“What’s up?” I ask him.
“McKay and I are going into New Orleans for the night. So, Nick’s in charge.”
I make a face at Nick. Nick just stares back at me, blank.
“Don’t make that face,” Adam cautions. “Someone needs to be in charge, so it’s Nick.”
I force myself to smile and aim my response at Nick. “Fine with me. We’re going into town.”
“For lunch or something?” Adam asks.
“Yep.”
“What about Maggie?”
“This is a grown-up lunch. She’ll understand, won’t she? Besides, she looks like she’s having fun with Sasha. But if you want me to bring her along—”
“No.” Adam’s response is immediate and expected. “But what about Sasha and Merc?”
“What about them? Am I a babysitter or something? Aren’t they gonna be busy with Donovan and Doc, anyway?”
“Does the word ‘polite’ mean anything to you, Indie Anna?”
I smile again. “It’s supposed to be a double date, and they’re not dating, last I heard. But fine with me. I’ll invite them along if it makes you happy. What time are you leaving?”
Adam’s eyes wander in the direction of McKay’s workshop. “Four-ish, I think.”
“OK.” Then I redirect my attention to Nick. “So. Since we’re all being polite here, I suppose I should ask you instead of telling you. Would you and Wendy like to go to town with us on a double date, Nick Tate?”
Nick’s eyes wander in the direction of Wendy on the porch. “Maybe. I’ll ask Wendy.”
“She already said yes. Like I said, I’m just being polite.”
We all take a moment to practice our own individual versions of polite smiles. We pretend like this isn’t awkward. That this trip to town really is about double-dating. Then Nate pulls on my hand and we continue our walk back to the house. Nick doesn’t follow right away. I can hear him whispering to Adam, then Adam’s hushed response.
“They’re up to something,” Nate says.
“They always are, Nathan. They always are.”
Merc and Sasha do not want to go into town. They are, just as I predicted, preoccupied with thoughts of Donovan. Maggie is enamored with the great Sasha Cherlin.
There’s a part of me that’s jealous about this new fascination, but then again, I don’t actually want Maggie to come to town with us, so I table that jealousy for another time.
Nathan, Nick, Wendy, and I all pile into my truck. Nate drives.
It’s a quiet ride and while most people might find this awkward, we do not. I don’t know Nick Tate at all and even though I’ve known Wendy a long time, I don’t know her well either. But Nathan and I are introspective people who enjoy the quiet. We enjoy sharing each other’s company in silence.
So the drive into Pearl Springs gives me time to think and no one seems inclined to force a conversation. If Nick and Wendy are the vagabond travelers they claim to be, then it makes sense. And while Nathan and I aren’t wayward in that respect, we like our drives to be introspective as well.
Donovan’s office is above a print shop in the old downtown. Rather, what used to be a print shop once upon a time. For as long as I’ve been coming into this town it’s been closed. Not shut down, exactly. Just… never open.
Which is a little bit weird now that I think about it.
But then Nathan is pulling in to a parking space out front and Nick says, “What are we doing?”
“This is it, right?” Nathan asks me.
“Yep. This is it.”
“This is what?” Nick asks.
I turn around in my seat so I can see him. “This is Donovan’s office. After I came home last spring, he decided to stay with us instead of going back to LA or whatever. And he wanted an office space in town to do work.”
“You didn’t answer the question,” Wendy says.
“Don’t you guys want to look around?”
“Haven’t you already looked around?” Nick asks.
“Sure,” Nathan says. “We’ve torn the place apart. But we didn’t find anything.”
“Well, what were you looking for?” Wendy asks.
“Tapes,” I say. “When I was a kid—well, all growing up, actually—Donovan did sessions with me and he taped them. I have those. But there are some missing. I listened to every single one a couple months ago when Adam first got back. McKay and I both did. And I didn’t notice it at the time, but there are gaps. At first, I thought maybe my memory wasn’t so great because… well, my memory has a tendency to take on a life of its own. So I went over them again and I’m positive that there are days missing.”
“What makes you so sure?” Nick asks.
“Because when Donovan came to interview me after a job, he did two interviews each time. One right when he arrived. Then another just before he left. It was a rare occasion that he left before doing a second interview. And his excuse was that he always had to get back to wherever he was at the time. School, or work, or whatever. I can count on two hands the number of times he did that over the years. Each instance is clear in my mind and I know what you’re gonna say.” I put a hand to hush up Nick’s objection. “You’re gonna say, ‘Your memory ain’t so great, Indie.’ And while that is true, I’ve double-checked them all with Nate.”