"First, let's backtrack into the land of logic for a minute. " Fox took a swig of his beer. "She could've made it up to get a reaction. "
"How did she know what to make up?"
"During the Seven, there are people who see it-who've said they did before it starts to fade on them. She got wind. "
"I don't think so, Fox. Some talked about seeing something-boy, man, woman, dog, wolf-"
"The rat the size of a Doberman," Fox remembered.
"Thanks for bringing that one back. But no one ever claimed they'd seen it before or after the Seven. No one but us, and we've never told anyone. " Cal arched his brow in question.
"No. You think I'm going to spread it around that I see red-eyed demons? I'd just rake in the clients that way. "
"She's smart. I don't see why she'd claim to have seen it, outside the norm-ha-ha-if she hadn't. Plus she was psyched about it. Juiced up. So, let's accept she did and continue to dwell in the land of logic. One logical assumption is that the bastard's stronger, we know he will be. But strong enough to push out of the Seven into the between time. "
Fox brooded over his beer. "I don't like that logic. "
"Second option could be she's somehow connected. To one of us, the town, the incident at the Pagan Stone. "
"I like that better. Everyone's connected. It's not just Kevin Bacon. If you work at it, you can put a handful of degrees between almost any two people. " Thoughtful, Fox picked up his second slice of pizza. "Maybe she's a distant cousin. I've got cousins up the wazoo and so do you. Gage, not so much, but there's some out there. "
"Possible. But why would a distant cousin see something none of our immediate family has? They'd tell us, Fox. They all know what's coming better and clearer than anyone else. "
"Reincarnation. That's not off the Planet Logic, considering. Besides, reincarnation's big in the family O'Dell. Maybe she was there when it all happened. Another life. "
"I don't discount anything. But more to the point, why is she here now? And will it help us put a goddamn end to this?"
"It's going to take more than an hour's chat in front of the fire to figure that out. I don't guess you
heard from Gage. "
"Not yet. He'll be in touch. I'm going to take her out to the stone day after tomorrow. "
"Leaping forward fast, Cal. "
Cal shook his head. "If I don't take her soon enough, she'll try it on her own. If something happened. . . We can't be responsible for that. "
"We are responsible-isn't that the point? On some level it's on us. " Frowning now, he watched Don Myers, of Myers Plumbing, make a seven-ten split to appropriate hoots and shouts. All three hundred twenty pounds of Myers did a flab-wriggling victory dance that was not a pretty sight.
"You go on," Fox said quietly, "day after day, doing what you do, living your life, making your life. Eating pizza, scratching your ass, getting laid if you're lucky. But you know, on some level you try to keep buried just to get through, that it's coming back. That some of the people you see on the street every day, maybe they won't make it through the next round. Maybe we won't. What the hell. " He rapped his beer against Cal 's. "We've got the now, plus five months to figure this out. "
"I can try to go back again. "
"Not unless Gage is here. We can't risk it unless we're together. It's not worth it, Cal. The other times you only got bits and pieces, and took a hell of a beating for it. "
"Older and wiser now. And I'm thinking, if it's showing itself now-our dreams, what happened to Quinn-it's expending energy. I might get more than I have before. "
"Not without Gage. That's. . . Hmm," he said as his attention wandered over his friend's shoulder. "Fresh flowers. "
Glancing back, Cal saw Quinn standing behind lane one, her coat open and a bemused expression on her face as she watched Myers, graceful as a hippo in toe shoes, make his approach and release his lucky red ball.
"That's Quinn. "
"Yeah, I recognized her. I read the books, too. She's hotter than her picture, and that was pretty hot. "
"I saw her first. "
Fox snorted, shifted his eyes to sneer at Cal. "Dude, it's not about who saw her first, it's who she sees. I pull out the full power of my sexual charm, and you'll be the Invisible Man. "
"Shit. The full power of your sexual charm wouldn't light up a forty-watt bulb. "
Cal pushed off the stool when Quinn walked toward him.
"So this is why I got the brush-off tonight," she said. "Pizza, beer, and bowling. "
"The Hawkins Hollow hat trick. I'm on manager duty tonight. Quinn, this is Fox O'Dell. "
"The second part of the triad. " She shook Fox's hand. "Now I'm doubly glad I decided to check out what seems to be the town's hot spot. Mind if I join you?"
"Wouldn't have it any other way. Buy you a beer?" Fox asked.
"Boy, could you, but. . . make it a light one. "
Cal stepped back to swing around the counter. "I'll take care of it. Anything to go with it? Pizza?"
"Oh. " She looked at the pizza on the counter with eyes that went suddenly dewy. "Um, I don't suppose you have any with whole-wheat crust and low-fat mozzarella?"
"Health nut?" Fox asked.
"Just the opposite. " Quinn bit her bottom lip. "I'm in a lifestyle change. Damn it, that really looks good. How about if we cut one of those slices in half. " She sawed the side of her hand over the plate.
"No problem. "
Cal got a pizza cutter and slid it down a slice.
"I love fat and sugar like a mother loves her child," Quinn told Fox. "I'm trying to eat more sensibly. "
"My parents are vegetarians," Fox said as they each picked up a half slice. "I grew up on tofu and alfalfa. "
"God. That's so sad. "
"Which is why he ate at my house whenever he could manage it, and spent all his money on Little Debbies and Slim Jims. "
"Little Debbies are food for the gods. " She smiled at Cal when he set her beer on the counter. "I like your town. I took a walk up and down several blocks of Main Street. And since I was freezing my ass off, went back to the really charming Hotel Hollow, sat on my windowsill, and watched the world go by. "
"Nice world," Cal said, "that moves a little slow this time of year. "
"Umm," was her agreement as she took a minute bite of the point of her narrow triangle of pizza. She closed her eyes on a sigh. "It is good. I was hoping, being bowling-alley pizza, it wouldn't be. "
"We do okay. Gino's across the street is better, and has more selections. "
She opened her eyes to find him smiling at her. "That's a lousy thing to tell a woman in the middle of a lifestyle change. "
Cal leaned on the counter, bringing that smile a little closer, and Quinn found herself losing her train of thought. He had the best quick and crooked grin, the kind a woman wanted to take a testing nibble of.
Before he could speak, someone hailed him, and those eyes of quiet gray glanced away from hers toward the end of the counter. "Be right back. "
"Well. " Jeez, her pulse had actually tripped. "Alone at last," she said to Fox. "So you and Cal and the as-yet-absent Gage Turner have been friends since you were kids. "
"Babies, actually. In utero, technically. Cal's and Gage's mother got together with mine when my mother was teaching a Lamaze class. They had a kind of roundup with the class a couple months after everyone delivered the packages, and the deal about the three of us being born on the same day, same time came out. "
"Instant mommy bonding. "
"I don't know. They always got along, even though you could say they all came from different planets. They were friendly without being friends. My parents and Cal's still get along fine, and Cal 's dad kept Gage's employed when nobody else in town would've hired him. "
"Why wouldn't anyone have hired him?"
Fox debated for a minute, drank some of his beer. "It's no secret," he decided. "He drank. He's been sober for a while now. About five years, I guess. I always figured Mr. Hawkins gave him work because that's just the way he is, and, in a big part, he did it for Gage. Anyway, I don't remember the three of us not being friends. "
"No 'you like him better than me,' major falling-outs or your basic and usual drifting apart?"
"We fought-fight still-now and then. " Didn't all brothers? Fox thought. "Had your expected pissy periods, but no. We're connected. Nothing can snap that connection. And the 'you like him better than me'? Mostly a girl thing. "
"But Gage doesn't live here anymore. "
"Gage doesn't live anywhere, really. He's the original footloose guy. "
"And you? The hometown boy. "
"I thought about the bright lights, big city routine, even gave it a short try. " He glanced over in the direction of the moans coming from one of the Alley Cats who had failed to pick up a spare. "I like the Hollow. I even like my family, most of the time. And I like, as it turns out, practicing small-town law. "
Truth, Quinn decided, but not the whole truth of it. "Have you seen the kid with the red eyes?"
Off balance, Fox set down the beer he'd lifted to drink. "That's a hell of a segue. "
"Maybe. But that wasn't an answer. "
"I'm going to postpone my answer until further deliberation. Cal 's taking point on this. "
"And you're not sure you like the idea of him, or anyone, talking to me about what may or may not go on here. "
"I'm not sure what purpose it serves. So I'm weighing the information as it comes in. "
"Fair enough. " She glanced over as Cal came back. "Well, boys, thanks for the beer and the slice. I should get back to my adorable room. "
"You bowl?" Cal asked her, and she laughed.
"Absolutely not. "
"Oh-oh," Fox said under his breath.
Cal walked around the counter, blocking Quinn before she could slide off the stool. He took a long, considering look at her boots. "Seven and a half, right?"
"Ah. . . " She looked down at her boots herself. "On the money. Good eye. "
"Stay. " He tapped her on the shoulder. "I'll be right back. "
Quin
n frowned after him, then looked at Fox. "He is not going to get me a pair of bowling shoes. "
"Oh yeah, he is. You mocked the tradition, which-if you give him any tiny opening-he'll tell you started five thousand years ago. Then he'll explain its evolution and so on and so on. "
"Well, Christ," was all Quinn could think to say.
Cal brought back a pair of maroon and cream bowling shoes, and another, larger pair of dark brown ones, which were obviously his. "Lane five's open. You want in, Fox?"
"Sadly, I have a brief to finish writing. I'll rain-check it. See you later, Quinn. "
Cal tucked the shoes under his arm, then, taking Quinn's hand, pulled her off the stool. "When's the last time you bowled?" he asked as he led her across the alley to an open lane.
"I think I was fourteen. Group date, which didn't go well, as the object of my affection, Nathan Hobbs, only had eyes for the incessantly giggly and already well-developed Missy Dover. "
"You can't let previous heartbreak spoil your enjoyment. "
"But I didn't like the bowling part either. "
"That was then. " Cal sat her down on the smooth wooden bench, slid on beside her. "You'll have a better time with it tonight. Ever make a strike?"
"Still talking bowling? No. "
"You will, and there's nothing much that beats the feeling of that first strike. "
"How about sex with Hugh Jackman?"
He stopped tying his bowling shoe to stare over at her. "You had sex with Hugh Jackman?"
"No, but I'm willing to bet any amount of money that having sex with Hugh Jackman would, for me, beat out the feeling of knocking down ten pins with one ball. "
"Okay. But I'm willing to bet-let's make it ten bucks-that when you throw a strike, you'll admit it's up there on the Thrill-O-Meter. "
"First, it's highly unlikely I'll throw anything resembling a strike. Second, I could lie. "
"You will. And you won't. Change your shoes, Blondie. "