“You were there for me, too, when I panicked about my father,” said Lisa. “Maybe if it weren’t for our crazy parents, we wouldn’t be messed up enough to need each other.” She reached up and touched his face. “I just want to be with you forever. Do you have any idea how lucky I feel right now?”
“I feel the same way,” said Josh. “It’s strange; none of our problems have gone away, but everything is so much better now that we’re together. I guess my mom was right about us all along. I needed you more than I realized.”
“What do you think she’d say if she knew about us?” said Lisa.
“She would definitely take all the credit,” said Josh. “She wouldn’t be able to resist. I know you don’t like her, but I’m happy for her. My dad said she’s feeling like herself again, now that the drug is out of her system—of course, she still has cancer, but apparently, the doctors think she’s a good candidate for chemotherapy. It wouldn’t ultimately cure her, but if she goes into remission, she could live for years.”
“That’s good,” said Lisa. “Believe it or not, I want her to be okay.”
“She’s not so bad once you get to know her,” said Josh. “My dad’s taking all of us to visit her tonight. Do you want to come?”
“Tonight?” said Lisa. In an instant, she was dragged back to reality. She remembered her conversation with Molly, and her heart began to race. She pulled herself away, and the constant motion of the waves suddenly made her feel dizzy. She stumbled back to the shore and tried unsuccessfully to calm herself.
“If you’re worried about Shannon, please don’t be,” said Josh, hurrying after her. “I’ll tell her to back off if she gets too obnoxious.”
“No, you don’t understand,” said Lisa. “Graham is going to be there. Molly told me. I went to see her yesterday afternoon, and she said he was planning to check on his friend tonight, which means he’s either going to kill him once and for all—or he’s going to use him as an excuse to spy on your mother.”
“If that’s what he’s planning to do, he’s going to be disappointed,” said Josh. “My dad gave the hospital a list of the people who aren’t allowed to visit my mom. Graham is one of them. Look at me, Lisa. It’s perfectly safe.”
Lisa heard him, but the voice of terror was screaming in her head so loudly that she could barely comprehend his words.
“I thought your father didn’t believe in conspiracy theories,” she said.
“He doesn’t, but I’m starting to suspect he knows more about what’s going on than he’s willing to admit,” said Josh. “He’s got it under control. Besides, there’s no way Graham would do anything criminal at a hospital. He’d never get away with it.”
Lisa shrugged. She didn’t feel like arguing. Besides, she couldn’t avoid his mother forever if she wanted to have a serious relationship with Josh. Maybe visiting her wouldn’t be so bad after all.
“Okay, Josh,” she said. “I’ll go, but only if you’re sure I wouldn’t be intruding on your family. It sounds like a special time for all of you, getting to see your mother again, and I wouldn’t want to ruin everything by getting in the way.”
“You won’t,” said Josh. “My family is so dysfunctional that you’d have a hard time making things worse than they already are.”
Lisa thought about her own parents and understood what he meant. She didn’t want to admit it, but if anything, his family was even stranger than hers, especially if she included Richard in her estimations.
“I’ve been wondering,” she said. “Is your grandfather still around?”
“No, but I finally found out why my dad banished him in the first place,” said Josh. “It’s a long story, but basically, Richard abandoned my dad when he needed him, and now my dad doesn’t trust him.”
“Do you trust him?” said Lisa.
“I don’t know,” said Josh. “Here, let me show you something.”
He led her up the beach to the place he had left his backpack. Before he opened it, Lisa saw him glance in either direction. She wondered why he was nervous about being noticed. Josh reached into his backpack, pulled out a notebook, and handed it to her.
“Richard gave me this before he left,” he said.
Lisa flipped through the notebook. Richard’s handwriting covered the initial pages, and she assumed it was a journal, but it wasn’t long before diagrams and pictures and lists of data replaced the words. Lisa realized she wasn’t looking at the casual ramblings of an old man reminiscing about the past.
“Josh, what is this?” she said.
He hesitated, as if he didn’t want to admit the truth.
“It’s information about the research Richard and Peterson did a long time ago when they were working together,” he said. “I’ve read it several times over the past few days, just trying to make sense of the whole thing. It’s incredible. Everything they did is in there, from the day they started the project to the day Richard found out Peterson was testing the drug on real people.”
Lisa felt a twinge of frustration. Would there ever be a time when she could focus on Josh and forget about the hateful drug? It reminded her of so many things she didn’t want to think about. Still, Josh had brought it up for a reason; maybe Lisa would have to embrace the subject if she wanted to understand him.
“Is it okay with you if I read it?” she said.
“Sure, but you probably won’t think it’s very interesting,” said Josh. “It’s mostly scientific jargon about what they did in the laboratory.”
Lisa began to read. As she delved into Richard’s account of Peterson’s downfall, she began to appreciate the devotion that had been required to invent the drug. If Graham and his boss possessed the same tenacity,
