Your Planet or Mine? by Susan Grant

boy Peter: the love of mischief, the ready smile; but there was something new she hadn’t noticed in the chaos of the last few hours: a hint of loneliness and longing that made her want to hold him until she’d melted it away.
    Or she could just be searching for an excuse to touch the body encased by all that armor.
    “There are three cats, too, but they’re probably sleeping,” she said as Sadie’s barking subsided to a steady, high-pitched growl. “They have a bearded dragon, a chinchilla and a parakeet. The last two are locked up in cages. I’d warn you about the two teenagers who live here, but they’re away with my sister in Disneyland.”
    “An amusement park.”
    “That’s right. Good dictionary you’ve got there.” She moved aside the baby gate and stepped into the kitchen. From the counters of speckled brown granite to the rich tiles painted to look like cocoa beans that lined the backsplash to the group of candles in scents like white chocolate, raspberry truffle, and chocolate chip, chocolate was the theme. Unlike Jana, who seemed curiously lacking in domestic abilities, Evie was the most amazing cook. Candy was her specialty. Chocolate, in particular. She’d started selling some of her creations on the side during the holidays. Jana kept urging her to start up her own business, but Evie was still a bit down after the divorce. Maybe in time. She wanted to see Evie happy again. Her sister was her best friend, even after all these years.
    Jana used the sink to wash up while Cavin explored, supposedly checking the security of windows and doors, but out of curiosity, too, she knew.
    She looked down at her soiled suit, stained blouse, the dribbles of ice cream across her skirt, her shredded panty hose and dirty bare feet and sighed. Now that she wasn’t running for her life, the cuts and blisters on the pads of her feet stung. How was she going to wear pumps in the morning? Forget the shoes. How was she going to wake up, period? It had to be nearly 2:00 a.m. and 6:00 was the latest she could wake up to shower and get downtown to her apartment to change and still make breakfast with Mary Ann Schwarzkopf on time.
    As she wiped her face, feet and hands clean with chocolate-scented anti-bacterial soap—only Evie seemed to know where to find these things—Cavin inspected the sliding doors in the breakfast nook. Jana tried not to dwell on why. Evie would kill her if the assassin cut her house in half.
    Cavin returned to the kitchen looking tired. “Have a drink,” Jana said and offered him a glass of water. His gloved hand shook slightly before his fingers closed around the glass.
    He emptied the glass in a few thirsty swallows, then leaned to the left and winced.
    “Are you okay, Cavin? You don’t look so good.”
    “I believe now that the adrenaline is fading, I’m feeling the wound under the armor.”
    “You’re wounded? ” Her heart started racing all over again. “But you can heal yourself, right? Like you did for me that night.” Healed her knee and so much more. Gave her the Gift of Gab.
    “If I activate the armor for the time and power level the healing would require, the REEF could quite possibly detect it and trace me here. If he does, there will be little I can do to stop him from breaking in and kill—”
    “Right. I’ve got Advil. It’s a painkiller. There are Band-Aids upstairs, and gauze pads, Bactine, Ace bandages, whatever you need. Evie’s well stocked because of the kids. They’re into about a million sports.”
    She grabbed his elbow and pushed him toward the family room. Sadie followed, ears perked. Hungry for fresh blood, the little beast. “How did you get hurt?”
    “It was a rough landing. I hit a tree.” He grimaced. “Maybe a few trees.”
    “You and trees. You really need to stay away from them.”
    “This time I had an excuse. The REEF was on my tail, trying to shoot me down. I’m not a formally trained pilot, but I do know how to fly a twenty-passenger