There was a silence as the zone along the window-pane hummed where the pink room met the blue sea. The onyx birds turned slowly.
My eyes burned and my heart was trying to hide. Or was it trying to be found?
Donna’s voice was a whisper.
“I’m sorry for you, Terry. And for Matthew, too.”
I couldn’t speak right then. I heard the faint sound of the Virginia hollows in her voice and I believed for a moment that I was back in one of them, surrounded by green hills, a continent away from the Pacific I love and hate.
“You’ve never told anyone?”
“Ardith.”
“You’re a magnificent and stubborn man.”
“Now you.”
“Yes. Now me.”