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HE COULD SENSE SHE was upset as soon as they woke up. But it wasn’t until after breakfast that he broke into her contemplation.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I’m not sure. I think the sleeping tabs aren’t helping. I’ve been taking two but I’m struggling to fall and stay asleep.”
“Should you take three? Or head in to see Amanda?”
“I—I don’t know. I have a whole brand new box somewhere.”
“I have them,” he said, going to the bathroom to get the new container from the medicine chest. He returned to the table, setting them down. “I’d grabbed them for our trip in case you ran out.”
“Thanks,” she said. “I’ll try one more night and then I’ll make an appointment to see her.”
“Maybe it’s me that needs a sleeping pill,” he said slowly, going to a window to look outside.
“What do you mean?” She was wary as hell.
This was as good a time as any to plunge into the matter she always avoided. “I can’t invade your dreams if I’m not dreaming.” Before she could demand he stop the conversation—like she had in the past—he continued on. “I know what your dreams are.”
“No. Stop. I don’t want to hear it.”
“You need to hear it. You tried to keep the content of your dreams from me, but you can’t Leah.”
“That’s personal shit, Trance. You can’t invade my thoughts.”
“You have nothing to be ashamed of. You don’t need to punish yourself, Leah.”
“I don’t punish myself!”
“Don’t you? Why do you struggle carrying a heavy box of ingredients to each house instead of simply grabbing a hovercart? They’re available for anyone’s use. Why is it I had to talk you into eating in the mess hall, with countless other humans who already enjoy the food?”
“I—I didn’t mean anything by it. I just wanted to leave the food and hovercart for others who might need them more than me.”
“You need them as much as anyone,” he snapped.
“You don’t know that. You don’t know anything about me.”
“I know you won’t allow yourself to love. Because you’re afraid of it. I know you prefer to pretend. To live in your dreams.”
“You know as good as I do that I hated every minute of those dreams,” she snapped.
“Yes. The ones where I watched what you went through with Brock.”
Her face paled.
“But you didn’t hate the dreams where we were married, Leah. Did you?” His voice was smooth.
She couldn’t even answer. She stared at him, incredulous.
“You told me you could listen in to people’s telepathic links. Not invade their dreams.”
“I didn’t know I could with humans. I never meant to. But we can work through this—”
“So that was you there? For real? For every humiliating detail? Each time I curled into a ball on the floor? When I was dragged by my hair? You invaded my memories?”
He winced. “I’m sorry, Leah. If I could control it, I would.”
“No wonder people avoid you, Trance. I don’t blame them.”
He stiffened. “Yes, they do. But it made me understand you more. Because none of this is anything you would have shared with me. Just like you never even bothered to tell me you were married.”
“Because it’s none of your business,” she snapped.
“You’re my business. I love you.”
“You don’t love me! You just want to own me.”
Silence met her words.
“I love you. I’m not him. I pull people into my dreams but you were an avid dreamer. You took over, spinning the dreams to reveal all your secrets. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”
“I never wanted you to know, okay?” she yelled. “But you watched. You watched everything. And as much as you tell me I kept things from you, you kept this from me, too!”
“I tried. You didn’t want to know, Leah.”
“You told me you invade telepathic links, not dreams.” She frantically looked around the apartment. “I just—I need to—”
“Leah, relax, baby,” he begged. “Let’s work through this. Tell me what you’re feeling.”
“I feel like I don’t even know you,” she lashed out. “I need a break from you.”
He tried to reach for her, but she evaded his arms and he let them drop useless to his sides. The front door slammed as she headed to her own apartment next door.
