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"Are you wondering if it’ll bite you?" she once asked as he gazed at that shark Startled, Connor went a little bit red, as if he had been caught doing soed it off "Nah, I was just wondering when and why Roland got this stupid tattoo If I ever coot that particular brain cell,the conversation

If it weren’t for those daily leg otten about her coes aren’t the same They feel perfunctory now Like the only reason he’s there is because he made a promise to himself that he would be--not because he truly wants to be

Thinking about Connor makes her miss a chord--the same damn chord she missed at her life-or-death recital that left her on a bus, speeding her off to be unwound She growls, then takes her fingers off the keys and draws a deep breath Herbroadcast just as clearly as Radio Free Hayden

What bothers her most is that she cares Risa was always able to take care of herself, both physically and emotionally At the state home, either you developed several layers of personal ared? Was it when she was forced to playbeneath her to be unwound? Was it when she made the choice to accept a shattered spine, rather than having it replaced by the healthy spine of an Unwind? Or ainst all sense and reason, she had fallen in love with Connor Lassiter?

Risa finishes the sonata, because no , she cannot leave a piece of hts the dry, craggy terrain beneath her wheels and rolls toward a certain private jet

9 - Connor

Connor dozes in a chair that’s too coh to be fully asleep He’s jarred alert by a thud against the side of his jet By the time the second one comes, he realizes it’s off to his left By the tis at his plane

He looks out of a , but in the darkness he sees only his own reflection Another thud He cups his hands over his eyes, pressing his face against the glass The first thing he sees are the curved blue streaks reflectinganother rock, which hits right above the

"What the hell?"

He opens the hatch, hoping she’ll stop the barrage "What’s wrong? What’s happened?"

"Nothing," she says "I was just trying to get your attention"

He chuckles, not yet getting her frame of mind "There are better ways"

"Not lately"

Shea dirt clod that had her tilted at a slight angle "Not going to invite me in?"

"You’re invited You’re always invited"

"Well, then h he knows he’s going to regret saying it, he says it anyway "Maybe you should let someone carry you"

She rolls a bit closer but not enough to close the space between theh to oing on"

Risa ht now, but Connor is in noBam and John, he just wants to end this day and find drea

"What’s going on is that I’ to keep us all alive," he says with a little too much irritation in his voice, "and I don’t see that as a proble us alive Even when you’re not busy, you’re busy--and when you do actually talk to me, it’s all about the ADR, and how hard it is for you, and the weight of the world on your shoulders"

"Oh, for God’s sake, Risa, you are not the kind of fragile girl who needs a guy’s attention to feel whole"

Then the ain, and he can see tears glistening on her face "There’s a difference between needing attention and being intentionally ignored"

He opens his , but his brain fails hies, but she has already pointed out that even then, he’s mentally checked out

"It’s the wheelchair, isn’t it?"

"No!" he tells her "It has nothing to do with that"

"So you admit there’s a reason"

"I didn’t say that"