The Influence(30)

“You okay? You ain’t on drugs or nothing, are you?”

“No,” Becky said, annoyed. “I don’t know, I just…” She shook her head, suddenly stood. “I gotta go.”

“You just got here!”

“Something’s wrong,” Becky said, moving closer to her sister.

“Then tell me about it. You can talk to me. Is it a guy?”

“No, I mean something’s wrong here. I could tell even on my way down. As soon as I got close to town, I felt…I don’t know…weird. I almost turned around right then and there.”

JoAnn thought about New Year’s Eve and her blood ran cold.

Becky was staring at her. “You feel it, too, don’t you?”

“No. No, I don’t.” But she was still thinking about New Year’s Eve. She realized that she’d expected there to be a lot of gossip about that night, but there hadn’t been. She wondered why. It was as though everyone was afraid to mention it, afraid to bring it up, and the fact that Becky sensed something meant that they probably should be scared.

And yet…she wasn’t.

“I’m going back home,” Becky said. “I can’t stay here.” There was a pause. “I think you should come with me.”

JoAnn was touched. Becky lived in a one-bedroom apartment on the crappiest street in Casa Grande, and for her to invite JoAnn to stay with her really meant something. It was a personal sacrifice that, before today, JoAnn would not have thought her sister capable of making. “Nah, I can’t,” she said.

“Weston, too. Both of you should come with me.”

Becky really was scared. She had to be, to invite Weston. The two of them had never been able to stand each other. JoAnn felt a wave of love for her sister.

“There’s something wrong, Jo. I feel it. Something bad’s going to happen.”

It already did.

“I’m serious!” Becky said angrily, reacting to the expression on JoAnn’s face. She was starting to sound like her normal self. “Despite what you think, I’m not some flake. I don’t go around…I don’t do stuff like this. But it’s like…like…like one of those people who has a premonition, who tells everyone to stay off the plane and then the flight goes down, killing them all. I can feel it, Jo. Something’s wrong here!” She seemed almost ready to cry.

JoAnn put an arm around her sister’s shoulder. “Maybe you should go back,” she said. “If you feel this strongly, it’s probably not a good idea to stay.”

“What about you?”

JoAnn thought about it, and despite her sister’s fears, despite what had happened on New Year’s Eve, she actually felt…better. In fact, she felt more optimistic than she had in months. Both personally, with Weston, and at work, things were going well. Very well. And she expected them to improve even more. New Year’s Eve had been horrifying, but it was as though that had acted as some sort of catalyst. That had been the low point and now things were looking up. As strange as it might seem, as illogical as it was, she felt happy, happier than she could remember being in a very long time.

“Well?” Becky demanded.

JoAnn smiled at her sister, gave her a big hug. “Call me when you get home.”





TEN




Ross was in Lita’s kitchen, borrowing milk for the Pasta Roni he planned to make for lunch, when the phone rang. He debated whether or not he should answer, but it could be Lita or Dave. It might even be an emergency. They might be stranded on the highway somewhere. Maybe they’d tried to call his cell or the line in the shack and been unable to reach him.

He picked up the phone. “Hello?”

“Hello. Is this Ross?”

He didn’t recognize the woman’s voice. “Yes,” he said.

“This is Jill. From the farmer’s market?”

“Oh, hi!” Ross was happier to hear from her than he was willing to admit. He’d thought about her several times over the past two days, and he’d found himself hoping that he’d see her at the market next week. While they hadn’t exchanged phone numbers, she obviously knew Lita’s, and he was impressed that she’d made the effort to call him.

“Are you busy?” she asked.

“No, not at all.”

“Do you have time to talk?”

“Sure.” He put the milk back in the refrigerator.

“I mean tonight.”

He smiled. “Are you asking me out on a date?”

“I guess I am.”

Ross thought about that for a second. He didn’t recall seeing any restaurants, and there definitely wasn’t a movie theater in Magdalena. “Is there anywhere around here to go on a date?”