Page 84 of Fever Dream

There was a hard pause.A dead silence.The line went quiet for so long I felt as though I might have imagined there was anyone on the other end at all.I will him to say something,anything.This call is costing me a fortune and I need to go soon.

“I suppose you’re going to have to come for a visit,” he said, finally.

“A visit?”

“I’m in Santa Catarina.”

I didn’t know where Santa Catarina was, and I was too embarrassed to ask.I just knew I wouldn’t be driving there, so it really didn’t matter.

He seemed to read my mind.“Santa Catarina is off the southern coast of Brazil.”

“Oh,” I said.“That’s very kind of you—the offer to visit.But I have children, and Brazil is quite far.”

“Elizabeth told me to tell you that you promised.”

I wondered when she said this.If it was even me or some hypothetical person she’d made this agreement about.I thought about Dr.Branson at that moment, and I wondered if her favors earned her phone privileges.She never said.

“I’ll keep your number,” I said.“Just in case.Maybe it’ll be better in the summer.”

“Tell you what,” he offered.“Give me your information, and I’ll make all the arrangements.”

“I don’t even know you.”

“Yeah,” he laughed.“Well, let’s just say you weren’t the only one to make Elizabeth promises.”

So,I do go to Santa Catarina.Which is where I am now.

It’s my first time leaving the US, and Santa Catarina is every bit as lovely as the travel agent assured me it would be.

We plan to stay for two weeks, and I wonder if maybe I’ll get back here someday, if the children and I could make a home in this town.It seems very far down the road, though not entirely impossible.Elizabeth’s money has afforded me a new life.A verydifferentlife.

Robert Fisher is everything and nothing I expect.The connection is instant, and it makes me miss Elizabeth in an entirely new way.He tells me stories the way she did, and it’s easy to see why Elizabeth thought we should meet.

It’s not love at first sight like it was with Charles, but perhaps you only get one love like that per lifetime.Robert is kind, and he’s good with my children, and that’s exactly what I need at the moment.

So, near the end of our trip, when he looks at me and says, “Stay awhile,” I am not really that surprised.

I like that it’s not a question.

He offers me a drink and says, “Let’s see how this goes.”

So I do.

And so it goes.