“I have no idea what happened. It’s irrelevant, I guess, because I’m back in action.”
He tilted his head. Obviously, he wasn’t convinced. “So, you’re a bit behind in the numbers. You’re barely over ten points a day. Is something going on?”
It took everything in me to fake a smile. “You’ll have to ask Alden about that. I thought he was on top of things.”
“It’s totally my fault,” Alden confirmed. “I’ve bogged us down. I’ve got a little sister this time, and I’m still living with my parents. I’m only seventeen and quite restricted. I’ll overcome it.”
I could tell by Phillip’s demeanor and facial expression, he wasn’t buying it.
“Rose, you have no theory as to why you didn’t return for a century?” Phillip asked.
On the brink of panicking, I stood up straighter and tried to make myself into the picture of confidence. Like Rose in the wedding memory. “I don’t have a clue what happened. The last thing I remember was climbing up onto the roof of our house with Alden and somehow ending up in the water. Nothing after that.”
Thank God Alden had shown me that memory.
“You’re not living on the coast right now. That’s out of character for you,” Phillip asserted.
“I have no control over where my mother in this cycle lives. Alden and I plan to move here once we are no longer considered juveniles. We’ll present ourselves as a married couple again. That was always the most convenient arrangement. I love it here. That’s the reason I requested the Texas Coastal Region cycles ago.” I smiled at Alden, feeling a bit more natural in my role. “I appreciate your concern. The numbers won’t be a problem.”
Phillip studied me for a moment. “They asked me to evaluate your Protector for reassignment if he’s holding you back.”
“If he doesn’t get his act together, I’ll take you up on that. But, really, Phillip, I’ve invested too many years in him to train another one. Plus, Alden and I work well together. We both know our limitations and avoid situations that would reduce our productivity. We always have. That’s why we had the top score three cycles in a row.”
Phillip lifted his eyebrows. “Okay, then. I’ll suggest that the reassignment not be initiated. I think it would be detrimental to split up a partnership with a track record like yours. Obviously, you’re just off to a slow start.” Phillip shook our hands. “Best of luck to you both.”
We stood still, not talking, while he crossed the street to the Hotel Galvez.
Once he was out of sight and the charade was over, I slumped down onto the top step of the stairs that led to the beach. Maintaining that kind of stoic confidence when I was terrified was one of the hardest things I’d ever done. Spook licked my face and wagged her short tail.
A blue four-door Dodge Ram pickup parked behind Alden’s Audi. “It was a Speaker!” Race shouted as he got out of the passenger side. “He took the bait. I felt him change from doubt to admiration. Whatever you guys did worked.”
“Lenzi did it. You should have seen her. She was fantastic!” Alden announced as he hugged Maddi, who had come around the front of the truck. I sat up straighter. Alden’s approval was as calming as his touch.
Maddi laughed. “Well, I wish I
had
seen it, because I felt it. She was totally freaked out. It made it hard to concentrate on the other one. She was so panicked, I thought for sure she was blowing it. God, Alden, I was certain you guys were dead.”
Alden put his arm around my shoulders. “No. She was brilliant. Sounded just like my Rose.”
TWENTY-THREE
I
stared over the railing of the patio at the surf. This restaurant on Seawall Boulevard was made of several old houses that had been smushed together to form one large structure. Below the patio was a row of sparkling motorcycles, all parked perfectly parallel to one another on a diagonal. It looked like a Harley ad.
Spook barked at a seagull and trotted back and forth across the deck, enjoying her freedom from the leash. Dogs weren’t officially permitted in the restaurant, but the manager of the Spot would look the other way if the dog stayed on the patio and was well behaved. Alden snapped his fingers and pointed to the floor. Spook fell silent mid-bark and lay at his feet.
Maddi and Race sat together on the bench across the table from us. Their western garb was so flamboyant they might as well have been in costume. Maddi was wearing another cowboy shirt with mother-of-pearl snaps down the front, and she had a rustcolored suede jacket with long fringe dangling from the arms and across the back. Race wore a matching shirt and jacket, minus the fringe. He had on a large turquoise bolo. Both wore black felt cowboy hats. Alden’s gray pullover was invisible by comparison, but his looks made him stand out every bit as much. I found it hard to keep my eyes, or hands for that matter, off of him.
“How did you find us, Maddi?” I asked.
“We knew the meeting was on the seawall at noon near the historical marker. Your transmissions were so intense, though, we probably could have found you even if we hadn’t had the exact location.”
I wasn’t sure if this was reassuring or troubling.
The pager the girl at the counter downstairs had given us when we ordered went off, letting us know our food was ready. Maddi stood.
“Helena will run you around enough when she emerges. Let me and Alden get this,” Race suggested.
Maddi smiled and sat back down.
“I guess Helena is your Speaker,” I said after the boys left.
“Yes. I expect to be called into duty any day now. She always emerges when I’m barely eighteen. I hope she turns up soon. It gets boring just being a regular person.” She leaned closer. “So, you and Alden. Are you like . . . ?” She winked.
“No.”
“But you’re into him. I feel it.”
I stared out at the Gulf. “He’s into Rose.”
“You
are
Rose. You talk like you’re two separate people.”
“We are. I’m nothing like her, or at least so I’m told,” I said, staring down at the names customers had carved into the wooden picnic table.
Alden backed through the door with two plates of food and held it open for Race with his foot.
“If you gentlemen will excuse us for a minute,” Maddi said as they set the plates on the table. “Lenzi and I are going to the restroom.” Maddi grabbed my arm and dragged me through the door. We passed through a little dining room—a converted attic of one of the houses—and went down the stairs to the bathroom. She pulled me into the first stall, which was enormous, with a wooden double door.
Stunned by Maddi’s forcefulness, I stood against the wall waiting for her next move. Her face was red. It looked like she was going to beat me up or something. Built like she was, my prospects were grim.
She shook her finger right in my face. “I can’t believe you’re doing this again!”
I shook my head. “Really, Maddi. I don’t understand.”
“You’ve jerked him around for centuries. I thought maybe you’d be different this time. You got your wish. Don’t you see? You got your wish, and now you’re going to blow it again.”
I tugged at the bottom of my sweater. “What wish?”
“You really don’t remember anything.” Maddi held out her hand. “Give me your hand. I’ll show you.”
I put my hand in Maddi’s.
“Out,” she said.
I knew what was coming next. I braced myself against the wall as Maddi’s soul ripped into my body.
I’m going to give you a memory,
Maddi said.
I could tell you about it, but it’ll have more impact if you see it.
Images of Maddi and Rose sitting on a green velvet settee in a room that had dark wood paneling and a piano played through my head. Every inch of the place was decorated with pictures, paintings, and enormous potted palms. Ornate origami figures decorated every nook and cranny. Both women were wearing long, white linen dresses, and Rose had her hair loosely piled up on her head. Maddi’s hair was bobbed short. She was less muscular than in this current cycle. Rose was doing needlepoint.
Needlepoint? Ugh.
I didn’t have the patience to do needlepoint. One more reason to hate Rose.
“If a man like Alden expressed that level of interest in me, he would not have to ask twice,” Maddi said.
Rose set the needlepoint down, walked over to the piano, and ran her fingers over the keys. “Oh, Maude, you simply don’t understand. It is not like that between us. It never has been, nor will it be.”
“Why not?”
Rose fidgeted with the black pendant she wore at her neck. “It would not be prudent.”
Maddi looked angry. “Prudent or
convenient,
Rose? It’s easier for you this way, cleaner. No one gets hurt if no one takes a risk. Alden has loved you forever.”
Tears filled Rose’s eyes. “And I have loved him, as well. There has been too much history between us, Maude. Alden and I have too much knowledge of each other to change now. It would ruin us.” I was surprised when Rose began to cry. Evidently, she had a heart after all. “Oh, Maude. What a mess I have made of things! I wish I could just begin again. Start over fresh with no preconceived notions or mandates. I wish that I could forget everything about my past and just live again, seeing Alden for the first time through tender, open eyes. To love him the way he deserves to be loved. I’m going to approach the elders and see if such a thing is possible.”
The memory stopped.
I’m exiting, Rose,
Maddi said.
“Ow!” I groaned as Maddi’s brown eyes sparked with life and she gasped for breath.
“You got your wish, Rose, don’t you see? You must have gotten to one of the old fogies, and they must have delayed your recycling so you’d lose your memory or something. Whoever did it must have done it on the sly because it wasn’t documented, and believe me, the IC documents everything. I don’t know how it happened, but this is your chance. When I felt what your soul was transmitting for Alden at the coffee shop, I thought maybe you were faking the amnesia so you could get a fresh start. Now, I know it’s real. This is your chance to get it right.”
I unlocked the door and walked to the sink. “Alden is the one who says we need to have a business-only relationship.”
“Because he’s as scared as you are. You’re the Speaker. You have to lead. Get your act together.” Maddi left the bathroom without a backward glance.
When I joined the others, they had moved to the small attic dining room located at the top of the stairs just inside the patio. We were the only ones in this section of the restaurant.
“It was too cold outside,” Alden said as he pulled the chair out for me. “I thought Race was going to cry like a baby.”
Race laughed. “You’re the one who was whining about the wind,” he teased.
“Being male, I’m surprised either one of you had the good sense to come in out of the cold,” Maddi said, pouring a tiny paper cup of ketchup on her hamburger.
I stared at my hamburger, appetite completely gone. The memory from Maddi had thrown me off balance. Did Alden know about Rose’s wish? Had she really gone to the Council elders? I studied the black and white checkered vinyl tablecloth. “She was just like my Rose,” Alden had said out on the seawall after the ICDC rep had left. It was Rose he really wanted, not me.
“Are you okay, Lenzi?” Alden whispered.
Stupid soul-feeling crap. I nodded and took a bite of my burger to ease his mind. The room made me uncomfortable. Because it was the attic of a house, the ceiling was triangular. The space was dark and tight. Graffiti drawn by restaurant patrons covered the exposed wood of the walls and rafters. There were names and dates written all over the place in Sharpie marker. “Kiely was here,” “George and Samantha, Spring Break 2011.”
“Are you going to eat those?” Race asked, indicating my fries.
“No, you can have them.”
Race grabbed several fries from across the table. Maddi glared at him. “That’s why you’re not built like Alden. French fries.”
Race laughed. “I’d love to look like Alden. Hot female Speakers would be falling all over themselves to be paired up with me, just like they did with Alden, when Rose . . . Lenzi was gone. You should’ve seen it, Lenzi. It was hilarious.”
My insides gave a jealous churn.
“Ha!” Race grinned. “I can feel that things have changed between you two!”
“Stay out of it,” Alden admonished him.
Race clapped Alden on the shoulder. “Hey, man, I’m happy for you. It’s about time you got a little action.”
Alden’s eyes narrowed. His voice was almost a growl. “I said, stay out of it!”
“Whoa, Alden. If this is about three cycles ago, I only did what any normal guy would have done—”
Alden slammed his fist on the table. “That’s enough!”
Spook jumped up from her spot under the table and growled. Alden immediately turned to me. Spook became so agitated, Alden had to put her out on the porch. He returned to his seat facing me.