Magic Hour

The answering machine clicked on and she heard her own voice say cheerily: “You’ve reached Dr. Julia Cates. If this is a medical emergency, hang up and call 911. If not, please leave a message, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks and good-bye.”

There was a long beep.

Julia tensed. In the last months, most of her calls had come from reporters and victims’ families and straight-out kooks.

“Hey, Jules, it’s me. Your big sis. It’s important.”

Julia picked up the phone. “Hey, El.”

There was an awkward pause, but wasn’t that always the way it was between them? Though they were sisters, they were four years apart in age and light-years apart in personality. Everything about Ellie was larger than life—her voice, her personality, her passions. Julia always felt colorless beside her flamboyant Miss Popular sister. “Are you okay?” Ellie finally asked.

“Fine, thanks.”

“You got released from the lawsuit. That’s a good thing.”

“Yeah.”

There was another awkward pause, and then Julia said, “Thanks for calling, but—”

“Look, I need a favor.”

“A favor?”

“There’s a . . . situation up here. You could really help us out.”

“You don’t have to do it anymore, Ellie. I’m fine.”

“Do what?”

“Try to save me. I’m a big girl now.”

“I never tried to save you.”

“Yeah, right. How about when you got Tod Eldred’s little brother to ask me to the prom? Or when you brought all of your popular friends to my sixteenth birthday party?”

“Oh. That. Mom made me do all that stuff.”

“Do you think I don’t know that? None of your friends even talked to me at the party. And don’t get me wrong: I appreciated it. Then and now. But it’s not necessary. I’ll be fine.”

“I thought you said you were fine.”

Julia was surprised by the perceptiveness of her sister’s question. “Don’t worry about me, El. Really.”

“For a shrink, you’re a shitty listener. I’m telling you I need you in Rain Valley. Specifically, I need a child psychiatrist.”

“You’re older than I usually take.”

“Very funny. Will you fly up here? And I mean right now.” There was a pause, a rustling of paper on the other end of the line. “Alaska has a flight in two hours. Another one in three. I can have a ticket waiting for you.”

Julia frowned. This didn’t sound like the ordinary super-sister-saving-loser-sister scenario that had set like concrete in their school years. “Tell me what’s going on.”

“There isn’t time. I want you to catch the ten-fifteen flight. Will you trust me?”

Julia glanced out the huge floor-to-ceiling windows and tried to focus on the blue Pacific Ocean, but all she could really see were the yellow balls of paper that cluttered the deck floor.

“Jules? Please?”

“Why not?” Julia finally said.