the Third Twin (1996)

“I’m attending a conference in Washington,” he said. “I rented a car and drove out here.”

“Want some coffee?”

“Sure.”

“Have a seat.” She put fresh coffee on.

He looked around. “Nice apartment.”

“Thanks.”

“Different.”

“You mean different from our old place.” The living room of their apartment in Minneapolis had been a big, untidy space full of overstuffed couches and bicycle wheels and tennis rackets and guitars. This room was pristine by comparison. “I guess I reacted against all that clutter.”

“You seemed to like it at the time.”

“I did. Things change.”

He nodded, and changed the subject. “I read about you in the New York Times. That article was bullshit.”

“It’s done it for me, though. I was fired today.”

“No!”

She poured coffee and sat opposite him and told him the story of the hearing. When she had finished he said: “This guy Steve—are you serious about him?”

“I don’t know. I have an open mind.”

“You’re not dating?”

“No, but he wants to, and I really like him. How about you? Are you still with Georgina Tinkerton Ross?”

“No.” He shook his head regretfully. “Jeannie, what I really came here to do is tell you that breaking up with you was the greatest mistake of my life.”

Jeannie was touched by how sad he looked. Part of her was pleased that he regretted losing her, but she did not wish him unhappy.

“You were the best thing that ever happened to me,” he said. “You’re strong, but you’re good. And you’re smart: I have to have someone smart. We were right for each other. We loved each other.”

“I was very hurt at the time,” she said. “But I got over it.”

“I’m not sure I did.”

She gave him an appraising look. He was a big man, not cute like Steve but attractive in a more rugged way. She prodded her libido, like a doctor touching a bruise, but there was no response, no trace left of the overwhelming physical desire she had once felt for Will’s strong body.

He had come to ask her to go back to him, that was clear now. And she knew what her answer was. She did not want him anymore. He was about a week too late.

It would be kinder not to put him through the humiliation of asking and being rejected. She stood up. “Will, I have something important to do and I have to run. I wish I’d got your messages, then we could have spent more time together.”

He read the subtext and looked sadder. “Too bad,” he said. He stood up.

She held out her hand to shake. “Thanks for dropping by.”

He pulled her to him to kiss her. She offered her cheek. He kissed it softly, then released her. “I wish I could rewrite our script,” he said. “I’d give it a happier ending.”

“Good-bye, Will.”

“Good-bye, Jeannie.”

She watched him walk down the stairs and out the door.

Her phone rang.

She picked it up. “Hello?”

“Getting fired is not the worst thing that can happen to you.”

It was a man, his voice slightly muffled as if he were speaking through something to disguise it.

Jeannie said: “Who is this?”

“Stop nosing into things that don’t concern you.”

Who the hell was this? “What things?”

“The one you met in Philadelphia was supposed to kill you.”

Jeannie stopped breathing. Suddenly she was very scared.

The voice went on: “He got carried away and messed up. But he could visit you again.”

Jeannie whispered: “Oh, God.…”

“Be warned.”

There was a click, then the dial tone. He had hung up.

Jeannie cradled the handset and stood staring at the phone.

No one had ever threatened to kill her. It was horrifying to know another human being wanted to end her life. She felt paralyzed. What are you supposed to do?

She sat on her couch, struggling to regain her strength of will. She felt like giving up. She was too bruised and battered to carry on fighting these powerful, shadowy enemies. They were too strong. They could get her fired, have her attacked, search her office, steal her E-mail; they seemed to be able to do anything. Perhaps they really could kill her.

It was so unfair. What right did they have? She was a good scientist, and they had ruined her career. They were willing to see Steve sent to jail for the rape of Lisa. They were threatening to kill her. She began to feel angry. Who did they think they were? She was not going to have her fife ruined by these arrogant creeps who thought they could manipulate everything for their own benefit and to hell with everyone else. The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. I won’t let them win, she thought. I have the power to hurt them—I must have, or they wouldn’t feel the need to warn me off and threaten to kill me. I’m going to use that power. I don’t care what happens to me so long as I can mess things up for them. I’m smart, and I’m determined, and I’m Jeannie Fucking Ferrami, so look out, you bastards, here I come.

41

JEANNIE’S FATHER WAS SITTING ON THE COUCH IN PATTY’S untidy living room, with a cup of coffee in his lap, watching General Hospital and eating a slice of carrot cake.