She laughed nervously.
As he reached for her, she came into his arms, and they clung to each other.
“Is it ever going to get any better?” she murmured.
“Yes.” he answered with as much conviction as he could muster.
“You’re sure?”
“I’ll make sure.”
She clung to him for a moment longer before easing away. “I want to take off this damn blond wig.”
“You don’t think blonds have more fun?”
“Not so far.” She pulled off the wig and spent a few moments combing her dark hair so that it fell in waves around her shoulders.
When she caught Jake watching her, she said, “We should practice communicating when we’re not touching.”
He nodded. “And when we can’t see each other.”
“As many barriers as possible. You should leave me alone here.”
Fear leaped inside him. “Not yet.”
When she walked into the bathroom and closed the door, he retreated to the wall near the entrance. After looking out the window to make sure no one had followed them, he leaned his shoulder against the wall and reached for her with his mind.
It was getting easier. He got a sense of her fairly quickly, but her thoughts weren’t clear to him. However, he didn’t give up, and soon he was picking up flickers from her mind.
He wanted to send her a strong message–of hope and promise.
I love you.
He felt joy leap within her.I ‘m never going to get tired of hearing that. I don’t know how I lived without you.
Same here. And now we have to make sure that we’re left in peace to live our lives.
What if you were free to do anything you wanted?
I’d pick up my life where I left off. My shop and my business.
You were lonely.
But everything’s changed, now that I have you.
There are a lot of impediments to going back to life in the city.
We have to be patient!
They stayed for a few more minutes, speaking to each other, mind to mind. And practicing some of the skills they’d recently learned.
He focused on the television, willing it to come on, and felt Rachel joining him in the effort. After several seconds, the screen flickered to life, and he pumped his hand into the air.
“All right!”
Keep it up, tiger.
He grinned.I can’t do it without you.
