Under the covers in his shorts, his stump washed and rebandaged, JJ felt much better. Leaning back on the mountain of pillows Lissa had piled up for him, he reflected that there was something about the pillows in Grandma’s house that made them seem softer, and cleaner, than pillows anywhere else in the world. He had always thought so, but now that he’d seen so much of the world, he could say so with certainty. This room in the front of the house had a nice view of the river through the treetops, too, just like his old upstairs room back at his mom and dad’s.

“I think you should stay off your leg for a little while,” Elissa said, stowing his Navy leg away in the closet. “Maybe a day. Just to give it a chance to rest.”

“Hey, I wasn’t even going to put that damn thing on until you made me,” JJ said. “It’s a temporary one and hardly fits right, anyhow. I would’ve been just fine on my crutches. Can I get a cigarette?”

She shut the closet door, went over to where his jacket hung on the back of the chair, and found a pack of Lucky Strikes in his pocket. She handed him the pack and his lighter. “Nevertheless,” she said.

He lit a cigarette and took a long, comforting drag of it, set the pack and lighter on the bedside table. He looked at his sister through the smoke. “All right,” he told her. “I’ll stay off it. Guess I’ll just stay the night here. Grandma won’t mind.”

“Thank you.”

He laughed, smoked. Just then, the sound of knocking on the front door reverberated through the house.

Elissa went white. “Can I have one of your cigarettes?” she said.

“Go ahead,” he said. “I didn’t know you smoked.”

“I don’t,” she said, snatching the pack and lighter off the table, pulling out a cigarette and putting it between her lips. “I’m starting right now.” She lit it, puffed, started coughing.

He burst out laughing.

She puffed again, and this time was able to stifle her cough. “Don’t laugh at me. I’m going through a very difficult time.”

“Yeah,” JJ said, “me with my one leg, that’s a piece of cake. You with your two fiancés, that’s the real trouble.”

She took another puff. Smoke trickled out her nose, the corners of her mouth. “I’m going to take this up,” she said.

He laughed, then said, “Come on, Liss. You know you’ve got to tell him.”

She walked away and turned to look out the window. “I know,” she said. “But—” She took another drag on the cigarette, and coughed.

“Christ,” JJ sighed.

When she turned to face him, tears glistened in her eyes. “I know it sounds crazy, but I don’t know if I can.”

Chapter 54