"I threw my hands in the air. "What the hell does that mean? Is it thereason instead of cheer practice here this afternoon, I ended uphelping my mom m...ke lasagna?"He stared at me, blinking a few times. Then shook his head, a blushforming on his face."Sorry," he said. "The memory of your mom's cooking just hit me all ofa sudden." Then he nodded, drawing two more circles around the secondformula. "Yes, I think so. When you ... Charlene showed up thisafternoon and informed me that she was back, I. Every muscle in my body ached. ‘Rocco! Rocco? What is this?’ ‘He runs the association.’ I said, ‘So what? You act as if you were scared to death of him. My girls belong to a union and they—’ ‘This is different.’ She was whispering as if she were afraid that someone would hear her. ‘We… we can’t quit. Something would happen, acid would be thrown. It happened to one girl…’ I STARED at her, not believing my ears, but I had to believe the fear that was mirrored in her face. It was a real, a living. He makes me shudder when he pulls my head closer to run his tongue around mine. I can hear my heart pounding in my head, it blends with the sound of the fire snapping and the wind rattling the cabin. I push my hands against his chest. "It sounds really bad out there," I whine. He nods, wrapping his arms around my waist. He doesn't have to say anything because we both know he's safer spending the night here with me. I take the blanket and fold it over once to place in front of the fire. I want. Kelly’s hand went to her medallion. Ling, seldom given to tears, was openly crying. William went over and put a hand on Ed’s back. Dan and Claire held each other feeling honored that they had been allowed to witness this event. Even Betsy paused to watch the connection become established. Linda, exhausted from the delivery, gave voice to a line she had practiced just for this occasion. “Ed meet Ed.”Ed had visions of them playing Hunt The Bug-Eyed Monsters, riding through the desert together,.