Until he couldn’t see anything at all.
When Amy Richards opened the door of the hotel room, it was two thirty. She was early for their usual three o’clock meeting, so she wasn’t surprised he wasn’t here yet. She was surprised to find an envelope on the desk with her name on it. From Doug.
She was stunned and heartbroken to read that he had quit his job and moved back east, that he never wanted to see her again. She didn’t believe it even when she went to his apartment and found all his things gone. Or when she checked with his boss and found he’d quit the day before, without even giving notice. But she had to believe it eventually.
Because she never saw him again.
“I’d just feel much better if you went back to Alexandria and finished the buying trip,” Sarah said seriously, sitting down on the edge of Margo’s bed as she watched her friend repacking a suitcase she had unpacked only that morning. They were at Margo’s house, where Tucker had dropped them off less than an hour before.
“It’s after three; the afternoon is pretty much shot.” Margo was still protesting, but she was packing. Her bruised shoulder didn’t appear to be bothering her, though Sarah didn’t doubt it would ache tomorrow.
It bothered Sarah. It bothered her a lot. If Tucker was right, that so-called accident had been meant for her, and Margo had simply gotten in the way. Sarah didn’t want her to get in the way again.
“I know, but…well, humor me.”
Straightening abruptly, Margo directed a sharp look at her friend. “Have you seen something else? About me?”
Sarah shook her head. “No. Not about you, I swear.”
“About you, then?” When Sarah remained silent and avoided her friend’s gaze, Margo bent once again to her packing but went on, “You and Tucker were talking pretty intently when I came out of the restroom and back to our table; you two are planning something, aren’t you?”
Vaguely, Sarah said, “Nothing unusual about dinner plans.”
“Is that all it was? Fancy that. When he dropped us off here, he said he wouldn’t be long, so I assumed you had plans for the evening. After you crate me back to Alexandria, that is.”
“Ship. You need to finish the buying trip, you know that.”
“Uh-huh. And what do you need to finish? And don’t say dinner, because I’m not buying it. The story, I mean.”
Sarah began to protest, but instead said, “Look, Margo, with everything that’s happened lately, I just don’t want to worry about a friend if I don’t have to. So, you go to Alexandria, and finish the buying trip. I’ll be fine. Tucker seems determined to…to hang around, and the police are going to find out who burned down my house—and I’m okay.”
Frowning, Margo said bluntly, “You look like a stiff breeze would blow you away.”
Sarah shrugged, but she wasn’t happy at being told she looked that fragile. “I admit, things have been a strain. The last six months have been a strain. Hey, maybe I’ll close the shop for a few days and get away, take that vacation you’ve been after me to take for years now. Maybe I’ll go house hunting and find another fixer-upper instead of rebuilding. But I’ll be okay, Margo.”
Margo was silent for several minutes while she finished packing and closed her suitcase, then straightened, still frowning. “I know you’ve seen something. Something bad.”
Steadily, Sarah said, “Whatever I’ve seen, today taught me something very…hopeful. It taught me that I’m not always right. That there’s…that there may be…room to change what I see.” She didn’t believe that, but for Margo’s sake she tried to sound convincing.
“That’s what you and Tucker are planning to do, isn’t it? Change some future disaster you’ve seen.”
“How could we do that?”
“You tell me.”
“There’s nothing to tell.” As she had explained to Tucker earlier, telling Margo of the bleak fate she had seen for herself would accomplish nothing except to alarm her friend and quite probably convince Margo that she should stick close and watch over Sarah.
Neither Sarah nor Tucker thought that would be a good idea; if being mistaken for Sarah had put Margo in danger today, there was always a chance it could happen again.
“So you’re not going to tell me what’s going on?”
Sarah hesitated, then said, “I have to learn to live with this, Margo. With what I’ve become.”
“Don’t say what as if you’d turned into a monster.” Margo’s voice was irritated.
“Okay. But I do have to learn to live with the changes in my life. I don’t know—yet—how I can do that, but I have to figure out a way. Tucker thinks he can help me. I think I should let him try. And that’s all.”