Linkage: The Narrows of Time (9 page)

Drew wasn’t sure what to say next, so he just
smelled his cup of steaming java, hoping she might continue the
conversation. The coffee blend had an enjoyable aroma. If it tasted
as good as it smelled, he might actually like it. He took a sip.
God, it was nasty. He wanted to spit it back into the cup, but
didn’t. Abby loved this place—he needed to play along. He smiled at
her, then sucked in another mouthful. The java was scorching hot,
burning the roof of his mouth.

“Do you like it? It’s my favorite,” she
said.

“Yes. It’s delicious.” He tore open and
dumped four packs of sugar into it. He took another drink,
wondering if he could ever get used to the disgusting taste. “Hmmm.
They sure make good coffee here.”

“Yeah, I come here all the time. It’s always
packed. Did you have any trouble getting here?”

“No, I took the shuttle. It dropped me off a
block away.”

“Lucas didn’t drive you?”

“No, we don’t have a car. But the shuttle’s
pretty handy. Not expensive either.”

“Do you live close by?”

“We’re just north of Speedway, in an old
apartment building that Dr. Kleezebee owns.”

“He owns an apartment building? I never would
have guessed that.”

“Don’t let his appearance fool you,
Kleezebee’s loaded.”

“Seriously? Dr. Kleezebee?”

“It’s true. Have you’ve seen those BTX
Enterprises signs all over town?”

“Yeah, they’re everywhere.”

“Well, Kleezebee owns that company.”

“Isn’t BTX building the new Atlantis World
Mall, halfway between here and Phoenix?”

Drew nodded. “I can’t wait to see it. It’s
going to be the world’s largest indoor mall. Kleezebee told me
they’re building a really cool science exhibit for the kids, too. I
hope it includes a telescope for some decent night viewing. The
kids will love that. I just wish it was closer.”

“Is your apartment nice?”

“Not really. It’s old and small. But
Kleezebee let’s us live there for free.”

“That’s very generous of him,” she replied
with a surprised look on her face.

“He does that for a lot of his staff. Bruno
and Trevor live in our complex, too. Kleezebee even keeps a place
there, though I’m not sure why. He’s never there. I think he sleeps
in his office.”

“He wears a wedding ring. I take it he’s
married?” she asked.

“Yeah, but I don’t think anyone’s ever seen
her. I’ve been in his office and his apartment, but there’re no
photos of her anywhere. I’m not sure what the deal is.”

Drew looked beyond Abby at the checkout
counter along the back wall of the Wildcat House. A
broad-shouldered man with a Mohawk haircut was standing in line,
talking to two female students in front of him. Drew recognized
him. It was the tallest rugby player from the altercation in the
cafeteria—the same one that shoved his wheelchair across the room.
His heart raced and he started to sweat. Not now, he thought. Not
in front of Abby. He should have insisted that Lucas join them for
coffee.

“Is it a two-bedroom?” Abby asked.

Drew slumped down in his chair and leaned to
his right, using Abby’s head as a shield. If the jerk turned his
way, maybe he could hide himself from view.

“Did you hear me?” she asked.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?”

“Is your apartment a two-bedroom?”

“No, it’s only a one. Lucas and I share a
room, just like we did as kids. What about you?”

“I live in Cochise Hall. It’s just on the
other side of the science lab.”

Drew took a full bite of the chocolate
muffin, and washed it down with another sip of the revolting
coffee. His throat wasn’t working properly, making it difficult to
swallow. If he choked or coughed, the rugby player might notice
him. He took another sip to wash down the muffin, but he could feel
a cough coming. He used his shirtsleeve to cover his mouth and
muffle the sound. It worked.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

It took a few moments to get his voice
working. “I’m fine. Just went down the wrong pipe.”

“I have a roommate, too. Her name’s Jasmine.
She’s a pre-med student from Colorado. She’s really nice and we get
along great. Her dad’s in the military, I think. I’ve never met
him, but he calls occasionally. They seem close.”

“Are you from Colorado, too?”

“I’m from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.”

Drew was not much of a sports fan, but felt
confident he could fake it. “Oh, yes, the home of the Packers and
the Wisconsin Badgers. Do you get home much?”

“Only during the summer when I can drive back
home. It’s too expensive to fly over the Christmas break.”

Cool, Drew thought. She’ll be on campus over
the break, too. He won’t have to wait long for another date.
Hopefully, she’ll want another date. Just keep the conversation
moving, he thought—no awkward pauses. “My Mom lives up in Phoenix.
Usually she drives down and picks us up for the holiday, but she
had heart surgery recently and can’t drive. So we plan to stay here
and work on our project over the break.”

“Is she okay?”

“Yeah, she’s doing great. The neighbor lady
watches her. She hopes to be back at work soon.”

Drew glanced at the counter. The rugby player
was still chatting with the girls in line. So far, so good, except
now his stomach was turning flips. He might need to make a run for
the bathroom, soon. Not a bad idea, he thought. It would make a
good place to hide—for a while a least. But what happens if that
guy follows him into the restroom? He would be cornered, alone, and
helpless. He decided to remain where he was—plenty of other people
around.

“What’s your mom do?”

“She’s a Mathematics professor at Paradise
Community College, in Phoenix.”

“And your Dad?”

“He died two years ago.”

She reached over and squeezed his hand. “I’m
so sorry, Drew. I didn’t know.”

“It’s okay. How could you?”

She rubbed her soft forefinger across the top
of his hand. He looked at her and she smiled back with a glaze of
tears in her eyes.

“Dad went into the hospital one day for a
routine test, and never came out. They were doing an angiogram on
his neck and something went wrong. We never really got the whole
story.”

“You must really miss him.”

Drew stared into his coffee while swirling it
around with a thin, red straw. He looked up, but couldn’t see the
bully through Abby’s head. “Yeah, very much. Besides my brother, he
was my best friend. We used to spend all day working on his
inventions in the shop. Those were great times.”

“Your dad was an inventor?”

“Well, he tried to be, but he never really
had much success. He did come up with this cool, self-cleaning
toilet, but nobody was interested. I guess electricity and bowel
movements weren’t meant to go together.”

She laughed.

“Dad’s best invention was a sonic pest
control system. He even found investors for it, but the EPA chased
them away when their field testing showed it liquefied dog
brains.”

“Gross,” she said, slurping from her cup. “Do
you ever think about continuing his work?”

”Never really thought about it. But I guess I
could. All his equipment is still in the garage back home. After he
died, Mom couldn’t bear to part with any of it.” He thought he was
talking too much about himself. “Are your parents back in
Wisconsin?”

Her smile vanished and her shoulders slumped.
“They passed away my senior year in high school. I miss them so
much.”

Drew tried to respond, but the words ran dry.
He wanted to comfort her, but he didn’t know if he should hold her
hand or give her a hug. He did neither. He felt useless.

Abby wiped a tear from her cheek. “Mom died
from colon cancer. Dad passed away in his sleep six months later. I
think he died of a broken heart. They were together almost forty
years.”

“I guess that’s pretty common when you’ve
been married a long time,” he said with a soft tone in his voice.
“Sounds like they loved each other very much.”

A smile washed over Abby’s lips. She nodded
quickly. The joy returned to her eyes.

Drew took another swig of coffee. It didn’t
taste quite as bad this time, still wasn’t pleasant, but at least
he no longer wanted to spit it out. “Any other family?”

“I was an only child, just like my mom and
dad. No aunts or uncles, either.”

“Yeah, me too. It’s just me, Lucas, and Mom .
. . Oh, and Grandpa Roy. But we never see him anymore after we
almost had to call the police on him.”

“What happened?”

“It was Thanksgiving—four years ago.
Everything was going along just fine until Roy decided to open a
second jug of wine. It wasn’t long before he and Dad were totally
sloshed, and then all hell broke loose. They started cussing and
shoving each other, then Roy took a swing at my dad. Next thing I
know, they’re beating the crap out of each other and Mom is
screaming at them to stop. Lucas jumped in to break it up, but he
took one in the jaw—knocked him out cold. That’s when the fight
stopped on its own.”

“What started it?”

“Seems like every time Roy stayed with us,
he’d harp endlessly on Dad about getting a real job. He didn’t
agree with Dad being an inventor and working from home. He thought
the husband’s place was to go off to work, while the wife stayed
home and pumped out a gaggle of kids. Dad got tired of it and said
something he shouldn’t have.”

“I can see why he’s not welcome anymore.”

“Roy’s a high-ranking Army intelligence
officer and moves around a lot. I think he’s back east somewhere
right now. The last time we saw him was at Dad’s funeral. He
arrived late and sat in the back of the church. He left before the
service was over.”

“That’s too bad. Family’s important and you’d
think he would want to stay in touch, especially after your dad
died.”

“Actually, he and Lucas are talking secretly
via email. I stumbled across a few undeleted emails in Lucas’ spam
folder last week. He doesn’t know I know, so don’t say
anything.”

“I won’t,” Abby said. “Have you ever thought
about calling him?”

“To be honest, never. He and I have nothing
in common. I’m into science and he’s career military. Lucas is into
all that stuff, but I could care less.”

“You and Lucas seem to get along well.”

“Yeah, I don’t know what I would do without
him,” Drew said, missing his brother more than ever at that moment.
He checked the counter line again. A painful beating stood only a
few feet away from him and he had nowhere to run.

“I take it you’re older than him?” Abby
asked.

“A lot of people think that. Actually, he’s
six months older than me.”

“You guys look so different.”

“That’s because he’s Irish and I’m Italian.
I’m sure Dr. Kleezebee didn’t tell you . . . but we’re
adopted.”

“Oh, that makes sense. I thought you were
fraternal twins or something.”

“I’m sure a lot of people think we’re
brothers from a different mother, which of course we are, just not
in the way they think. But we don’t go around advertising.”

“I don’t blame you. It’s really nobody’s
business, including mine.”

“Its okay, Abby. I want you to know . . .
everything.”

She smiled.

“The state put us together as roommates when
we were six years old. Lucas barely said anything to me the first
month. But he finally came around. I guess I grew on him. We’ve
been best friends ever since.”

“So your parents adopted both of you,
together?”

“Yeah, we were a package deal.” Drew checked
the counter again—the miscreant was next in line at the cash
register. He thought about faking an excuse to go home, but didn’t
want to leave Abby there all alone. What if the rugby player tried
to hit on her? Or worse, spotted him leaving and followed him
outside.

The Rugby player opened his wallet and handed
a few bills to the checkout girl who was chewing gum and blowing
six-inch pink bubbles with it. Drew’s heart sank. It wouldn’t be
long before Mr. Mohawk spotted him. Sweat dripped from Drew’s
temples and his hands were shaking. He decided to roll up his
sleeves to expose his biceps. They were still pumped up from that
morning’s pushups and might be enough to dissuade the troublemaker
from stopping at their table. It was a long shot, but it was the
only idea he could muster.

“Wow, you have really strong arms,” Abby said
with a curious look on her face.

Drew felt blood swelling in his cheeks and
forehead, certainly turning his face a beet-red color. He was
worried that she might think he was showing off. “Uh . . . yeah,
it’s a little hot in here with all the coffee and stuff. I’m still
a little sweaty from my workout this morning. I hope I don’t
smell.”

She touched his hand, again. “Sweetie, you
smell really nice.”

“Thanks, I was a little worried there for a
moment.” Drew dabbed and wiped the sweat off his face with the
folded, red napkin sitting in front of him on the table.

She smiled back at him. “Can I ask you
something? You don’t have to answer this if you don’t want to.”

“No, go ahead. Ask me anything.”

“How did Lucas get that horrible scar on his
face?”

Drew laughed. “Which one?”

Abby pointed to her right cheek, just under
her eye. “The big one. It must have hurt.”

“That came from this boy, crazy Dave, who
never stopped picking on us in the orphanage. He was a lot older
than we were, but it didn't seem to matter. One day, when Lucas was
protecting me, the kid picked up a piece of broken glass and
stabbed Lucas in the face. Cut him all the way to the bone. It took
sixty-three stitches to sew him up. Thank God this skinny,
redheaded man jumped in to stop it. He held on to Dave until the
police showed up and took him to juvy.”

“It must have been awful growing up in that
place.”