Page 172 of Hidden Nature

“I haven’t had one in a while. This was on my mind. It was planted in there, and this… it’s what dreams do.”

“I’ve had my share.”

“Nightmares?”

“When I was a kid, so I know how real they can seem, and feel.”

“It did. They do.” But she could and did breathe out now, and breathe clear. “And it doesn’t take a genius to figure out I conflated what happened to them with what happened to me. I felt helpless when it happened. I had barely cleared my weapon before I was down. And the missing? They didn’t know what was coming for them.”

“You need to fix it. You need to help stop whoever’s doing this.”

“Yes. I can’t let it go. I don’t—”

“If you’d let it go,” he interrupted, “you wouldn’t know there were two more.”

And that settled her.

“No, I wouldn’t.”

“You could tell me about them.”

More strange, she thought. She let herself lean on him the way she’d refused to lean on anyone other than family, or Joel.

And it didn’t feel wrong, or weak.

“It’s morning,” she murmured. “The light’s coming. I need to go home, get a shower.”

“I’ve got showers.”

“Yes, and I’ve seen the bathroom you’re currently using. No thanks on that.”

“But no offense?”

“Oh, lots of it.” She kissed him first, then rolled out of bed to get her clothes.

“Wait until you see the wet room when it’s done, with its steam shower.”

She pulled on her pants, paused. “I’m definitely going to keep having sex with you.”

“Come over here and say that.”

“But not now,” she said. “You’ve got built-ins to do and a student to teach.”

“I wouldn’t call him a student.”

She turned to him as she finished dressing.

“I’ve known Robo a long time. I don’t think he’s ever asked someone to show him more. In any case, I’m going down, getting some coffee, then walking home because both those things will set me up. And I’ll see you at dinner.”

“All right.”

“Maybe, after dinner if you’re up for it, you could come back with me. I could tell you about Celia Russell and Wayne Carson.”

“All right,” he repeated.

She started out, then paused, turned back.

“It matters to me that I can tell you, and know you’ll listen. At some point, there may be things you decide to tell me. I know how to listen, too.”

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