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Tollison retreated. “It’s just that I thought this was what we’ve been waiting for.”
    Again she brushed hair from her eyes, which had become as insubstantial as her explanation for avoiding him. “It was. But you were in Sacramento Monday night, and you know how it gets when you’re by yourself—I got drugged on solitude. These fantasies kept rolling through my head, images of everything I can imagine happening to me over the next twenty years. Some were thrilling and some were terrifying and I finally decided to stop thinking altogether. I gobbled Cheetos and took bubble baths and listened to Johnny Mathis records and watched Cary Grant movies.” Her grin became elfin. “It was wonderful. Now I know why you go fishing so often.”
    He sought solace in the narrow beauty of her face. “I guess what I need to know is if there’s a message in all that for me.”
    The response seemed bittersweet. “Just that I love you very much.”
    The yearning in her voice made him want to press her to his chest, Altoona be damned. “Can I come over tonight?”
    She shook her head. “Tonight’s the museum benefit.”
    â€œChrist. Tomorrow, then?”
    â€œJack gets home this evening. We’re supposed to go to Bodega Bay with the Ewings tomorrow.”
    She reached for his hand and stroked it in an unaccustomed burst of daring. “Are you taking Brenda to the dance?”
    He nodded absently, still plotting a rendezvous.
    â€œDo you think I could catch a ride? Jack said he might not be in till late, and I hate driving up our road after I’ve been drinking.”
    â€œWhy don’t you just skip it?”
    â€œI’m on the committee, so I have to be there. But I thought if we all went together it might help our cause. Or would that be pressing our luck? Assuming we still have some.”
    Tollison considered it. “It might be a good idea, if I can get Brenda to buy it. I’ll check with her and give you a buzz. What time?”
    â€œEight?”
    â€œFine.” In a surge of desperation, he looked at his watch. “Uh, what are you doing for the next hour or so?”
    His intent was so obvious she grinned. That she frequently laughed with delight when they made love had been an unexpected blessing, but his pleasure in memory quickly waned—they were not yet to where it was impossible to believe that it would all end woefully.
    â€œI have to get my hair done,” she was saying.
    â€œBut I need to see you.”
    â€œI know; I need to see you, too. I’ll find time next week. I promise.”
    â€œEarly next week. Monday.”
    â€œIf I can.”
    She looked at the courthouse clock. “I have to go. André doesn’t allow us to be late.”
    â€œFuck André.”
    Her eyes closed. “Don’t, Keith. Please. I’m relying on you to keep us from doing something dumb in all this.”
    Tollison started to turn away, then stopped in the certainty that crucial information lay just below the surface of their encounter. He began to speak without thinking, juggling words frantically to make her linger. “So Jack’s finally going to get rich. He’s been talking about that resort thing forever—I can’t believe someone finally took him up on it.”
    Laura shrugged. “He’s convinced he’s got enough money, so construction can begin by the end of summer and a year after that he’ll open the doors. I find it incredible, to tell you the truth. Jack is, well, he’s no wizard or anything. I mean, you ought to know, right?”
    Tollison knew, all right. He had grown up with Jack Donahue, right here in Altoona, back before the boom. He had been the football star; Jack, the champion sprinter. He, the reticent lummox; Jack, the gregarious jokester. He, the diligent student; Jack, the beneficiary of the athletic director’s sway over the teaching staff. He