Part 44 (2/2)
”Yeah.” He scooted around in the bed and grimaced with the effort. ”You remember the last day? The last day we was together?”
Novalee nodded.
”You asked me if I wanted to feel the baby and you put my hand on your belly, but I said I didn't feel nothing. You said that if I tried, I could feel the heart.”
Can't you feel that tiny little bomp . . . bomp . . . bomp?
”I said I couldn't and tried to pull my hand back, but you wouldn't let me.”
Feel right there.
353.
”Your voice was so soft, just a whisper, but I heard what you said.”
That's where the heart is.
w.i.l.l.y Jack's face was streaked with tears, but he didn't wipe them away. ”I lied, Novalee. I lied to you.” His voice sounded heavy and tired. ”I said I couldn't feel it, but I did. I felt that baby's heartbeat. I felt it as sure as I could feel my own. But I lied.”
”Why?”
”Lord, I don't know. Why does anyone lie? 'Cause we're scared or crazy, maybe just 'cause we're mean. I guess there's a million reasons to lie, and I might've told that many . . . but none like that. I guess there's always that one lie we never get over.”
”What?”
”Oh, maybe you don't know about it yet. Maybe you never told a lie so big it can eat away a part of you.
”But if you ever do . . . and if you get lucky . . . you might get a chance to set it right. Just one chance to change it.
”Then it's gone. And it never comes again.”
”Deposit two dollars and seventy-five cents.”
Novalee fumbled eleven quarters into the slot, then pressed the receiver to her ear as the phone began to ring.
”Oh, please be there,” she whispered after she had counted three rings.
one lie we never get over On the fourth ring, she closed her eyes and ran her hand through her hair.
354.
just one chance to change it She twisted the phone cord so tightly around her hand that by the fifth ring, her fingers had turned white.
then it's gone . . .
After the sixth ring, she felt weak and leaned against the phone booth door.
and it never comes again Then she got lucky. He answered on the seventh ring.
”Chaucer's.”
When she heard his voice, her throat tightened, choking off breath, choking off sound.
”Chaucer's Book Store.”
She tried to say his name, but something hard knotted and swelled in the hollow below her throat.
Then he said, ”h.e.l.lo?”
She remembered dreams, bad dreams in which she would try to call for help, but the words would be tangled and trapped inside her.
”Well . . .” he said and she knew he was going to hang up.
She squeezed out a sound, more like a whimper than a word, but he heard it.
”I'm sorry. Can you speak up?”
Then something broke loose and his name tumbled out as she swallowed air and began to cry without sound.
”Novalee?”
”I . . . I called be . . . cause . . .” Her voice, broken with sobs, cracked the words in two.
355.
”What's wrong, Novalee? What is it?”
”Forney . . .”
”Is it Americus? Is she all right?”
Snuffling breath, Novalee managed to say, ”She's fine,” though the words sounded pinched and bent.
”Then what's the matter?”
Novalee could feel her heart quicken. Then, squeezed between convulsions of air, the words exploded from her lips.
”I lied, Forney.”
Seconds turned into lifetimes while Novalee strained to hear some sound . . . a whisper of voice, an embrace of breath.
”Oh, don't let it be too late, Forney. Please don't let it be too late.”
She prayed he was still on the line, prayed they were still connected.
”I lied to you . . . and I'm sorry.”
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