"Yes, she's much better. The doctors seem quite pleased with her progress."
"How is she emotionally?"
"She's okay. Her mother's no help, but her aunt Diane is here now, and she's very nice. I think she'll be able to help Thelma a great deal."
"I'm glad." And that was all she could think of to say. If it's not Thelma, then what is it? Are you tired of me already? I'll only be here for two more days. "I'll go see if Summer and Derek are ready."
Clay nodded, not even looking around at her as she left the room.
They were in the library-styled room that Derek used as an office at home, Summer leafing through a magazine as her husband glanced through some files at an enormous rolltop desk. She looked up curiously when Spring entered. "You and Clay ready to go? Tonight should be fun."
Spring nodded doubtfully. "I hope so."
"Uh-oh. He's still in a bad mood?"
"He's in an odd mood. A bit withdrawn."
Summer placed the magazine on a low table, looking thoughtful. "He gets that way sometimes. Usually when he's worried about something."
Spring thought wistfully of how little she actually knew about Clay. Summer knew him much better, even though Spring had made love with him. Why had she thought that the physical closeness they'd shared would bring them closer together emotionally, as well? Obviously she'd been wrong.
Clay paced the den, waiting for the others to join him. He knew that he'd confused Spring earlier, but he didn't know how else to act with her. He'd never been at such a loss. He loved her, he'd shared something with her that surpassed any experience he'd ever had with a woman, and yet there was still nothing more between them than...than a vacation affair, he thought sadly. She still planned to leave him in a couple of days, and he saw nothing for them beyond that time. Dammit, how am I supposed to act?
He looked up as Spring came back into the room and mentally flinched at the wary look on her pretty face. Don't look at me like that, Spring. Don't you know I only want to hold you, love you? Can't you see that you're tearing me apart?
He'd thought it would be easier in a larger group of people to ignore the panic that was steadily building within him and act naturally. Instead, being with Summer and Derek and Joel and Connie during the dinner that Connie and Joel had prepared for them was unexpectedly painful. The other couples were so happy, so comfortable in their relationships. Clay found himself noting each loving look and intimate touch that passed between them. He, on the other hand, was carefully avoiding meeting Spring's eyes or touching her more than necessary because he wasn't sure how well he could control his emotions. He supposed there was some ironic humor in the situation—a natural toucher such as himself envying others for being able to touch the ones they loved. Too bad he didn't feel like laughing. And why did he find himself getting so angry?
"So you'll be back in Little Rock by Wednesday evening," Joel was saying to Spring when Clay forced his attention to the conversation going on around him. "When do you go back to work?"
"Not until Monday," Spring answered. "I have some things I want to do around the house, so I took a full two weeks off—first time since I opened my practice almost two years ago."
"You're going to be busy when you get back," Summer commented. "I'll bet your patients will be lined up at the door Monday morning."
Spring smiled. "Well, actually, my appointment book is full for the next few weeks. But I'm not complaining about business being good."
"I thought we were going to watch a movie," Clay blurted out suddenly a
nd not particularly graciously. He couldn't sit quietly and listen to them talk about Spring leaving. He winced at the wide-eyed looks of surprise turned his way and tried to make a joke. "I'm not allowed to stay up past ten on school nights."
"Sure, Clay. We really believe that," Connie retorted, but she stood and inserted the cassette into the VCR. With surreptitious glances at Clay that he didn't miss, the others settled back in their seats to watch the movie.
Spring's attention remained on Clay. He looked up to find her watching him with an expression that he couldn't read. Disgusted with himself for acting like a jerk, he reached out to take her hand, unable to resist raising it to his lips. Her skin was soft beneath his mouth, and he felt her pulse racing in her slender wrist at the caress. His own body responded. He wanted her. He remembered his earlier fantasy of picking her up, throwing her over his shoulder and carrying her off to an isolated spot. It still sounded good. And just as impossible.
He lowered their linked hands to his thigh and turned his gaze toward the big-screen television, trying to pay attention to the recently released comedy that he'd wanted to see at one time. Now he couldn't care less about the movie.
Anger. The doctor of psychology in him recognized the emotion as reaction to his upcoming loss, his dread of rejection. The neglected little boy still buried deep inside him was unable to rationalize the inappropriate emotion away. He was hurting, and it made him want to lash out at the cause of his pain—Spring.
What is wrong with him? Spring asked herself for the...well, she'd lost track of the number of times. Why is he treating me this way? Almost like a stranger.
She hadn't thought he'd be the type of man to lose interest once he'd made another conquest. Maybe she'd misjudged him.
He'd barely touched her this evening. After all the touching he'd done from the moment they'd met, now he seemed to have no problem at all keeping his hands to himself. He was holding her hand now, but it seemed almost an afterthought to him, almost as if he were doing her a favor, she thought resentfully.
Was Saturday night your idea of a favor, Clay? Were you just going along with Summer's brilliant idea of providing some excitement for her bored older sister? She uncurled her fingers from his and clenched her hands in her lap. Don't do me any more favors, Clay.
The catalyst for seething emotion came after the movie, when the three couples were talking over nightcaps before breaking up for the evening. The talk had turned, as it so often did, to Halloran House and its residents. Summer had spent part of the afternoon there and was telling the others about something that had happened to upset some of the young people. It seemed that a fourteen-year-old friend of theirs had run away from home after a quarrel with his parents. The parents had sent the police after him. They'd found him in a bus station, preparing to leave town.
"The kids were really upset because the police made a very public thing out of dragging Tony out of the bus station. It was all terribly humiliating for him," Summer added.