"Right," Peter said. He cleared away the take-out containers and brushed bits of fried rice from the sheets. Then he sat on the edge of the bed and tried to act casual, as though he had just come up with the idea rather than having mulled it over for days.

Clouwladslitvheinthing nhat I d adapt my house for it. You Her eyes went wide in horror. "Your house? Oh no! I couldn't!"

"Why not?" he asked.

"Because it's your house. You've already done too much."

"Not really. I've led a selfish sort of life."

"You've done everything for me."

"And gotten as much out of it myself. You've been an eye opener for me, Kate Ann. You're the first person I've ever really been generous toward."

"But the children you treat" "Their parents pay for my services. They owe me a fee, which is pretty much the way I've looked at life since I ame back here to practice. People owe memoney, respect, admiration, adoration. I felt it was my due, after everything I went through as a kid. Like it was proof that I was a big, successful guy, even when I didn't feel like a big, successful guy. But you went through the same shit, and you don't feel anyone owes you a thing. That's why it's so nice to give to you. Besides," he said, feeling oddly shy as he took her hand, ill like you. You're a decent, sincere, responsible person."

"But I mess things up."

"So you're not mechanical " "I'm not good with people' "You're perfectly good with me. And you were perfectly good with my family on Thanksgiving."

Her eyes were doe sad. "I didn't know what to say."

"You held your own."

"But that was one day. Living in your house would be every day."

He had to smile. Kate Ann could be persistent. She could also be thick, though that was a product of years of believing what people said about her.

"Why do you think I've been coming here every night?"

"Because you're in the hospital anyway."

"Wrong. You're the only one I see here at nights. Just think how much easier it would be if I could go home to see you."

"But" "But what?"

"You'd want that?" ill wouldn't be asking if I didn't. Actually," he said, allowing his mind to wander back to the horror of the day, ill may be getting the better part of the deal." He studied her hand, so fragile in his.

"You see, I have a problem."

In a rush she said, "Don't apologize I don't expect anything certainly not any kind of feeling."

"But I do feel," he said, and dared to look up. ill like you a lot, Kate Ann."

"Butbutyou don't want me around all the time. You love Mara." They had discussed her at length. Peter had told Kate Ann almost everything. Many a night they had talked far after visiting hours were done, which was no sweat on Peter's part. After all, he was a doctor.

"Loved," he said now. "Past tense. Mara is dead. She can't talk to me. She can't make me smile. She's gone, Kate Ann, and maybe I'm wrong. Maybe one part of me will always love her, but it's not the part that's alive and looking toward the future."

"But you need to be with people."

"You are people." Female people.

"You are female people."

"You know what I mean," she murmured, and looked so dejected that he leaned forward and brushed his lips against her forehead. Her eyes reflected instant shock.

"That's for being so nice, Peter said, and took a deep breath, "and for making me feel good while the rest of my world is about to shatter."

Then he told her about Julie.

"She said that?"

He nodded. "If she stands by it, my reputation is gone."

"But she can't say it. I saw her put her arms around you that day."

"What day?"

"The day you introduced her to me. You were standing over there at the door and she came up from behind and put her arms around you.

You removed them and told her not to do it again."

"You heard that?"

Kate Ann nodded. "Then you brought her in here and suggested that she get me whatever I needed. She wasn't happy."

"No," he said with a sigh of relief. "She wasn't You really remember that?"

Kate Ann nodded again.

He smiled. "That is good news, Kate Ann. Good news indeed. A little while ago I told Paige and Angie that the practice could topple if Julie has her way. She claims I want her. It's her word against mine with no proof either way. But if you're willing to testify about what you saw, that's a start." He couldn't stop smiling. Quiet little Kate Ann, mousy little Kate Ann, his Kate Ann to the rescue He couldn't wait to tell Paige Paige WASN'T IMMEDIATELY CONCERNED WHEN she didn't see Nonny's car. Nonny often ran errands with Sami, and though she was usually home before dark, it was dark so early now that the usual changed.

Her concern came when she went into the kitchen and didn't find a note.

Nonny always left notes when she went out.

Paige looked all over, but she didn't see one. Telling herself that it was simply an oversight on Nonny's part, she went into the bedroom to change into jeans.

"Where are they?" she asked kitty, who was scampering about in such excitement that Paige wondered how long she had been alone.

If kitty knew, kitty wasn't telling.

So Paige went back to the kitchen. It was spotless. Aside from the high chair that stood similarly spotless in the corner, it was much as it would have been had Paige lived alone.

But she didn't live alone. She lived with Nonny and Sami, and after the upsetting day she'd had, she had to see them. She had to talk with Nonny. And hold Sami.

She called the General Store, but Holus Weebly hadn't seen them. She tried the bakery, with similar luck. She tried her neighbor, Mrs.

Corkell, with [ whom Nonny had struck up a friendship, but Mrs. [ Corkell hadn't seen them. She called three of [ Nonny's friends in West WinterSylvia, Helen, and r Elisabethbut Sylvia hadn't seen them, and neither Helen nor Elisabeth was at home. She sat down on the stairs in the front hall, tossing a scrunched-up paper ball to kitty, whor retrieved it, dropped it at her feet, then crouched down in avid anticipation. "Just you and me," she said, giving the paper [ another toss and listening for the tiny patter of kitty's paws on the wood floor. It was indeed a tiny patter, a negligible sound in a dead silent house.

Just you and me, she thought, and was infinitely glad just then that she wasn't alone.