he was afraid of it.
“What do you think? Of course it’s still going on. And we miss you out there.” Isaac didn’t know how to decipher his wife’s attitude. Frustrated, perhaps? Irked? Probably irked; it was closer to anger than frustrated.
The only thing he managed to croak out was, “Okay.”
He watched Reese study him. He found it impossible to swallow, and he felt cold and clammy under the scrutiny of her judgment. And he was scared to death. First the obstacle course and now this—two glitches so close together had never happened before, and never so blatantly obvious to others, or so he hoped. These two today were particularly disconcerting. He waited uncomfortably for Reese to speak. His stomach churned as Reese slowly shook her head. He tensed. He couldn’t relax even when she began to play with his hair the way she liked to do. He needed, and dreaded, to hear what she had to say. He studied his wife, saw her part her lips to speak. When she began to talk, though, she was interrupted by the suddenly increased volume of the ever-present noise in his head, and he couldn’t hear her. There was so much talking and shouting and arguing and as usual it was a bunch of different-sounding voices clamoring to be heard but he couldn’t make out a single one or even a single word, including his wife’s. He hated it. He needed it to stop and he needed to hear Reese. He hunched forward, forehead practically on his knees, and threw his hands over his ears. “Shut up! Just shut up and leave me alone!” He had to shout to make his words heard above the others.
Reese leapt to her feet and now stood in front of him. “Isaac! How dare you tell me to shut up! I don’t have time to deal with this right now, and frankly I’ve had it with you. But this isn’t over. I’m going back outside. Join the party or don’t.”
“No! Reese! Stop. Please. I wasn’t talking to you. Really. Please!”
He looked up at the ceiling and blew out a breath of air when she actually stopped. Before she could change her mind and walk out the door, he spoke. “Please come back over here. I swear I wasn’t talking to you. I’d never in a million years tell you to shut up.”
“Really, Isaac? Then who were you talking to? Because I don’t know about you, but I sure as hell don’t see anyone else in this room.”
“No. I know there’s no one else in the room. I just meant the voices.”
Isaac watched Reese’s mouth open. Even though she had already been standing still, she seemed to somehow grow more still. Several seconds passed before she narrowed her eyes and cocked her head slightly to one side. “What do you mean? What voices, Isaac?” Her voice was low and her words came more slowly than usual. Isaac was unnerved.
“Uh, you know, just…voices. The ones that are just there in our minds and get too loud from time to time. Like the music. You know. Those.”
Reese remained where she was. Isaac remained seated on the bed. He kept watching her, worrying and wondering what was going through her head. The fact that she didn’t seem to understand what he was talking about scared him. He was sick of feeling scared today. He jumped slightly when she finally spoke. “I actually don’t know anything about voices. I’ve never heard voices. Or music.”
Isaac sat up straight. He felt his eyes widen in surprise. “You haven’t?”
Reese returned to her spot beside him on the edge of the bed. “I think the real question,” she said quietly, “is ‘you have?’”
“Well…yeah.”
“Since when?”
Isaac shrugged. “I don’t know.” He paused as he thought. “Since forever, I suppose. I don’t remember not hearing them. I’ve never really thought about them, I guess, because they’ve always been there. I don’t ever fully pick up what they’re saying; I just hear chattering or arguing or laughing or crying or other stuff in the background sometimes. But sometimes they’re quiet. Other times I hear music, but like the voices, it’s vague.” He shrugged again. “I assumed it was just part of the human mind. I thought everyone heard voices and music like that.”
Reese shook her head slowly. “Honey, I don’t hear those things, and I don’t know what any of this has been about. Frankly, I’m more than a little concerned. But I don’t think that right now is the time to explore everything. I really have to get back out to Dominic and his party. What do you want to do?”
“I want to join you.”
“Good. Let’s go.” She studied him, then took his hand in hers. “People are going to wonder what we’re doing in here with the shades drawn.” When she kissed him and said, “I’d like to give them something to speculate about, but I suppose we’d better wait for tonight,” Isaac finally relaxed. Hand intertwined with Reese’s, he headed back out to his son’s birthday party.
Chapter 2
“How do you do it, Reese?” Reese and Gretchen sat on Reese’s sunny patio enjoying the lazy Sunday afternoon while Isaac and Max, only half-heartedly cleaning up the mess in the wake of yesterday’s party, played T-ball with Dominic.
Reese turned her attention away from the grinning, drooling baby on her lap to look at Gretchen. “Do what?”
Gretchen nodded toward Elise and frowned. “Do that. You look so natural with her. And you get her to smile like that so easily. That baby loves you. She loves you more than she loves me, her own mother.”
Elise laughed. “Gretchen, that’s not true and you know it. Elise is just used to me. We’ve spent a lot of time together. Just like Dominic adores you and Max. We’re all practically one family. You’re Elise’s mom, and she loves you.” Reese studied Gretchen’s pinched features before turning to the baby. She blew on Elise’s belly and, in an exaggerated, adult-turned-baby voice, she babbled, “Who loves Mommy? Elise loves Mommy! Giggle if you love Mommy!” When Elise emitted a squeal, Reese looked triumphantly at Gretchen and stated firmly, “There. See? I told you.”
Gretchen rolled her eyes. “Reese. Please. She’s too young to understand English. She has no idea what the hell you just said and is simply playing with you. Watch this.” Gretchen leaned over and scooped up her baby. She held her out in front of her, her elbows locked, arms, shoulders, neck, and back stiff and ramrod straight. Mother and baby studied each other. Baby reached out and grabbed a fist full of her mother’s long hair, chubby fingers wound around dark pieces and blonde highlights alike. Gretchen was the first one to make a noise, her yelp followed closely by Elise’s wail. With one well-manicured hand, Gretchen attempted to extract Elise’s fingers from her hair. When she was unsuccessful, Reese stepped in and assisted. Because Gretchen concerned herself with smoothing her hair, Reese soothed Elise. Elise’s good mood returned before Gretchen’s.
“Ugh. See? That’s what I mean. She adores you, and I don’t blame her. She hates me. I swear she grabs my hair like that on purpose.”
Reese couldn’t help but laugh. “Come on. You really think she has the motivation to bug you and make you mad? This is unintentional. Just wait until she’s a teenager.” Reese grinned. “And if you don’t like her grabbing your hair, wear it back. Why do you think my hair doesn’t fall much past my jawline? It’s easier.”
The left corner of Gretchen’s upper lip lifted slightly in a show of mild disgust. “That’s you. Personally, I am not changing who I am because of a child. I like my hair the way it is, thank you. And as for her being a teenager, that’s a moot point. I’m not going to be here to deal with it and by then
