Page 40

Randa carefully put her glass down, next to her other glass. Then she adjusted it a quarter-inch to the left. Then she picked it up again. “Have you spotted any humans you might be able to Phaze with?” She asked just to fill the silence.

“What do you think?”

“Well, just because you don’t feel sparks right away, doesn’t mean it won’t happen. Sometimes you have to touch. Or spend time together. Or some particular moment happens that awakens latent Phazing energy.”

“Is that what happened between you and Hekktor?”

Randa’s lips thinned at the question. “Has it occurred to you that it’s in bad taste to continually bring up someone’s dead Match?”

“So?

“So, Hekktor and I are none of your business.”

Kahn snorted, like that was ludicrous. Everything was his business.

“We worked together for many years. It was perfectly natural that we’d develop feelings for each other. We held them in, because of my age. But when I turned ninety-three and could legally Phaze, we decided to act on our long-dormant desires.” That was verbatim the way Randa always explained their relationship, although she wasn’t sure why she was explaining it to him. “We were very happy together.”

“So you loved him?”

“Of course! He was like a father to me…” She stopped short, knowing she’d just screwed up.

How in the world had she said something so stupidly unguarded to Kahn? Randa was always so careful about every word she spoke. Her fascination with the man disrupted her equilibrium. Her eyes cut over to him, ready for taunts and snide remarks.

Kahn gazed back, not saying a word.

Randa frowned a bit, surprised and suspicious of his restraint. “Hekktor was very kind to me.” She painstakingly centered her drink on its coaster. “I was always safe with him. And he taught me things. That’s what I was trying to say.”

“What did he teach you?”

“Cooking. Sometimes we played canasta.”

Kahn studied her. “And you had separate bedrooms, because he was an older gentleman.”

“Yes. And we were both fine with that.” She picked up her club soda again, just for something to do with her hands.

“Hekktor was ‘fine’ with his beautiful young bride spending her nights away from him?”

She set her glass down with more force than necessary. “That’s not how it was, at all! And you said yourself that Light Phases don’t share bedrooms either, so I don’t see why…”

Kahn cut her off. “You never Phazed with him.” It was a statement, not a question.

Randa’s lips parted. “What?”

“You never Phazed with Hekktor. Did you?” Still not a question, more like a challenge.

“He… had health issues. He couldn’t… He was unable to…” Randa felt herself turning red. “Hekktor and I had a wonderful relationship and a deep connection. Why am I telling you anything about this? You’re just going to twist it all around to attack me.”

“I’m not going to attack you. Why are you always so suspicious? I just want to talk to you.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m curious about your life. About you. Because…” He trailed off for a beat. “I’ve been wrong.”

She hadn’t expected him to say that, and it only made her more suspicious. “Wrong about what? …Well, besides everything.”

His mouth twitched. “About everything.” He agreed in a grudging tone. “But mostly about you. And I hate being wrong, so I’m trying to fix it. I’ve been trying since that hair salon, but I keep fucking it up, and you get even madder at me. I told you, I always say the wrong thing.”

Was that a Light Phase version of an apology?