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hand-job.
    She’d asked him where his car
was. He’d said he didn’t have one. She’d asked him where he lived, but he’d
said he’d just arrived today and didn’t have a place to stay. She could have
interrogated him further, but she was simply afraid of what he might say,
afraid his story would be too fantastic to believe.
    Kerry went through the
drive-through window of a fast food joint to get something for supper. He
stared at the blinking lights and neon signs as if he’d never seen anything
like them before. When she asked him what he wanted, he said he’d have the same
thing she was having. He didn’t offer to pay.
    At home, while they ate at her
small dining table, Kerry decided she might as well tell him the whole story.
She had been pleased when he didn’t ask what caused her claustrophobia. He
seemed to accept it as part of her. Everybody else always asked why, and that
was when she clammed up and shrugged if off, saying she’d always been that way.
But it wasn’t true.
    She swallowed
a bite of burger and cleared her throat.
    “I
dated this guy in high school. I was a freshman and he was a senior. He was the
bad boy type, always getting into trouble, but I thought that made him more
attractive. He had a temper, too. I didn’t really know how bad it was until one
day he thought I was flirting with another guy.”
    Kerry
sucked up a big mouthful of chocolate shake, letting the creaminess melt in her
mouth. Myghal didn’t say anything, just watched her while he chewed on a french
fry.
    “Anyway,
we were out at the old gravel pit. That’s where we all hung out because the pit
wasn’t being used anymore. There were a couple of old dilapidated sheds where
we stashed beer and stuff. He accused me of making a fool of him with this
other boy and smacked me around—”
    “He
struck you?” Myghal’s eyes blazed in anger, and his hands clenched into fists.
    Kerry nodded. “Yeah, it was the
first time—and the last. After he slapped me a few times, he shoved me in one
of the sheds and left me there. The shock of him hitting me was almost enough
to send me over the edge, but it was just after sundown and it was so dark. I
screamed until my throat was raw and I couldn’t make another sound. Then I just
curled up into a ball in the middle of the floor. I didn’t sleep, I just lay
there all night with my eyes shut tight. It was mid-morning before anyone found
me. Everyone was out looking for me, and a friend thought to check at the pit.
My boyfriend said he’d only meant to leave me out there a couple of hours to
teach me a lesson, but he’d gone off with his buddies, got drunk and forgot all
about me.”
    Kerry crumpled up her wrappers
and sucked the last of her shake.
    “I
never saw the guy again. He left town and I heard later that he’d gone to
prison for a few years. Didn’t surprise me. But ever since then I can’t be in
dark, confined places without screaming or curling up in a corner. Sometimes
this house isn’t big enough.”
    Myghal
looked thoughtful. “Thank you for telling me, Kerry. I’m sorry you were treated
so badly.”
    “Me, too.
It only happened that once. I steer clear of bad boy types now. You never know
what they’ll do.”
    Of course, Kerry thought as they
cleared off the table together, Myghal looked like a medieval bad boy with that
long blond hair laced with tiny braids, the boots, leggings, and tunic. He
didn’t act tough, though. She squirted dishwashing liquid under the rush of
water in the sink to wash up the few dishes she’d left from the night before.
He was thoughtful and kind, and had seen to her pleasure before his own.
    That
reminded her…she owed him one.

Chapter Eight
    When Kerry had washed the dishes
and Myghal had rinsed them and set them to air dry, she turned to face him. She
licked her lips and noticed his warm gaze on the action. She had done it as a
stalling tactic because she didn’t know what to say or how to begin.
    If she didn’t do