"Why isn't he with you?" Anna asked.
"Isn't he?" Candice replied.
"What?"
"Isn't he?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well...emotionally. Emotionally, who is he with?"
Anna stared intently at Candice and let it sink in.
"That's the thing about Billy. He can't really connect." She shrugged. "He's been like that since his mother died. All he can connect with is the nightmare. And the person who nightmares with him."
"You?"
Candice smiled out of the corner of her mouth.
"Yeah. He couldn't ever get past it. Think about it. An eight-year-old finding his mother hanging from the ceiling fan in her bedroom when he was looking for her to ask permission to go to the candy store. All he can see is her feet swinging back and forth. And all he can feel is my hand holding his and saying that I felt it run through me like it was running through him."
"Felt what?"
"Her soul. It was hovering above us. Since that moment every thought of his is mine, too. He tries to ignore it. But he knows the truth."
"What should I do?" Anna asked.
"What should you do? You take him or leave him. Wholesale. What do you think?"
Anna stood up and walking to the window, her hands on the back of her hips. She tapped her foot rhythmically in time with her thoughts.
Candice leaned on her elbow, reclining on the bed, watching Anna's inner debate.
Finally, Anna turned around and dropped her hands. She sighed and Candice smiled back at the uncanny smile Anna was giving her.
"Wholesale, you say?" Anna said.
"Yep."
"You can take him."
"I never gave him away."
"No...I guess you haven't, have you?"
"No. He's never cheated on me once. Because he can't."
"Is that love?"
"Somehow. It's attachment. It's incomprehensible."
Anna laughed.
"I'll see you around, Candice, huh?"
"Yeah."
"Good luck with the rocket."
"Thanks. Good luck with the botany."
"It's funny. Opposites."
"Yeah. It's often how things work."
"He'll watch you fly, won't he?"
"Yeah. Through my eyes. That's how it always is."
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