Drue woke up, gasping for air, her body slick with sweat. She clawed at a clammy sheet that seemed to be dragging her back down beneath the surface of the water. “No, no, no,” she heard herself whimper.

Freed of the sheet, she pushed herself up to a sitting position on the sofa, her chest heaving, pulse pounding. She fumbled around on the coffee table, found her phone, thumbed the home button. It was 2:15 A.M. There would be no more sleep tonight. She could never resume sleeping after the dream descended upon her in the night, which it did regularly.

She walked stiff-legged to the kitchen, found the bag of frozen peas in the freezer, and limped back to the sofa, where she extended her right knee and applied the makeshift ice pack.

She reached for the phone, scrolling through the list of contacts until she found his number, which he’d insisted on typing into it.

“No.” Drue shook her head. She shoved the phone under the sofa cushion. Ten minutes later, she sighed and dug the phone out from its hiding place.

She tapped the text message into the phone. Hey Dad. About that job?

3

“This is a terrible idea,” Drue muttered, as she approached the green stucco bungalow housing the law offices of Campbell, Coxe and Kramner. Several other homes on the quiet, tree-shaded street had also been converted to commercial space. She’d spotted a dentist’s office, a title search company and three other law firms as she walked down the block from the bus stop, searching for the address Brice Campbell had texted her.

Their Friday-morning conversation had been brief. “You changed your mind!” Brice said when he called. “I mean, I’m glad, but frankly, I’m surprised.”

“Me too,” Drue told him. “Change of circumstances. So, when would you want me to start?”

“The sooner the better,” Brice said. “As I said, we’re shorthanded and about to roll out a new ad campaign. Could you start Monday?”

“Why not? Uh, what about the cottage? Is it okay for me to go ahead and move in? I mean, you did say it’s mine.”

He hesitated. “It’s yours, free and clear, but I don’t think you want to stay there right away. I did tell you it’s a wreck. But I guess you could stay with me until you’ve gotten the place cleaned up.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Never gonna happen, Drue told herself. “But tell me about the job, okay?”

“Sure. We’ll start you off as an intake clerk on the Justice Line. We can discuss salary when you get into town, but I assure you, it’ll be much more than you’ve been making waitressing. We have to be competitive to get the best kind of employees. You’ll have full medical and dental benefits, of course.”