name of the place where Angel Cayton had died.
I glanced back and saw Alex reach for Sophie’s hand. It wasn’t a friendly pat. He intertwined his fingers with hers and moved closer.
Matt glanced in the rearview mirror. “You taking two dates to the party, Alex?” he asked lightly.
“No, just getting beyond this curve.”
“It’s always scared me,” Sophie explained.
“When we used to ride our bikes down here to fish,” Alex said, “she’d make me go the long way so we wouldn’t have to take the curve.”
We started around the bend, which began slowly, then sharply doubled back on itself. I looked over my shoulder and saw Sophie close her eyes.
“Thanks, Al,” she murmured when the road straightened out again.
I stared at her wonderingly. I had been so caught up in Thomas and Avril, I hadn’t thought about anyone else from their time. Avril’s best friend had been Angel, and Angel had died on the curve that Sophie feared to the point of being phobic. Sophie said she felt a “connection” with me. Was it an old friendship she sensed? Angel had lost her love in the war, so she and Sam Tighe were another case of a couple separated too soon.
I felt surrounded by ghosts, trapped in the events of the past.
“Are you okay?” Matt asked.
When Sophie didn’t answer, I did. “She’s fine.”
“I was talking to you.”
I glanced up at him. “Me? Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Megan,” he said gently, “look at your hands.”
I did, then made them lie quiet in my lap.
“I didn’t think my driving was that bad,” he remarked.
“Here it is,” Alex called from the backseat.
The turn off took us all the way down to Wist Creek. By the time I climbed out of the Jeep, I’d pulled myself together.
Kristy’s house was huge with long sloping roofs, wide wooden beams, and amazing spans of glass. The four of us walked into a two-story foyer lit by a globe chandelier.
“Hey, guys! Come on in,” Kristy called, her voice carrying from another room. Then she came through the archway and saw Sophie and me. For a long moment she didn’t say anything-she didn’t have to. The dramatic way she stopped and blinked her eyes let us know she couldn’t believe that we had come.
“Well, hello. This is a surprise.”
“I told you we were bringing dates,” Matt said.
“Yes, but you didn’t-well, never mind.”
Didn’t say you were bringing them, I filled in the blanks.
“Come on, party’s in the back. I haven’t seen you for such a long time, Sophie,” Kristy said and took her by the arm.
