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Andrew didn’t answer He yanked on a pair of pants, then sat on the end of the mattress to pull on his socks and shoes His shirt wasn’t buttoned as he stalked past her, toward the door

"Where are you going?" Leah asked, running after him Tears blurred her eyes and it was difficult to speak normally

"Out"

"Andrew," she cried, "please wait"

His hand was on the door, his back to her

"Don’t go You’re right I’m sorry, so sorry Please"

His shoulders rose and then relaxed For the longest ti--she knew she wasn’t The only sound in the rooled not to weep

"I won’t be gone long," he said, opening the door and walking out

Leah flinched when the door closed, the sound exploding in the otherwise quiet room She pressed a hand to her flat sto to be physically sick

How long she stood there, paralyzed with pain, she didn’t know She couldn’t guess After a while she turned and headed for their bedrooe of her ht stand and reached for the te at them, her eyes filled with tears After a moment, she walked into the kitchen Her feet felt heavy and ainst the floor as she listlessly made her way across the other rooe co with the spiral pad, Leah felt as if she were throwing away her dreams

It took her a mo breath and reached for a dirty plate from their breakfast She rinsed it off and blindly stacked it into the dishwasher

Chet wasn’t anywhere in the audience, at least not where Monica could see hih her as she looked out over the crowd of Christmas shoppers from her stance on the top riser She hadn’t approved of this Sunday afternoon outing To her way of thinking a performance on Sunday wasn’t proper for Christians The way she interpreted the Bible, the Sabbath was a day of rest Those who opted to spend their ti the observance of the Lord’s day She’d tried to reason with her father and Michael when they’d first planned this performance weeks earlier, but her objection had been overridden Her father had claie of love and joy As usual, Monica had no argument

Now she was pleased it had been overridden because it gave her an opportunity to see Chet again--if she did It didn’t feel good to ad herself She needed to see hiain, just once more, to banish hi between theh Monica was preoccupied searching the sea of faces for Chet’s No doubt he was entertaining himself in the Blue Goose, the bar he chose to frequent It would serve hiht in there and demanded to talk to him She could e away from the others, however, proved to be more difficult than she anticipated

"Are you co?" Michael asked her He was tall and so thin the first thing she thought of whenever they met was that someone should feed him

Monica looked up at hi to the conversation and hadn’t a clue what he was talking about

"To Sherry’s," he elaborated when she didn’t respond right away "She’s invited the ensemble over for hot cider and cookies"

"I" Her gaze darted to the Blue Goose "I have an errand to run first, but I’ll be there shortly"

"An errand," Michael repeated "Don?"

She said in a no-nonsense tone, grateful he didn’t quiz her about what she was doing, especially in light of her earlier protests about abusing the Lord’s day "I won’t be longyou go on ahead with the others I’ll be at Sherry’s within the hour"

"Youback with everyone else?"

The man seemed to have a comprehension problem "Yes," she said forcefully "I already explained I have an errand I need to run" Then feeling "

"Perhaps we should wait for you"

"No," she said quickly She could well i into a tavern "I appreciate the offer, but that isn’t necessary"

Michael looked as if he weren’t sure what he should do, which only served to irritate her further "Perhaps I should stay with you"

"Michael, please, that isn’t necessary" The ravated her so much she was barely civil "I’ll see you within the hour" Not waiting for any further arguments, she turned and abruptly walked across the street to the Westlake Mall

The croere thick and thecertain none of the other choir ered, she walked purposefully toward the Blue Goose

Her hand was on the door when she realized what she was doing She illing to walk into an establishment that practiced iniquity in the lowest forhts fro with her