Page 176 of Play of Love
"Yes."
"Okay have you also prayed?"
"Of course I have, God's working on it. I'm just helping things along. Like I said I'm trying everything here."
He pulled up a chair making it screech against the wooden floor. I shushed him again.
"Evie, this is ridiculous." He was still laughing.
"Gage, you're messing with the energy in the room. If you don't keep it down, I will tape your mouth shut and turn you into a toad."
And he laughed even more. "Both?"
"Gage." I said his name more insistently this time. "I'm serious."
"Alright. I'll just sit here and watch then, like an owl." He smiled. I looked him over. His hair was a little messy and had that playful look. He also had a five o'clock shadow that made him look more rugged. "Thank you for earlier. You really cheered Lucy up."
"I just wish I could find Angelo. It's Sunday Gage." I shook my head remembering it was just after midnight now. "Monday morning. We've been on this hunt for over a week. We have nothing."
I lowered my hand to the table and dropped the crystal. Itwasridiculous. This whole thing was. We'd come to Italy with nothing but faith, and so far that was all we still had.
"What do you think we should do?" he asked.
I was surprised he was asking me.
"I'll keep looking." Of course I would. I would do all I could.
"And when we get to the end of the list? What if we're still at square one?"
I didn't want to think of that.
He pulled in a breath. "Or what if he's dead? What if the reason we can't find anyone is that they're all dead?"
I didn't want to think that either, although it was starting to look that way. There were other reasons, but with such a huge time gap that was the most glaring possibility. "I have to believe that our not. Well, at least Angelo. If Lucy says he's alive, then that's enough for me."
He gave me that look of adoration again, the one I was readily growing accustomed to.
"Miss Evie, you really are something else you know that?"
I smiled at him as he took the crystal from me.
"I guess I am."
"Look what you have me here doing? You'd better not breathe a word of this to anyone. Football meets witchcraft." He chuckled and started swinging the crystal around. "Am I even doing it right?"
"No," I shook my head. "You have to do it with some oomph." I took it from him and flicked my wrist swinging the string out so the crystal would have some momentum, but I did it just a little too forceful, and it slipped from my fingers. To my horror, it went straight in Gage's face.
"My eye." He yelped springing from the chair and covering his right eye.
Dread filled me as I watched him. "Oh my gosh. I'm so sorry." I moved over to him and tried to move his hand away from his eyes.
"My career is over. You can't play pro football with one eye." He wailed.
"Let me look at it." I felt terrible. In the past, I'd imagine hitting him with something several times, but this was ... well, it was just terrible.
"Oh the pain." He moved over to the sofa and sat, still holding his eye. "The terrible pain." He winced.
I kneeled next to him and reached out to touch his face. "I'm going to call the ambulance."
