“Altered state? Is that what they’d call it legally?”
“I don’t know. His lawyer used that phrase; I’m just repeating it.”
“Gotcha.” Toni switched her focus. “Katherine?”
“Yes?” Baxter was still pacing and she was still watching. He’d made thirteen loops around the living room by her count.
Thirteen and counting.
“You know, I think Baxter’s actually doing real well,” Megan said. “It’s a lot to take in.”
“Maybe dangling a nut in front of his nose wasn’t the best way to go,” Toni said. “Just putting that out there.”
“Why not? He’s a scientist. He needed evidence.”
Katherine chewed on the inside of her lip. “He’s a mathematician. This was never going to be an easy adjustment for him. You might as well tell him two plus two equals five.” Actually, that was probably a bad example. Nothing was as straightforward in advanced mathematics as it seemed. “Let’s just give him some time.”
She said that just as Baxter was marching toward the door. All three women stepped back and leaned against the deck railing, pretending they hadn’t been staring at the pacing man.
Baxter pointed at Megan. “Manipulation of electromagnetic fields. Theoretical, but not out of the realm of possibility.” He looked at Katherine. “You’ve spoken about this in the past.”
“I have. And you laughed at me, but you also admitted that vestigial brain function could theoretically appear to modern humans as parapsychological phenomena.”
Megan just shook her head. “None of that made sense to me. I love y’all, but you’re kinda aliens sometimes.”
Toni muttered, “I can’t disagree with that.”
Baxter pointed to Toni. “Emotions are brain chemistry influenced by complex hormonal changes that could theoretically be manipulated, even unconsciously, if a person had a hormone imbalance themselves.”
Toni nodded. “Why not? Most days I’m pretty sure this is all just an early sign of menopause.”
Baxter opened his mouth, frowned, then closed it. He turned to Katherine. “Precognition…”
She sighed. “Isn’t possible.”
“Wrong.” He walked toward her and put his hands on her shoulders. “There is a researcher at Cornell who recently published a study where participants exhibited a demonstrated precognitive ability. They were able to predict when they would see a cat instead of a dog fifty-three percent of the time in a randomized study.”
“Fifty-three percent?” Toni said. “That seems more like chance than—”
Megan elbowed her in the ribs. “That seems very significant.” She spoke over Toni. “Tell us more, Baxter.”
“It is significant, because what it shows is that all these traits that you’re exhibiting—while they could seem magical to some—have a firm basis in demonstrable science. You have simply had a traumatic experience that spurred your minds to rapid development in these areas.”
Katherine felt like Baxter was grasping at straws, but she didn’t care. “You believe us.”
His eyes locked with hers. “How could you think I’d doubt you?”
She blinked back tears. “I thought you’d think I had a brain tumor or something.”
“A brain tumor would in no way explain a floating pistachio.”
“See,” Megan said. “I told you the nut thing was a good idea.”
“Oh, just shut it,” Toni muttered. “Let’s go inside. It’s freezing out here.”
Katherine heard the french doors open and close, leaving her and Baxter alone on the deck. It was dark, and evening fog misted over the water.
Baxter wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. “You’ve been worried about this for weeks. I knew there was something bothering you, but I thought it was residual stress from the incident at the gym.”
“I’ve been stressed about a lot of things, but mostly I had no idea how to tell you.”
“I understand that.” He turned his head and pressed a long kiss to her temple. “Darling, you are my world. If you told me the sky was red, I’d simply assume that I had something wrong with my eyes for the past fifty years. I would never doubt the most honest, loving, and brilliant woman I know.”
Katherine turned her face and kissed him, pressing her chilled hands against his warm cheeks. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer, diving into the kiss, subsuming himself into the union of their mouths and breath.
She didn’t know how long they stayed wrapped in each other on the deck, but her hair was damp, and the house was silent when she was able to think again.
“I think Megan and Toni left,” she said.
“We should go to bed.” He tapped her right hip. “And you need to elevate that leg and your ankle. I can’t believe you ran that hard.”
“The other option wasn’t an option.”
“I know.” He put his arm around her and guided her inside. “If I were a large, muscle-bound man, I’d carry you.”
“Please don’t throw out your back trying to do that. I can walk.”
“I just want you to know that the sentiment is there even if the physical ability is not.”
“So noted, Professor Pang.”
* * *
The next morning, Katherine hobbled out to the breakfast table with a new sense of freedom, a deepened love for her husband, and two incredibly sore joints.
She sat at the table and put her legs up. “I don’t know how I’m going to walk across campus today.”
Baxter looked up from the electric kettle, his eyes still bleary and his hair sticking up slightly at the crown. “You need to stay off your feet today. You have to call in sick.”
“Sydney could cover my lecture and I’ll have to make up office hours, but I think you’re right.” She sighed. “It’s probably for the best.”
“Rumors will likely be swirling,” he said. “I’ll try to put them off.”
“How?”
“Acting distracted and muttering a lot,” he said. “That’s generally a good way to keep people from talking to me.”
This admission confirmed a sneaking suspicion Katherine had harbored for some time, but she let it go. “Keisha and Sydney were with me. They saw me space out and then take off running.”
He dunked a tea bag in a cup of hot water at the same time he poured boiling water into a small french press for her coffee. “Do you think they’ll
