Chapter One
With her pen standing in for a drumstick, Jenna Blake tapped out a light but rapid rhythm on the nearly blank sheet of notebook paper in front of her. The previous night, she and her roommate, Yoshiko Kitsuta, had been hanging out in Hunter LaChance's room. Hunter was Yoshiko's boyfriend, and they both insisted it was destiny that put them on the same floor in the same dorm their freshman year at Somerset University. The two had been a couple since the fall, and Jenna was almost willing to believe that maybe it really was destiny between them. The selfish part of her hoped so, because Yoshiko and Hunter were two of her closest friends, and if they broke up, it would ruin a very good thing.
Her pen rap-tapped on the notebook almost without her being consciously aware of it. But as she kept up the drumbeat, Jenna glanced down at her hand, wondering what the song was that she was so pitifully attempting to play. It might have been something from the new Blessid Union of Souls CD they'd all listened to in Hunter's room last night. Wherever the song had come from, a fragment of its melody had been stuck in her head all day, physical proof of how completely distracted she was.
But it wasn't just the song that was distracting her.
No, that had a lot more to do with the fact that this was her last class before spring break officially began.
And I could use some time away from here, she thought. Somewhere balmy and tropical.
Jenna recalled with a smile an old TV commercial from when she was a little girl, when a kid came in from playing in the snow and stood in the kitchen door looking pitiful. "Mom," the commercial kid said, "I need it bad." The "it" was a trip to Florida.
Jenna could totally relate.
Her left leg bounced rapidly up and down in time to the imaginary rhythm. With some effort, she dropped the pen, planted both feet firmly on the floor, and forced her attention back to Professor Fournier's lecture on sun imagery in Shakespeare's Richard III. It didn't take long for her to realize that -- today, anyway -- she wasn't even the slightest bit interested in what he had to say. All she could think about was that in less than twenty-four hours --
Twenty-four hours!
-- she and Yoshiko would be enjoying their own hot, tropical sun on Captiva Island.
Several weeks ago, Jenna's roomie had tossed out the suggestion that they go to the Gulf Coast of Florida for spring break. They had talked once about going to Hawaii, where Yoshiko's family still lived, but it was a much longer and more expensive trip, and they wanted to maximize their vacation time. On the other hand, the last thing they wanted was to hit Daytona Beach or somewhere else where college students flashed their bodies for MTV and drank till they puked. That was not the tropical paradise Jenna and Yoshiko had in mind. So, when Yoshiko had brought up the Gulf Coast, Jenna had jumped at the chance.
Then, almost immediately, she had begun to feel guilty about abandoning her job for more than a week. Leaving campus was one thing. She did have a paper to work on for her medical anthropology class, but she could do that wherever they were. "That's why God made laptops," she told Yoshiko.
But her job at Somerset Medical Center -- where she worked as a pathology assistant in the office of Dr. Walter Slikowski, the county medical examiner -- didn't just stop when spring break started. The guilt didn't last, though. Particularly once she thought about it and realized that the M.E. would probably fire her if she didn't take spring break for herself. Once she had agreed to go, she found that her excitement and anticipation grew with each passing day.
Now, just trying to get through the last session of her Shakespeare class before break made her feel as excited as an eight-year-old on Christmas Eve. She found that without realizing it, she had once again begun bouncing her legs and tapping her pen on her notebook. Jenna glanced at the clock on the wall and tried to imagine where she would be by this time tomorrow.
I'll be covered with sun block, sand, and salt water, that's where I'll be!
Out of guilt, she had insisted on working after classes today. Later on, she and Yoshiko would finish packing and then go to dinner with Hunter. Afterward, though, she planned to meet her friend Roseanne Kerner and hit a pre-break party at Delta Tau Delta. Jenna normally steered well clear of fraternity parties, but they were planning a clambake, and Roseanne had thought that might be fun. Jenna had her doubts, but it didn't matter. Just spending time with Roseanne was entertaining enough.
Secretly, she wished that her friend were coming along to Florida as well, but the trip had been Yoshiko's idea, and the two girls didn't really know each other, so Jenna didn't think it was her place to suggest it. Just as she had not invited Hunter and Yoshiko to come along to the DTD party. They would want some time to themselves anyway, and Jenna figured she had a whole week of hanging out with Yoshiko coming up. A night out being goofy with Roseanne was the perfect way to start her break.
Not too late a night, though. Jenna still had to make the flight out of Logan at eight-thirty the next morning, and she had to be up even earlier because she and Yoshiko were going to see Hunter off on his trip back home to New Orleans.
You're getting way ahead of yourself, Blake, she thought. You still have this class and a few hours at work to get out of the way.
Jenna was surprised to find herself thinking about school and work as something to "get out of the way." The truth was, she loved college. It had turned out to be even better than she had expected. The classes were fine...better than fine, actually, but it was her job assisting the county M.E. that most fascinated her. She was confident that she wanted to work in the field of forensics after she graduated.
But first she had to get through college and medical school, and that meant hanging in there for fifteen more minutes of Shakespeare before she was officially on vacation. The only thing putting a damper on her excitement about spring break was that leaving campus behind meant leaving Danny behind. Danny Mariano was a local police detective Jenna had met through her job with the M.E.'s office. Though he was thirty-two and she was only nineteen, Jenna had developed feelings for Danny.
Not that there was a lot she could do about them. In her secret heart, she wished that they could overcome the age difference and the fact that they really did exist in two separate worlds. But she knew it just wasn't meant to be. She just had to accept that they were destined to be what Shakespeare called "star cross'd lovers."
Or maybe she'd just been reading too much Shakespeare and should forget all about Danny for the next week. That's what spring break was for.
At the moment, though, forgetting Danny was impossible. Several weeks earlier, while working on a homicide investigation, he had been badly burned. He was currently in the rehabilitation unit that was part of Somerset Medical Center, and Jenna visited him often. Whatever other feelings she might have about him, he was her friend, and that was important to her.
Professor Fournier cleared his throat, interrupting her train of thought. And how dare he? We're only in the middle of his class. Jenna chuckled to herself.
"Well," the professor said, looking from one student's face to the next, "I can sense that most of you aren't exactly thrilled by this discussion. Spring is in the air, and you have things other than Shakespeare and Richard the Third on your minds."
When his eyes came to rest on Jenna, she squirmed guiltily in her seat.
"Go on," Professor Fournier said, clapping his hands together and then waving at them with a shooing motion. "Get out of here. I suspect it's too much to ask of you to finish reading the play over the week's break, but be warned." He shook a finger at them. "When you get back from spring break, we're diving into this play and -- I hope -- some of you will resurface. Go on. Enjoy."
There was a loud rustling of papers. Books were closed and slid into backpacks, and the students left the classroom in more of a hurry than usual. Jenna found herself at the front of the crowd, pushing out the door.
Outside, she drew to a stop in the middle of the walkway. Though it was April in New England, the day was surprisingly bright and warm -- a wonderful harbinger of spring. There were still a few traces of a late snowstorm on the ground, but the sky was a cloudless blue, and the air just smelled like spring. The sun beat down warmly on Jenna's upturned face as she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply.
Nice. But this is still New England. Tomorrow I'll be in Florida!
With a broad grin on her face, she started to hum the tune that had been stuck in her head all day and strode across campus toward the medical center, dreamily watching the hustle and bustle of students going back and forth.
By the time she crossed Carpenter Street and was on the grounds of the Somerset Medical School and SMC, she had finally gotten that song out of her head. But she kept singing. An old Barenaked Ladies tune, "Brian Wilson," had come to mind, and she bopped along with it as she went down the path in front of the medical center and then up to the second-floor administrative wing. She keyed the door lock and entered the M.E.'s office. Dr. Al Dyson was seated at his cubicle in the outer office. Dyson was the pathology resident currently working with Dr. Slikowski, whom they called Slick, though never to his face. Soft strains of Wynton Marsalis's sweet jazz music drifted through the half-opened door of Slick's interior office.
Dyson looked up at her with one eyebrow raised, his olive skin somehow seeming even darker than usual, as though he were angry. "What are you doing here?"
His tone and expression brought Jenna up short. "I -- ah, I thought I was scheduled to work until five."
She looked around when Slick's office door swung open, and he propelled his wheelchair into the outer office. He looked surprised, at first, to see her there. Then his features turned grim.
"Miss Blake, may I ask you a question?"
Jenna smiled a bit nervously and shrugged. "Sure."
He removed his glasses and regarded her tiredly. "How long do you think I could stand looking at you with such a pale complexion?"
Jenna was momentarily confused. Then Dyson snickered, and she caught on.
"What I mean," Slick continued as he replaced his glasses, "is that I don't need your services today, and I don't want to see you here again until you have a nice, dark tan."
"You mean I can go?"
Slick and Dyson exchanged amused glances.
"See?" the M.E. said. "I told you she was brilliant."
"When you're right, you're right," Dyson agreed. He turned to wink at Jenna.
"Now scoot before I change my mind," Slick told her.
Scoot, Jenna thought. Who says "scoot" anymore?
But that was part of Slick's charm. He was still in his forties, but his behavior sometimes made him seem much older.
Slick smiled. "I suspect that Dr. Dyson and I can hold this department together without you for a week. Do you think?"
"Probably not much longer than that, though," Dyson added dryly.
"True," Slick said, nodding sagely. "Not to put too fine a point to it, Jenna, but get out of here."
"You don't have to tell me twice."
"I already did," Slick said with an amused chuckle.
It was still early in the afternoon as Jenna walked down the corridor to the bank of elevators. Gotta see Danny before I leave, she thought, feeling a lingering trace of sadness as she rode silently up to rehab.
Jenna shook herself and forced a smile onto her face as the elevator slowed to a stop. Danny was going to be all right. A few scars on his throat and abdomen, but all in all, things could have been much, much worse.
Most of the staff in the rehab wing knew her because of all the hours she'd spent up there with Danny over the past week. As she walked down the hall to Danny's room, she smiled greetings to the nurses and orderlies, even the two or three she didn't recognize. She rapped lightly on the door, then turned the handle and opened it slowly.
Danny lay in the hospital bed in the darkened room, and at first Jenna wasn't sure if he was awake or asleep.
"Jenna," he said, his voice low and raspy. Tired but happy.
"Hey," she said. "Did I wake you?"
"No, no, I'm just lying here being bored." He waved her in.
"How you doing?" Jenna went to the bedside and gently placed her hand on top of his. "I mean, other than bored?"
"Doing a lot better," he told her.
Danny's throat was still thickly bandaged, and it probably made smiling uncomfortable. But that didn't stop him. His eyes sparkled, and there was no denying that he looked better than he had even the day before. A skin graft had been necessary to repair the third-degree burn on his abdomen, but he was recovering quickly. She was amazed by how resilient he was, but then again, there were a lot of things about Danny that amazed her.
"I always feel better when you come to visit," Danny said, his smile widening. "You're my best therapy, Jenna."
With a start, she realized that she was still touching his hand and pulled hers back. Jenna shook her head slightly. Sometimes it wasn't easy to be just his friend. Though she had already determined not to let her feelings for him get in the way, it was a lot simpler to decide that than to implement it. Maybe her heart could move on to other things, but the echo of what she felt would probably linger for a while.
"I just wanted to stop by and see you before I left," Jenna said.
"Oh, that's right. You're flying out tomorrow morning. My island girl."
Jenna shivered a little at those words.
My island girl.
Way to give mixed signals, Detective, she thought, wondering exactly how possessive the my was meant to be. Much as she was glad her presence had helped him during his hospitalization, part of her was happy she was going to be away for a while.
"That's me," Jenna said with a wide grin. "Just me and Yoshiko and fun in the sun."
"Prey for all the island guys," Danny said archly.
"We can take care of ourselves."
"That's for sure," Danny said. "And hey, if anybody deserves a vacation, it's you. So when will you be back?"
"We've got a flight back next Sunday afternoon," Jenna replied. "We'll be back in Logan sometime around eight o'clock."
"Well, I hope you really do relax. No classes. No work. Have a great time," Danny said. "It's about time you got a chance to be a teenager for a while."
Teenager, Jenna thought, taken a bit off guard. She stared at him a moment, unsure how to respond. That's how he thinks of me. I'm just a teenager to him.
Part of her bristled at the thought, and the word, but in truth it made it suddenly easier for her to distance herself from her lingering feelings for him. I am a teenager, she thought.
"Send me a postcard if you get around to it," Danny continued.
Jenna gave him a smile. "Sure. Which postcard do you want? Half-naked beach bunnies or romantic sunset?"
Danny considered that one a moment. "See if you can find one with both, will you?"
"Will do," Jenna told him with a laugh. "Dirty old man."
"Old man?" he said. "Thanks a lot!"
"You're welcome," she replied archly. Touché, she thought.
Jenna smiled, knowing that it was time for her to leave. She was sure that he'd been sleeping when she arrived, and she wanted to give him time to rest and regain his strength.
"Take care of yourself," she said softly. Then she turned and walked out the door, closing it quietly behind her.
"Enough? Or not enough?" Yoshiko whispered to herself.
Folding her arms across her chest, she took a deep breath and stood back as she silently regarded the piles of clothes in the suitcase she had opened wide on Jenna's bottom bunk. Everything was packed neatly and orderly except for one item.
On the top of the stack was a microthin lime green bikini that Yoshiko had bought recently for their trip south. She still couldn't decide if it was too daring to wear on a public beach. Though Jenna often teased her about how shy she had been during their first weeks at Somerset, Yoshiko was no prude. Still, she had been raised by her parents to maintain a discreet modesty that had always caused conflict with the more liberal attitudes that had surrounded her while growing up in Hawaii.
Finally, after staring at the swimsuit for a long time, she smiled to herself. "You only live once," she said aloud. Then she closed the suitcase, carefully snapping the latches and locking them. She was just hefting the suitcase to the floor when she heard the door unlock behind her. A wide smile spread across her face when she turned around and saw her roommate enter.
"Hey. You're out of work early," Yoshiko said to Jenna as she glanced at her watch.
"Slick gave me the rest of the day off. Imagine that," Jenna said happily.
"With pay?"
"As if."
Jenna went over to the CD player that was up against one wall with their TV and VCR and started the disc spinning inside. The Dave Matthews CD they'd been listening to this morning while getting ready for class was still in the machine, and the music started pouring from the speakers. Yoshiko was surprised to see Jenna start doing a little dancelike shuffle and singing along.
"What?" Jenna demanded when she spotted her roommate staring at her.
"You're certainly in a great mood," Yoshiko replied.
Jenna laughed. "And you're not? Hello? Spring break. Leaving for Captiva, and the only thing between now and then is a party. All right, and that pesky packing thing, and some sort of sustenance."
"Wow," Yoshiko said, feigning shock. "I'm not sure I can handle the new, freewheeling, no-responsibilities Jenna Blake."
"Get used to it," Jenna instructed her with a dazzling smile.
Yoshiko nodded and said, "I think I can adjust."
Yoshiko started nodding in time to the music while Jenna opened her closet door and pulled out a large suitcase she had stored there. After brushing off the thin coating of dust that had gathered over the school year, Jenna slung it onto her bed.
Without missing a beat, Yoshiko pushed her suitcase out of the way. Besides the one large suitcase, all she had for the trip was a small travel bag with a few essentials, just in case their luggage got lost, and the small padded carrying case that contained her laptop.
Jenna sighed when she saw the computer.
"What?" Yoshiko demanded.
"Just a shame that we have to take that thing at all. I could actually just jam out my medical anthro paper when we get back."
"You could," Yoshiko agreed, "but then, you're not the only one with work to do, remember? I have a term paper I'm working on for psych."
"I know, I know," Jenna said reluctantly, "but it's called spring break for a reason, right? It's supposed to be a vacation from everything."
Yoshiko rose to the challenge. "All right, Jenna. If you blow off your paper for the week, so will I. All you have to do is say so, and I'll leave the laptop behind."
For a moment, Yoshiko thought Jenna might actually go for it. But then her roommate scowled and shook her head. "All right, bring it along."
"Uh-huh. You talk big, missy. But you're all mouth," Yoshiko teased.
Jenna gave her a whack on the shoulder that actually stung, but Yoshiko just laughed. A moment later, though, her smile dissipated.
"What's on your mind?" Jenna asked.
Yoshiko looked up, saw her roommate's expression of concern, and shook her head. "I'm okay. Just thinking about leaving Hunter behind. I know he has to spend time with his mother. She's all alone, still trying to deal with Melody's death without drinking to forget her grief. That can't be easy. He wants to be there for her. And I'm sort of glad it's going to just be a girls' week, y'know? But I can't help wishing he was coming with us."
"Me, too," Jenna said. Her grip on Yoshiko's arm tightened slightly. "It's going to be pretty tough for him. I don't think either of us knows how hard it's been for him this past year, losing his sister. But it sounds as if his mom needs this, and I'm betting Hunter does, too."
Yoshiko nodded her head sharply as she pointed at the green case Jenna had opened on the bed. "And we need this trip. That suitcase isn't going to pack itself," she said as she started swaying to the rhythm of the music. She knew she had to let it all go and just enjoy herself.
"Maybe to get in the mood we should play some Jimmy Buffett," Yoshiko suggested.
Jenna made a face as if she'd just bitten into a lemon. "Sorry," she said, "but I'm not a Parrot Head."
She opened her top bureau drawer and began to pull clothes out. Without even looking, she started tossing them over her shoulder and onto her bed. There was a brand new book of New York Times crosswords on her desk, and Jenna dropped that in as well.
"Paradise, Yoshiko. It's where we belong."
Copyright © 2001 by Christopher Golden
