Voice broke all by itself. "I think we're going to need Natalie for security."

Angel grinned and became human again. "You look pretty good yourself."

"I'm not in your league."

"If that's flattery, I'd like some more."

The other women were attempting to pry their husbands from the ballgame when Angel and Rett left.

"Do I really look okay?" Angel glanced at her face in the passenger mirror. "I don't usually go for some¬thing so revealing, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. My nieces have very daring fashion sense."

"You look gorgeous. Maybe we could skip the dance and just go back —"

"Not on your life." Angel extended her stocking-clad legs. "I shaved my legs and they deserve some fun."

"It's going to feel very weird to be dressed like this in the old gymnasium."

"It's going to feel very weird just to walk down the school halls. We're such different people."

"Maybe that's the whole point of coming to a reunion. To be assured you really have changed."

Angel laughed when Rett turned into the parking lot that had always been for students. "I think we can safely park in the closer lot. We're grownups now."

Rett sheepishly drove around to the other side of the school to park closer to the gym. "It still seems strange."

"Shut up and kiss me." Angel had to reapply her lipstick when Rett was done. "Christ, already making out in the parking lot."

"And the sun's not even down."

Walking through the old hallways was indeed strange. Rett detoured Angel to their old lockers. Other people were doing the same thing. The foyer of the gymnasium had a table with name badges no one was putting on, and a display with black ribbons for those who had died in the intervening years.

"Mr. Barnwell," Rett said sadly. "I was hoping he would be here. He encouraged me so much — I think I would have given up if it hadn't been for him."

"Hank Bredelove." Angel touched his picture. "I always thought he was gay."

Natalie's arrival in a tuxedo made Rett exclaim, "Girlfriend! You look fabulous!"

Natalie gestured at their dresses. "After all these years of comfort I was not getting into one of those."

"You are going to make some hearts go pitapat."

Angel turned away to say something to Bunny.

Natalie shrugged. "There's only one that matters."

Rett thought she understood. She patted Natalie's arm. "I think you're going to have better luck than I ever had."

"I hope so. If she even shows, after last night."

They went into the gymnasium, which was festooned with crepe paper and lit with a disco ball. The theme was "Stairway to Heaven" — that brought back memories. Were we ever this young? Rett wondered. We must have been, but I sure as hell don't remember the feeling.

A D.J. was spinning tunes but no one was dancing yet. Everyone seemed suitably vivacious as the numbers grew. People who hadn't come early enough for the picnic were having "remember me" conver¬sations, and Rett drifted away from Angel for a while.

When she met up with Thor Gustafson she gestured at her dress. "See? Lesbian sequins, lesbian green —"

Thor grimaced. "The whole town knows about Cinny leaving her husband. Don't you girls know the meaning of propriety?"

Rett was tempted to answer a la Barbra Streisand, but was rescued by Wayne Igorson. "There you are, Rett. We're ready to start."

They didn't look half bad as an ensemble in the best bibs and tuckers. There were no microphones, but the gymnasium acoustics were decent enough. Wayne's meticulous guitar work quieted the crowd and their harmonies carried throughout the room. Polite ap¬plause followed "Scarborough Fair," then more laugh¬ter as they clowned their way through "Leader of the Pack," sung by the girls, and "She's So Fine," sung by the boys. Wayne segued into a mellifluous classical piece that healed Rett's ears, which had suffered far too much from the local radio selections. As he was finishing she recognized the opening strains of her song. Wayne was leading into it beautifully, slowing the pace and finding the tempo and key they'd agreed on.

They'd pitched it low because it suited Rett's voice. It also suited how she felt. She sang the opening verse of "Something in the Way She Moves" at half voice, then rose to full voice in the chorus. Her gaze never left Angel and the reflection of spinning lights in Angel's luminous eyes made Rett want to swim in their depths for a lifetime.

The applause was gratifying and they quickly synched for their final number, led by Jeanette's accordion. "Kodachrome" was their anthem, and more

than one person in the audience joined in. The D.J. quickly started up the dance music again when they were done, and after she'd exchanged hugs with every¬one, Rett went in search of Angel, who had disappeared into the crowd.

T.J. caught her hand. "Dance with me."

"You bet." The Bee Gees were crooning "How Deep Is Your Love?"

"I'm trying to figure out how not to offend you," T.J. said suddenly after a minute of turning Rett around the dance floor.

"How so?"

"Well, I'm empowered by my siblings to threaten your life if you make Angel unhappy."

He was joking, but not entirely. "I consider myself duly warned."

"Good. It needed to be said."

"I don't mind. I like that you care for your sister."

"You're an only child, huh?"

"Yes." She barely stopped herself from adding, "Thank God." She wouldn't wish her mother on any¬one else.

"That must be weird. Then again, you never had to share the shower with three girls."

"We all had our crosses to bear," Rett said lightly. "I am curious, though. You're Catholic and yet you approve — heck, you applaud your sister's life. All of it. Me."

T.J. thought for a moment. "Mama always said we should read the Bible and pay attention to our priests, but listen hardest to God, who speaks to your heart. God will understand and forgive anything you do out of love. I know that God will understand that I loved

my sister and Him more than words on paper written by pious but mistaken men."