So Mara wrote her journal in letter form, and put a name at the top.

It's just a difference in style. That's all."

But Paige was devastated. "An imaginary friend.

She must have been that much more lonely that any of us ever imagined."

"That's not your fault, Paige." He drew her close.

"You were nearby. She might have taken advantage of you if she'd wanted to. Same with all the other people who liked her so much. But she chose to keep her thoughts to herself."

Paige supposed. "Mara was pulled in two differ ent directions, one dictated by her past, one by her present. To satisfy the first meant repudiating the second, and vice versa. It was a no-win situation.

She was bound to fail." She pressed her face to Noah's collarbone and took a shuddering breath. ill feel so very, very, very bad for her."

The telephone rang. Paige didn't move at first.

Noah was a comfort. But when the second ring came, her sense of duty took over. "Hello?"

"Dr. Pfeiffer?"

"Yes."

"This is Anthony Perrine, Noah's father."

She glanced at Noah. "Dr. Perrine. How are you?"

"I'm well, but I'm afraid there's a problem.

A short time ago, I received a call from Sara's mother. Sara has disappeared. Liv has been trying to reach Noah without any luck. I thought he might be with you."

"He is. Right here." She put the phone to Noah's ear. His hand covered hers there.

"Yes, Dad?"

Paige watched his face grow somber, then angry.

ULiv doesn't know how long she's been gone?"

He listened. "Swell." To Paige he said, "Liv slept late She hasn't seen her since last night." To his father he said, "Where has she looked?" He listened, pushing his glasses higher on his nose. "I'll start calling her Mount Court friends. I don't think there are any in the Bay area, but I'll work my way eastward. She could have thumbed, God help her."

The doorbell rang. Paige let Nonny answer it "Have her call every one of the old friends that Sara might have contacted while she was there,"

Noah told his father. "Where would she have gone lugging that huge duffel bag? And why would she have run off that way? Did Liv say they'd been arguing?"

Paige put her ear to the phone but couldn't make out the answer. So she whispered, "Ask if she left any cluesmatchbooks, telephone numbers thrown in the wastebasket, bus schedules."

Noah nodded. He held her gaze while he listened to what his father was saying, then he related Paige's suggestions. "Sara wouldn't want to just vanish. She's not" "An unhappy child," Paige said into the mouthpiece. "She's adjusted well at Mount Court. She likes it here.

If anything" "I'd imagine her getting on the first plane out of San Francisco" "And flying back here," she finished.

"Hi, guys," came a voice from the door.

Paige and Noah swung around to face Sara, who was grinning from ear to ear.

Noah let out a sigh of relief. While Paige left his side and wrapped her arms around Sara, he told his father, "She just walked in.

She looks fine." He cleared his throat. "I'm dying to hear how she got here. Do me a favor and call Liv, Dad? Tell her I'll talk with her another time." He hung up the phone.

Paige was still holding Saraprotecting her, she fancied, from whatever punishment Noah had in mind. Then Noah's arms encircled them both, and she released her breath.

Noah wanted to be angry at Sara but couldn't.

She hadn't gone to see a friend, she had come home to him. That meant the world to him.

Moreover, when she explained that she had taken a cab to the airport, changed her ticket to a flight one day earlier, and taken another cab first to Mount Court, then to Paige's, he couldn't find much fault.

She had used common sense. At no time had she done anything dangerousthoughtless, perhaps, in that she'd given her mother a scare, but she'd been angry. It seemed that Liv had done little more than spend Thanksgiving Day with Sara. She had a new boyfriend, with whom she spent most of her time. Sara had been very much on her own.

Noah was furious at Liv, though not surprised. She was a selfish woman. He had every intention of telling her so when they spoke.

"She told me to visit my friends," Sara said, holding Sami on her lap, while Noah, Paige, and Nonny sat nearby, "but there wasn't anybody to see. My two closest friends were away, and the others didn't want to see me any more than I wanted to see them. I wanted to say hi to Jeffhe was my stepdad for so long and I have his name, for God's sakebut she forbade it. So there was nothing to do. I figured that I could just as well do nothing here."

Noah saw defiance. And pride. "Another time," he cautioned, because it was one thing if he told Liv off, another if Sara showed disrespect, "tell your mother you're leaving."

"She would have tried to stop me. She would have taken my ticket and my money. She would have locked me in my room."

Noah doubted that.

Sara was staring at him. "You don't believe me."

"Did she ever lock you in your room?"

"Once."

He would have asked when, had her expression not told him. It had been after one of the shoplifting incidents. Sara didn't want him telling Paige and Nonny about those.

So he didn't ask. And her defiance faded. In a more reasonable tone she said, "She would have made me go out with her and Ray, and I didn't want to do that. He's smarmy."

"Smarmy?" Paige asked.

"He fawns all over her. Whatever she says or does is always right. If she decides to marry him, I'm outta there for good."

Noah rather liked the thought of that, except that he felt a moral responsibility to take the high road. "She's still your mother. You don't see her much now that you're living with me, but it would be nice if when you do get together you could be civil to one another."

Sara made a face. "Tell her that. She wasn't very civil to me. She kept telling me that something was wrongeither my hair was a mess, or my skin looked lousy, or I was gaining weight."

"You're not gaining weight," Paige said quickly. Eating disorders were the rage among the girls at Mount Court. She didn't want to encourage another.

ill weigh fifteen pounds more than her," Sara said.