"Maybe," she nodded. "Or some sort of mental shielding be it conscious or unconscious. I don't know. It's frustrating because I want to be doing something and Sam's frustrated and worried and I'm afraid that someday I'm going to have to call and tell him that I can't even get this little glimpse to know that he's alive."

Isabel muted the TV as the stupid Filet-o-Fish commercial came on. "You're right it's better in some ways because yes, he's alive. But it's worse in others. Something's wrong and it's killing me not to be able to fix it."