Without thinking, she applied some of that certitude her father had recommended: she punched him in his ample stomach.Two days later her stepfather kn...cked on her bedroom door and asked her to come to the library. She'd gotten up and followed him docilely out her door and down the hall. Being suspended from school was turning out to be a lot of fun; she was getting to read a ton of new books.The man standing in the library was tall and lean. Kennedy had seen a lot of men who looked tan and fit. What movie did you pick?" I asked just after she got in the car."Is Chloe a good choice? It's pretty new and supposed to be a thriller with Liam Neeson." I haven't seen it, sounds good to me. I think that one starts at 6:30 so we have plenty of time. I was going to take you to Pizza Bistro afterwards. Their pie is great and they have a great wine list with pairings for different type pizza." That's different, I usually drink beer with pizza." She laughed."And you can," I added, "whatever you. There was Dallas in her veil, takingphoto after photo, the flash popping in my eyes, Michelle-- over herembarrassment easy as pie-- pogoing next to her, shrieking along withSarah.Then our moment was over. Abruptly. The weird part was, we playedeverything much faster than we usually did in practice. Adrenaline, nodoubt. The end result was, we'd played out set in just over half thetime it took us in Gina's garage. People clapped and whooped and allthat, but there was this kind of confused. No one is there. ‘Sorry,’ he steps into view from her left. He has a gun in his left hand and a bag in his right. ‘Sorry to do this to you on such short notice.’ She hesitates for a moment, then steps aside to allow him entry. He drops the bag on the floor and trains the gun on her chest. She inhales. ‘I always like to call before I pop in.’ He shuts the door with his foot and drops all the blinds on her windows, shoves one open while muttering something about wanting a breeze. ‘You expecting.