Mind Games

“Told you I’d find a way.”

As lightning split the sky, Bunk charged. Riggs lifted the gun.

Thea fired first.

And woke not in her bed, but standing at the open kitchen door on a calm, clear night. She held on to relief that her hands were empty, and her garden was undamaged. No fox in the coop, no blood on the ground.

She stood, rubbing her thumb on the acupressure point to counter the headache. Because her breath whistled in and out, she continued to stand until she could control it again.

“We’re all right.” She laid a hand on Bunk’s head. “We’re okay. He wanted to see what I’d do, that’s what this was. But he doesn’t really know, does he? He can get inside my head, but he doesn’t really know me, and can’t understand there’s nothing, just nothing, I wouldn’t do.”

She stepped back, and though she rarely did so, locked the door. Then went through her home to lock all the others.

Work helped. Though she wasn’t ready to dig deep into her new concept, she worked with teams on other projects. Her garden provided a bounty that filled her pantry with colorful jars, allowed her to share the rest.

She had visits with a little boy who whisked away shadows, and time with a man who could make her forget there’d ever been shadows.

With summer behind her, she prepared for fall and winter. She stocked and stacked wood for the fires she’d burn on those cool nights. She planted garlic, more carrots, scallions, and a host of vegetables she’d harvest through late fall and into winter.

She dug in pansies and violas to give her cheer and color when her summer blooms faded away.

Because she knew he’d enjoy it, she took pansies down the lane for Bray to plant. Ty stood on the porch watching as Bray dug in the dirt.

“Isn’t it a little late to plant flowers?”

“Not pansies,” Thea told him. “They like it cool. They can bloom right through winter if they’re happy enough.”

“They’re smiling.”

“They are.” She ran a hand over Bray’s hair. “Now whenever you leave for school or come back home, they’ll be here smiling at you.”

“We did shapes today. Square, rectangle, triangle, circle—I like circles best ’cause they go round and round. Hexagon, octagon, pentagon, pyramid. I got a sticker. Can I put the flower in now?”

“Almost, just a little deeper. You want the roots to take hold and spread.”

“Can you move them in the spring?” Ty asked her. “If we widened the porch?”

He’d said spring, not Christmas, and Thea kept her eyes on Bray’s hand.

“Pansies go leggy in the summer. They don’t like the heat. You can plant new ones in early spring. You made a fine home for this one, Bray. Let’s put it in.”

“We’re going to fly on a plane next week,” he told her as he pushed and patted dirt.

“You are?” Now she looked up at Ty.

“Professional day at school next Friday. I have some business in Philadelphia, so we’re taking off Thursday after school. We’ll be back Sunday afternoon.”

“That’s exciting.”

“I’m going to see Nana and Pop, and I get my birthday present.”

“Even more exciting.”

“And when we get back, in … how much?”

“A couple weeks.”

“A couple weeks, I’m having a birthday party. You can come, and Grammie and Rem. Rem’s funny.”