I nodded.
“Does the sound of it ever change?”
I thought about it. “It shifts. It gets louder sometimes.”
Hurts more sometimes.
“Does it get louder every time you’ve been around one person in particular?”
I shrugged and wished I hadn’t. My shoulder ached. Everything ached. “I haven’t been paying attention to that.”
“Wow, you really suck at this.” She smiled to soften her words.
“It’s not like I haven’t had other things on my mind this week. Bullets, blood. Rhubarb.”
“And don’t forget a fistfight in a bar with Cooper. Seriously, what were you thinking?”
“That he was a jerk and annoying the crap out of me.”
“Funny how you used to date that.”
“He didn’t used to be that annoying.”
She took another drink and made a so-so motion with her hand. “He did sort of roll into town out of the blue and mess up your life.”
“Apparently men like to do that to me.”
She was quiet for a minute. “Do you still love him?”
“Cooper?”
She just shook her head, her eyes holding mine.
“Ryder?” I asked.
Yes.I shoved that faint thought firmly away. “No. That’s done.”
Liar,my heart whispered.
“What about Cooper?”
“Cooper is different. He’s…”Not Ryder.“Different.”
“Okay,” she said after a long moment of silence. “So let’s narrow it down. Cooper came back right before Heim died. If the power calls to its own, maybe it was calling him.”
“Lots of people come and go in town…” My voice faded as I remembered a conversation I’d had with Cooper. “Cooper said he thought he’d left something here. Left something in Ordinary even though he doesn’t like this town. He came back looking for it. I thought he meant me, us, what we had…”
“But what if it was the power?” Jean sounded excited. “The power inside you, calling him.”
Everything in me went cold and still. Even my brain. Even the song of power in my head.
Yes.
“Delaney?” Jean uncrossed her legs and pushed up out of the chair. “Are you hurting? Are you breathing?” She cupped my cheek, her dark blue eyes wide and worried. “Breathe.”
“Cooper.” I exhaled.
“Keep breathing,” she said.
