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In Your Dreams: excerpt

Page 2 of 8 - first draft

"Angry?" I was taken aback by the question, which was silly because that was probably the emotion that best described our encounter. She'd been angry with Adam and blamed him for causing the accident. She'd been angry with me when she'd caught me snooping among Jon's things. I wanted to say that she'd been stricken and stoic, that we'd shared a kind of bond caused by our coma bereavements, but it would have been untrue. And I knew that Jon would see through my white lies. "Yes, she was," I conceded, wondering how he'd guessed. "Does she get angry a lot?"

He gave a rueful smile. "Only at me."

"That's not true," I said, as I overtook a yellow school bus. It was a funny hour for a school bus to be on the road, but I'd seen stranger things already so I hardly spared it a thought. "It turns out that she actually knows Adam. They work at the same company. I think you and my brother discovered this weird coincidence on the flight and he offered to give you a lift to Oxford. Does that ring any bells?"

"Adam works for Zardmann too?" Jon looked amused. "I honestly can't remember anything about the flight, but what you say makes sense. If he'd offered me a ride to Oxford, I would have taken it."

"Well, Adam would have offered," I said, a little too vehemently. Julia's diatribe against my brother still rankled. "Though Julia couldn't see the kindness. All she could see was you in a coma, and she blamed Adam. She said he was a law unto himself. She said -"

I swallowed down the emotions I could feel roiling inside. I was remembering not just what she'd said, but how she'd said it. She'd been biting and sarcastic. She'd aimed to hurt me. She was nothing like the girl who'd had to pluck up the nerve to speak to me at Logan Airport.

I tightened my grip on the steering wheel. In the rear view mirror, I could see the school bus receding. "I-I- couldn't understand how she could say such hurtful things when Adam is lying there in a coma, just like you are. Why did she do that?"

Jon bit his lower lip, deep in thought. I was drawn to that serious look of his, when he'd draw in his breath and weigh up my words. Watching the road was an irritating, but necessary distraction.

"Pain makes people do strange things," he said at last. "Things they later regret." His brown eyes met mine. "I know I have."