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Molly caught her bottom lip between her teeth and murmured, "She doesn't hit me anymore."
"You don't say."
There was a long pause. Molly picked at the corner of a lavender spiral notebook that had fallen out of her book bag. "You know I wasn't telling the truth about that, don't you?"
"You weren't?"
"She wouldn't—Phoebe wouldn't ever hit anybody."
The coach murmured something that sounded like, "Don't count on it."
"Pardon me?"
"Nothing. You go on with what you were saying."
Molly wasn't ready to comment further about her relationship with Phoebe. It was too confusing. Sometimes Phoebe acted as if she really liked her, but how could that be when Molly wasn't even nice to her? More and more lately she'd wanted to be nice, but then she'd remember that her father had loved only Phoebe, and any good feelings she had toward her older sister evaporated. She did like Coach Calebow, however. He was funny and nice, and he'd made the kids at school notice her. She and Jeff talked every day at their lockers.
"I'd like it if you'd stop by tonight," she said. "But I don't want to be in the way."
"Now how could a sweet young lady like you be in the way?"
"Well, if you're sure."
"I certainly am. When Phoebe gets home, tell her that I'll be dropping by whenever I can get away. Will that be okay?"
"That'll be fine."
"And if she says she's not letting me in the door, you tell her you invited me and she can't weasel out. See you tonight, Miz Molly."
"See you."
Dan hung up Phoebe's telephone. He grinned down at her from his comfortable perch on the corner of her desk. "I'm coming over with pizza tonight. Your sister invited me."
Phoebe concealed her amusement. "Is it possible for you to do anything in a straightforward fashion? When you walked in my office less than three minutes ago, did it occur to you to simply ask me directly if you could stop by instead of telephoning Molly?"
"As a matter of fact, it didn't occur to me."
"Maybe I don't want to see you."
"Of course you do. Everybody knows I'm irresistible to women."
"In your dreams, Tonto."
"What are you so grouchy about?"
"You know what time the plane landed. I had to be here for an eight o'clock meeting, and I've only had a couple of hours of sleep."
"Sleep is highly overrated."
"For you, maybe, but not for those of us who are real human beings instead of cleverly designed androids programmed to stay awake all the time."
He chuckled, and she dug in her drawer for the bottle of aspirin she kept there. She still couldn't believe what had happened between them last night in the plane. When he'd issued that silly ultimatum at the end, she hadn't been able to resist sparring with him, despite the fact that she should know enough by now not to fall into his games, let alone try to beat him at them. Still, she couldn't suppress the hope that last night had changed things between them.
He would never know what a precious gift he had given her. She was no longer afraid of sexual intimacy, at least not with him. Somehow this good-looking, cocky, Alabama bruiser had helped her reclaim her womanhood. If only she weren't so afraid that he was also going to break her heart into a million pieces.
He transferred himself from the corner of her desk to the nearest chair. "We've got some unfinished business to take care of. If you'll remember, we got distracted last night before we completed our discussion."
She busied herself with the cap of the aspirin bottle. "Damn. I can never get these things off. I hate safety caps."
