wrinkled chinos he had been wearing the night before. The rest of him was uncovered. She didn't realize until that moment that she had never seen Yank without a shirt. His chest was lean almost to the point of boniness, but there was a tautness about his flesh that made his thinness appealing.
'I'm going into town,' she said, anxious to get away before he stopped her. 'I thought I'd get some pastries for breakfast.'
'We don't actually need any pastries.' He walked over to the kitchen table, where he picked up a ripe peach from a bowl of fruit and bit into it. He chewed slowly, then looked down at the peach as if he had never seen one before. 'It would be easiest on you, Susannah, if you simply resigned yourself to going back with me this afternoon.'
'This afternoon? That's impossible.'
'Would you prefer to wait until tomorrow morning?'
'No, I-'
'This afternoon, then.' He made the statement with ominous finality.
'Yank, I don't want to go back. Not yet. Don't press me on this.'
'Someone has to press you. I was very disappointed with Mitch. He should have brought you back last week.'
'I'm not a piece of cargo! Listen to me, Yank. The thought of facing Sam-I just can't do it yet.'
'Of course you can. You're quite strong, Susannah. You need to remind yourself of that.'
She didn't feel at all strong. She felt like a little girl with a string of broken balloons woven through her fingers. 'Being forced to face Sam a dozen times a day is a little more than I can handle right now.'
'The company depends on you.'
She threw down her sandals. They skidded across the floor and banged into the leg of a chair. 'Forget about the company! I'm sick of hearing about it. If we believe the Gospel according to Gamble, SysVal is just as important as Christianity. I don't buy that anymore. We're making a computer, for God's sake. A machine. That's all.' She waved her hand toward the ceiling. 'See! The sky didn't fall. I spoke blasphemy and nothing happened.'
Yank looked strained, as if being near such an outpouring of emotion had exhausted him. He dropped the peach pit into the waste basket. 'SysVal isn't three kids in a garage anymore. It's a company filled with people who have to pay their mortgages and support their families.'
'I'm not responsible for that. All those people aren't my responsibility.'
'Yes, they are. You're essential to SysVal.'
'I'm the most replaceable of the partners, and you know it.'
'You're the least replaceable. I'm surprised you don't realize that. From the very beginning, you're the only one of us who has always been able to see the whole picture. The rest of us only see parts.'
'That's ridiculous. Mitch sees it all.'
'Better than I do. Better than Sam, maybe. But Mitch's business background has given him biases you don't have. And Mitch and Sam give each other energy, but they don't really understand each other. Without you interpreting for them, they can't even talk.'
It was a long speech for him. He began to stare off into space, and she assumed that he had worn himself out. But he was merely taking a few moments to arrange the rest of his thoughts properly. 'You're not a visionary like Sam or a marketing strategist like Mitch. You can't design like I do. But you understand people, and you're the one who keeps us on track. If it weren't for you, SysVal would have been lost in chaos long ago. You have this way of keeping order.'
The part of her that wasn't miserable was gratified that Yank thought so highly of what she did. Somehow, his praise meant more to her than any compliments she had ever received from either Sam or Mitch.
'Mitch wants you to come back when you're ready, Susannah. He told me quite explicitly that I was not to force you to return.'
'I'm a free human being,' she said with what she hoped passed for conviction. 'You can't force me.'
'That may be, but freedom is relative. I have information that Mitch has ordered me not to divulge. If you knew this information, you would immediately return.'
Although she had known Mitch was keeping something back from her, for the first time she grew alarmed. 'What information? What are you talking about?'
'It's quite disturbing, Susannah.'
'Don't you dare do this to me! If you know something I should know, tell me. I don't care what Mitch says.'
'Oh, I intend to tell you. I was quite surprised that Mitch thought he could bully me like that.'
'What's happened, Yank? What's this all about?'
Yank wandered over to the window and looked out at the view for a few moments. Then he turned back to her. 'A few days after you left, Sam began to lobby our Board of Directors.'
'That's not unusual. Sam is always lobbying the board for something.'
'This time his goal was quite different.'
Susannah felt a chill of apprehension deep in the pit of her stomach. 'What do you mean? What's he done?'
'Susannah, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but Sam is trying to convince the board to sell SysVal.'
Chapter 25
When Paige awakened, Susannah told her what had happened and tried to convince her sister to return to San Francisco with them. But Paige shrugged her off, insisting she had already made plans to go to Sardinia. She immediately began the business of closing up her cottage and arranged for a jeep to come and get all three of them. Their relationship was still so fragile that Susannah was reluctant to press her. At the same time, she felt so emotionally intertwined with her sister that she didn't want a lengthy separation. What if they fell back into their old antagonistic pattern?
Their parting at the airport wasn't as difficult as it might have been because Yank disappeared at the last moment and both of them had to set off after him. Paige found him with a group of passengers ready to board a flight to Marrakech. She took him back to the proper gate just as Susannah had given up all hope of locating him.
He absentmindedly passed his ticket and boarding pass over to Susannah, then turned back to Paige. 'Please remember that request I made when we were on the beach. It's very important.'
Susannah looked at them curiously, trying to figure out what Yank was talking about.
Paige ran her fingers along her purse strap. 'What's it worth to you?'
'Worth?'
'Yeah. Are you willing to put your money where your mouth is?' Her eyes swept over him insolently. 'And I'll just bet your mouth has been in some very interesting places.'
Yank flushed. 'You're suggesting I make the same agreement?'
'Why not? Misery loves company.'
'I hadn't thought that far ahead.'
'Maybe you'd better.'
'You have a point. Although-'
'Do you agree?'
He considered her question for a few moments and then nodded.
Susannah was mystified by the conversation, but her speculation was stopped short as the loudspeaker announced the final boarding call. Neither she nor Paige seemed to know quite what to say. Susannah smiled shakily. 'Thanks. Thanks so much for everything.'
Paige shrugged off Susannah's gratitude. 'I owed you one.'
Yank had begun to wander away. Susannah grabbed him and steered him toward the gate. Just before they passed through, she gave Paige a final wave.
Paige stood in the middle of a bustling crowd of tourists and watched her sister and Yank Yankowski disappear.
