Truth or Dare (33 page)

43

R
obyn is scheduled to undergo surgery?” Arcadia lowered the tiny espresso cup. “When?”

“Day after tomorrow,” Zoe said. “Ethan and I plan to drive into Phoenix so that I can be with her when she wakes up.”

It was just after ten. Fountain Square was thronged with enthusiastic shoppers. The morning was sunny and warm.

“I'll bet she's scared to death.” Arcadia shuddered. “I certainly would be at the thought of brain surgery.”

“She is frightened, but not nearly as scared as she was when she thought she was going insane. I was with her when they went over the results of the CAT scan and the MRI with her. She started to cry. You should have seen the doctor's face when he realized that she was crying in relief, not because of the diagnosis.”

“Probably never had a patient shed tears of joy after being told she has a brain tumor,” Arcadia said.

“Probably not. Naturally, we didn't try to explain. We just told him that we were both enormously relieved to know that he considered it operable.”

“You never mentioned the psychic thing?”

“No. As soon as he did the tests he said he was almost one hundred percent certain that the tumor was causing Robyn's seizures. He said it had probably been there for a long time.”

“Benign?”

“He won't commit until he gets the lab results back after surgery, but he told us that it had all the hallmarks of a type of slow-growing tumor that is, technically speaking, fairly simple to remove.”

“Personally, I find it mind-boggling to hear the words ‘simple' and ‘brain surgery' in the same sentence, but I suppose everything is relative.”

“Well, there are plenty of surgical risks, of course. But to tell you the truth, now that her worst fears have been put to rest, Robyn's biggest concern is losing her job.”

“Born to manage the Casa de Oro.” Arcadia shook her head in wonder. “Imagine that.”

“You want to know the really scary part? She's actually pretty good at it. The place has never looked better, and every apartment is rented.” Zoe drank some tea. “Nevertheless, I'm glad that Ethan and I will be moving out soon.”

“Treacher finally promised to send the painters into Nightwinds?”

“They started at seven o'clock this morning. Ethan drove to the house to make sure the men showed up for work.”

“What about the color?”

“Ethan says he's not feeling too particular about the exact shade anymore.” Zoe grinned. “He just wants the place finished so we can move back into our home.”

 

The hospital walls screamed. But that was par for the course with hospitals, Zoe reminded herself. She wouldn't be there long. Visiting hours were kept to a minimum on this ward.

“You okay?” Ethan asked in a low voice.

They turned the corner into the hall where Robyn's room was located.

“I can handle it,” Zoe said. “I just hope Robyn's psychic abilities have returned to normal.”

Ethan shrugged. She was amused to see that he was dealing with Robyn's claim to a sixth sense the same way he dealt with hers. He could accept that something out of the ordinary was going on with both of them, but he did not feel the need to delve into metaphysics to explain it.

Maybe he was right, she thought. Who could say for certain where the boundaries between intuition and true psychic sensitivity lay?

It occurred to her that she was getting rather laid back about the issue herself.

The wait for Robyn to come out of surgery the day before had seemed endless. She and Ethan had spent most of the time on
the patio outside the surgical waiting room because she couldn't take the bad vibes inside for extended periods.

The surgeon had appeared eventually to tell them that the operation had gone well.

But when they went to visit her a few hours later, it soon became apparent that Robyn wasn't doing well at all.

“I can't feel anything, Zoe.” Tears welled up in Robyn's eyes. She clutched Zoe's hand very tightly. “This is a hospital. I should be sensing all kinds of things in these walls. But it's all blank.”

“You just went through brain surgery, for heaven's sake. Give yourself a chance to heal.”

Zoe had spent most of the night hoping that she was right and that Robyn would eventually regain her psychic senses. But the truth was, they were in uncharted territory.

One thing was for certain; she had no plans to ask the neurosurgeon for his opinion about the effects of post-surgical trauma on psychic senses. Dr. Grange appeared to be a good man and an excellent surgeon, but not everyone had Ethan's ability to balance on the fine edge that separated the highly improbable from the absolutely impossible.

She and Ethan walked through the door to the room. The first thing Zoe noticed was that Robyn, her head swathed in bandages, was smiling as she lay ensconced on the white pillows. Got to hand it to a woman who could look that cheerful after brain surgery, she thought. Robyn definitely had what it took to be a professional apartment house manager.

The second thing she saw was that Robyn was not alone. An elderly, gray-haired couple stood beside the bed. The man was leaning heavily on a wheeled walker. The woman teetered on a
cane. Diamonds the size of automobile headlights glittered on her gnarled fingers.

“Zoe, Ethan.” Robyn winced a little as she turned her head to greet them but her eyes were bright with pleasure. “Meet Mr. and Mrs. Shipley. They're the owners of Casa de Oro.”

“How nice to meet you, dear.” Mrs. Shipley bobbed her head graciously.

“We were just telling Robyn that she's not to worry about her position as the manager of the Casa de Oro,” Mr. Shipley said. “We're going to hold it open for her.”

“We had our driver take us to Whispering Springs yesterday so we could have a look at the property,” Mrs. Shipley confided. “Couldn't believe the improvement. We had been on the verge of putting it on the market, you know. But not anymore.”

“Robyn is far and away the best manager we've ever had at that complex,” Mr. Shipley said. “The last thing we want to do is lose her.”

“I'm sure Hooper in one-B will be thrilled to hear that,” Ethan said.

There was movement in the doorway. Zoe turned around and saw a bouquet of flowers that was so large it blocked the entrance. The man holding the vase peeked through the stems, looking uncertain of his welcome.

“Speaking of Hooper,” Ethan muttered.

“Uh, hi.” Hooper moved awkwardly into the small room and found space for the large vase on the windowsill.

“Mr. Hooper.” Robyn's smile was radiant. “You came all the way from Whispering Springs just to see me?”

“I, uh, heard you had surgery. Didn't know you were sick.”
Hooper grimaced. “I went into the hospital for some major surgery a couple of years ago. I know how it feels.” He motioned toward the giant flower arrangement. “I, uh, thought you might like those.”

“They're beautiful. No one has ever brought me flowers. I don't know what to say. Thank you.”

Hooper grinned, pleased with the reception of his gift. “Yeah, sure. You're welcome.”

Zoe cleared her throat. “How are you feeling today?” she asked.

Robyn made a face but her relief was obvious. “Everything's back to normal, just like you said.” She rolled her eyes at the nearest wall. “I can't wait to get out of here.”

Zoe chuckled. “I know what you mean.”

44

S
ingleton leaned on his counter and looked at Jeff and Theo. Both boys wore unusually serious expressions.

“What's wrong?” he asked.

“We think you should ask Mom out on a date,” Theo said.

“Yeah.” Jeff's face scrunched up with fierce concentration. “You could take her to a movie or something.”

He thought about that for a long time. “You're sure?”

“Yeah,” Theo chimed in. “You could take us with you, if you want. We could have pizza before the show.”

“Don't be so dumb,” Jeff said to him. “It won't be a real date if we go with them.”

“Why not?” Theo whined.

“We go with them for pizza all the time and it's not a date,” Jeff explained.

“Oh.” Theo did not appear to be too depressed by that news. He shrugged it off. “We can have pizza with Uncle Ethan and Zoe, instead.”

The shadows in the bookshop lifted. Warmth and light spilled into the small space, driving out the gloom.

Singleton realized that he was grinning like a fool, but he didn't care.

“Works for me,” he said.

 

Zoe stood in the center of the gracious, white-on-white master bedroom suite. She had to admit that the finished space was impressive and quite beautiful in its own way.

“Congratulations, Lindsey, you've created a remarkable room. Very harmonious and tranquil.”

Lindsey did not move out of the doorway. Her expression was cautious “But not your style, right?”

Zoe turned toward her. “No, but that doesn't mean I can't admire a work of art when I see one.”

“You're serious, aren't you?” Lindsey replied.

“You've got a real talent,” Zoe said sincerely. “What's more, I think you're the right designer for Tabitha Pine. She's into this kind of look. I'm not. I've decided that I won't present a proposal to her, after all.”

Lindsey shifted uneasily. “We both know that you could give her what she wants. You're a pro. You don't have to love the look to create it for someone else.”

“In most instances, I'd say that was true. But Tabitha is different. She needs a finely tuned energy flow in her home,
especially in that meditation room. You're more sensitive to her requirements than I am.” Zoe shrugged. “Besides, I've suddenly got my hands full. A couple of the architects who came through on the tour yesterday want me to meet with some of their clients.”

Lindsey nodded, relaxing a little. “I got a lot of positive feedback from some of the people on that tour yesterday myself.”

“Looks like all this work we did here will prove to be worth our while.” She glanced at her watch and started toward the door. “If you'll excuse me, I'd better get moving. I promised my husband I'd meet him for lunch.”

“Zoe, wait.”

She paused. “What is it?”

Lindsey appeared to be having trouble deciding just what she wanted to say.

“I think your library turned out brilliantly,” she finally muttered. “I was wrong about all those intense colors. They really work in that room.”

Zoe could see that Lindsey was struggling. But she was trying to be nice. That counted for a lot.

“Thanks.”

“I'm sorry if we got off on the wrong foot,” Lindsey continued slowly. “It's just that this project and the Pine job were very important to me.”

“It's all right.”

“In the past my interior design work was more or less a social hobby. I was fashionable because I was married to a man who wielded a lot of clout in LA.” Lindsey's mouth twisted wryly. “People lined up around the block to kiss his ass.”

“I understand.”

“I enjoyed designing but I didn't have to make a living at it. It was one of those things women in my world did. Some arranged important dinner parties. I did the homes of stars and entertainers.”

“Lindsey—”

“But after my divorce, I lost everything. All of my big-name clients deserted me. I was suddenly nobody because I was no longer married to the man whose ass had to be kissed. It was then that I finally realized that if I wanted something to call my own, I was going to have to create it myself.” Her mouth tightened. “I've been obsessed with proving that I could make a new life without my husband and his influence. I wasn't sure I could do it, you see.”

“How did you decide to settle here?”

“I wanted to start over in a place that had no connections to my ex or his friends. I love the desert. So I more or less threw a dart at a map and here I am.”

“Join the crowd.” Zoe smiled. “Just about everyone I know came to Whispering Springs to start over. It's a good place to begin a new life. You'll do fine.”