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There was oneI needed to do As a last- driveway and parked it parallel to the road It wasn’t a neat job since I was driving one-handed, but least ouldn’t have to negotiate an iced-over slope I locked the car and went down the driveway and up the steps,carefully The first licks of moisture were in the air

Ted Hamilton came over a little later to make sure we’d heard the news about the weather His wife, Nita, came with him, and she was just as small and slim and spry as her husband They both see ice storht we ht have to leave Twyla soly and settled in for a nice conversation We unfolded the reainst the wall They were cloth spectator chairs, and they smelled a little off, but at least there were chairs I could only offer the Hamiltons bottled water and a chocolate chip cookie, after we’d thanked Nita for her wonderful casserole, which we planned on finishing up for supper

"Oh, no, we’re fine," Nita said, speaking for Ted and herself after a glance in his direction "You knoe’ve always been worried about that pine growing behind this cabin"

"Why?" I asked

"Pine roots are so shallow, and it overhangs this cabin," Ted said "Pretty poor planning I said sohed I hope he’s not sorry he didn’t listen"

Okay, they were that kind of people

"We’re out here year-round, not like the people who just co well," Nita said As if they were the people who really stuck with the poor lake when things weren’t going so good The true friends

"We’ll just have to hope the pine can handle the ice," Tolliver said "Thanks forus aware of it" He htened up a bit

"I hope it stays up, too," Ted said "Hate for so to happen to you two Specially since you’re visiting"

"We’re lucky to have you two out here," I said, to smooth over Ted’s ruffled feathers "I think I’d be scared if ere out here by ourselves"

That ht next door; don’t forget to call us if you need us We got all kinds of eht need"

"That’s really good to know," I said, and they finally, thank God, rose We kept assuring each other ere so happy to have the other there until they were really down the stairs and on their way back to their own cabin

We had brought in a radio we kept in the trunk, and we turned it on The weather neas still the sauess I’d harbored some wild hope that they’d arrest someone, some secret suspect Or maybe someone would just walk in to confess, unable to bear the burden of guilt any longer I said as uy that could do this so often, to kids he knew," Tolliver said, "he’s not going to walk in and say he’s sorry unless he craves the attention He’s going to be pissed off that he can’t do it again, that he has to relive all his old good ti new ones And you’re the one responsible for that"

I stared at Tolliver This hat had been griping him

"I don’t think so," I said, as caler, sure enough But I’d think right now he’d beat large He’s not going to do anything that would draw hi to lie coive hi unconvinced He went to theand looked out into the darkness "Can you hear it?" he asked

I went to stand beside him at theI could hear a plink-plink-plink as the ice hit the glass In the light that spilled froht, considerately aih on a pole, we could see tiny bits of ice hurtling toward the ground It was eerily pretty I had never felt so isolated in ot ready for bed I was tired, but not nearly as achy as I thought I would be My head was okay now, and etting undressed and into h Tolliver still had to do the bra-unhooking We both read for a while; as Tolliver reht we should use it He was reading an old Harlan Coben, and I was reading Gavin de Becker’s The Gift of Fear Finally, I got too sleepy to keep otten warm around me, and I laid down the book and closed my eyes Some time later, I heard Tolliver snap off the laht that calow froht I’d been too exhausted to notice it the night before, and I didn’t really think about it nowuntil I woke soht had vanished The cabin was in absolute pitch darkness The as howling around the corner of the cabin like a banshee, and I heard an odd sound in the wind

"What is it?" I asked, and I heardterrified

"It’s the frozen branches brushing together," Tolliver said "I woke a fewThat’s what I decided"

I scare pretty easy where Mother Nature’s involved "Okay," I said, but I didn’t sound any calmer

"Come over here, I’ soot out of the bed faster than I would have believed possible My bare feet thudded on the boards as I yanked the blankets off ht them over to Tolliver’s I tossed them over the bed aardly I slid in beside him and could hardly wait until the covers settled back over us My teeth were chattering with cold and fear

"Here, here," he said, and put his arms around me "You were just out of the covers for a second or two"

"I know," I said "I’m a chicken I’m a wuss" I burrowed into his warmth

"You’re the bravest person I know," he said, and when I pressedto "

"I’m not your brother," he said, in an entirely different voice

For a second, I didn’t hear the roar of the wind around the cabin or the o of the ice-laden branches "I know," I said "I know that"

And he kissed ht change, would change, I couldn’t help but kiss hi kiss, a hard kiss I’d seen him walk out so many doors with other wo, but I said, "No, don’t" I kissed hiain, my own initiation That seeoing to ask "It’s you," I said, as he kissedthe precious skin of his back, his ribs, the almost flat nipples I rubbed ht in his throat His hands were not idle, either, and when they found ether different noise I thought I would ith joy

"The shirt’s got to come off," he said, and orked to do that "Your arm?" he asked

"Okay, don’t worry about it," I whispered "Just don’t lie on it and it’ll be okay" I felt like I could get hit with a shovel all over again and I wouldn’t care right now My body and ed for the first tio and what to do when they got there We knew each other so well in every other respect, it seemed only natural that ould easily understand each other’s desires in this new activity We already knew the appearance of each other’s bodies, but not the textures or specifics; noe set out to learn those His phallus was long, not as thick as some I’d encountered He’d been circuht upward curve He was very sensitive around his balls I loved touching hiht to touch his He loved it, and his fingers could be very clever

"I wish I could see you," he said, but I was glad for the dark It made me a little braver, and I concentrated on my sense of touch, so I didn’t have time to think If I’d had tione nearly as wonderfully as it did

As it e’d finally gotten off enough clothes, when I was sure neither of us was going to back dohen he finally entered o of my safety, and I said, "I love you"

And Tolliver said, "Always"

Chapter 9