Springback

by Jana Miller

  So that was the reason. That was where the guilt and shame had come from. Same as mine. He’d wanted to go back and change it, reverse the irreversible, unfixable problem he’d created, and that’s when those stupid strands presented themselves to him. Stupid, useless, mocking strands of time, offering a chance to do something that he’d never be able to do, a way to avoid hurting his friend that way.

  My heart ached for him—for both of them.

  I managed to wait until around noon to text Jake to ask if he was home from the hospital yet.

  Jake: Yeah. I’m home.

  I started to ask if we could come over, but then—

  Jake: But my dad is here.

  * * *

  I didn’t bother asking him if we could come over. I called Leah and had her meet me at his apartment.

  “Has Jake ever even met his dad?” she asked me as she got out of her car.

  I shook my head. “I don’t think so. I thought his mom left him when she was pregnant.”

  “She did,” Leah answered. “At least, that’s what my mom has told me.”

  “Wait, do you know his dad?” I asked, remembering Leah saying that Rob had lived here until just a few years ago.

  Leah bit her lip. “Not really,” she said as we climbed the stairs. “I was three when she left him, and around that time he kind of disappeared too, even though he still lived here. I don’t really remember him—”

  She trailed off as we turned the corner at the top of the stairs. A scruffy guy in a leather jacket with dark hair and Jake’s eyes saw us and pushed away from the railing across from Jake’s door. “Hey there, ladies,” he said as we approached. “You looking for Jake?”

  This had to be Jake’s dad, Rob. He seemed friendly enough, with Jake’s laidback way of standing and confident smile. I didn’t want to talk to him without Jake around, but he was sort of blocking the door.

  “Uh, yeah,” said Leah. “Excuse us.”

  But instead of moving, Rob knocked loudly on the door. “Jake!” He called with a grin, still watching us. “You’ve got company!”

  I glanced at Leah, unsure if his smile was making me feel nervous or friendly.

  “Go away,” came the muffled reply from inside.

  Leah stepped forward. “It’s Leah and Chloe,” she called, and we waited a few seconds before Jake pulled the door open and Rob took a small step back.

  “Hey,” he mumbled, squinting in the sunlight and ignoring Rob. He looked awful.

  “Hey,” I said, glancing at Rob then back at him. “Is—is this your dad?”

  Jake didn’t even look at him. “That’s what he says,” he said in a monotone.

  “Don’t be shy, girls,” Rob said, gesturing to us like it was his house. “Go on in.” I stepped forward to go inside and he stuck his hand out for me to shake it, still grinning. “I’m Rob.” I pretended not to notice his hand, instead giving Jake a questioning look as I went inside.

  “Yeah, I know,” Leah said from behind me in an annoyed, almost bored voice. She shook his hand briefly. “I’m Leah.” I wondered if her constant headache made it harder for her to be polite or if she would have been this aloof either way.

  Rob blinked as he looked at her face, and recognition made his eyebrows shoot up. “Leah,” he repeated, looking quickly from Leah to Jake and back again.“Lill’s girl, Leah?”

  Lill?

  Leah cleared her throat. “Yup,” she confirmed, passing him to go into Jake’s apartment.

  Rob tried to follow her in, but Jake started closing the door behind Leah.

  “Really?” Rob said. “You’re still not going to let me in?”

  Leah and I watched uncomfortably as Jake gave him what I could only describe as a death look and asked, “Why would I?”

  Then he pushed the door closed against Rob and heaved a sigh, turning to us.

  “Sorry we didn’t tell you were coming,” I said, looking around. “Your…your mom’s not here?”

  He shook his head, easing himself down onto the couch and closing his eyes. “He waited for her to leave for work,” he said bitterly. “He was out there waiting for us to get home from the hospital, and as soon as she left, he just walked right up and knocked—like he belongs here.” He opened his eyes to glance at the door before adding, “Like he has any right to be here at all.”

  I bit my lip, searching for something to say. When Jake had said his dad was here, I’d envisioned a somewhat awkward but at least cordial reunion—not Rob standing outside begging to come in. I wasn’t sure if we should be trying to get rid of him, or out there demanding answers. Was he somehow here because of the Ring? Because of Lillian?

  I looked to Leah, who seemed equally uncomfortable but also curious. “How did he find you?” she asked.

  “He says my mom called him from the hospital, something about his medical history.”

  That actually made sense now that I thought about it. “Because of the brain mass thing?”

  He lifted one shoulder. “I don’t know.”

  “So do you have a—mass?” Leah asked Jake. “What did the tests show?”

  “No mass, just ‘heightened activity.’”

  “That’s how mine was when I was ten!” I told him, but he didn’t seem especially interested in the topic at the moment and just nodded. “But you think that’s why she called him?” I asked.

  He shrugged again. I’d never seen him this apathetic. “I didn’t really let him say anything else. I just told him to come back when my mom is here and slammed the door.”

  I pressed my lips together. “Maybe he—” I knew I needed to tread carefully, not knowing the whole history with his dad. “Do you think he might…know something about all of this?”

  Jake squinted at me. “All this, like the strands and everything?”

  “Yeah. I know he wasn’t the ‘chosen one’ in the family or anything, but maybe he knows about it anyway.”

  Jake looked skeptical, but Leah said, “Actually—he does.”

  Jake and I both turned to her. “He what?” Jake asked.

  Leah seemed almost surprised that he hadn’t realized this. “He—knows about pulling time,” she said, gesturing loosely with her hands. “He’s always kind of been the ‘black sheep’ of the family, so we don’t really talk about him, but…I actually think he can rewind. And that he pretty much got kicked out of the family for something he did.”

  I swallowed. Jake groaned, but surprisingly, that was all he did.

  “Something with the Ring?” I asked. “Or just something…else?”

  A knock sounded at the door, and we all stared at it, unsure of what to do.

  “Jake, can I please just talk to you?” Rob said from the other side of the door. His voice sounded much less cocky—more frustrated, almost defeated. “I came all the way from New York…”

  “New York?” I repeated in a whisper, and Jake just shrugged, his eyebrows lifting as well.

  “Please don’t make me talk through the door, bud.”

  I winced when Jake’s face hardened again at the word ‘bud’ as he looked away from the door again.

  “Maybe you should hear him out,” Leah suggested after a moment, and Jake scowled at her.

  I hesitated. “Would it be—” I didn’t want to sound paranoid, but—“Would it be safe to talk to him? At least—outside?”

  Jake sighed. “He’s not violent or anything, if that’s what you mean.”

  I relaxed a little, because that was exactly what I’d meant; I still had no idea why Jake’s mom had left him.

  “I know you don’t want to, Jake,” Leah said. “But maybe he has some answers.” She paused as Jake stared stubbornly at the ceiling. “Maybe you should at least hear what he has to say.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  When Jake finally opened the door, Rob was standing against the rail with his arms folded, staring at the sidewalk, just waiting.

  He looked up at the sound of the door, and his facial expression seemed complete
ly different—a little bit hesitant, a little bit sad. “Thanks for opening the door,” he said, though he didn’t move away from the rail.

  “You’re not coming in,” Jake told him. “But we’ll talk to you out here.”

  Rob nodded. “That’s probably all I should have expected.” He looked at Jake earnestly. “I was hoping that…that maybe you didn’t hate me.” He held up his hands before Jake could retort, adding, “Obviously I was wrong—I don’t really have a right to expect that. Sometimes I’m a little too optimistic for my own good.” He chuckled ruefully before his face went serious again. “So I won’t try to force anything.”

  Jake nodded stiffly, and Leah and I helped him bring the four chairs from the dining room table out to their small porch area.

  “So, how did this happen?” Rob asked amiably as we sat down.

  Jake scowled. “How did what happen?”

  Rob gestured widely to Leah and then Jake. “This. How did you two meet? I wouldn’t have thought Lill would be interested—”

  “This has nothing to do with ‘Lill,’” Leah interrupted. “We just met.”

  Rob folded his arms. “Yeah?” he asked, obviously not buying it. “That’s a real coincidence. Unless you’re about to tell me that you two don’t know you’re related?” The knowing twinkle in his eyes might have been charming if he didn’t seem so arrogant.

  “Yeah, we figured that out, Rob,” Jake said, his voice bitter. “But don’t you think we’re the ones who should be asking you questions?”

  Rob cleared his throat, deflating a little as he dropped his hands to his lap. I got the feeling he wasn’t used to not being in charge—or to his charisma being so useless. “Of course. You’re right. Sorry.”

  We all waited for Jake to ask a question, but he just stared at the ground, his jaw clenching and unclenching, so Leah finally spoke up, looking at Rob. “Jake said that his mom called you?”

  Rob nodded. “Yes. Allison called me from the hospital. She was wondering if my family has any history of abnormal brain activity.” He was watching Jake, but Jake still didn’t acknowledge him.

  “So…” Leah continued, “do you know what’s going on with him?”

  Rob hesitated. “I might.” He glanced at me. “But it’s kind of personal. A family issue, anyway.”

  Leah glanced at Jake, who was now looking at his dad. “I’m family,” she reminded Rob.

  He shifted in his seat. “Yeah, but—” He looked at me again and I just raised an eyebrow, folding my arms.

  “You mean rewinding?” Jake finally said.

  Rob pulled back a little, obviously surprised.

  “Yeah, that’s a fun little gift you passed on to me,” Jake continued. “How convenient that you were never around to tell me about it.”

  “That I passed on?” Rob glanced at me then back at Jake. You want to talk about this in front of—both of them?” he asked.

  Jake nodded stiffly. “They know as much about it as I do,” he said. “Both of them.”

  “Really.” Rob motioned to me with his chin, still addressing Jake. “How does she fit into this?” he asked.

  “You don’t have to be secretive about anything,” I said, annoyed that he wasn’t just talking directly to me. “I’m a rewinder too. I’m descended from the Wrights.”

  Rob’s eyes widened and his head shot forward. “Are you kidding me?” he asked. “How did you—how can you—”

  “I really think you should go first,” I interrupted. “You still haven’t told us what you’re doing here.”

  Rob finally gave in, sitting back in his seat. “Sorry,” he said to all of us. “I didn’t mean to—” He shook his head. “But this is crazy.”

  Jake’s jaw shifted. “Yup,” he answered sardonically. “Crazy. So what did you come to tell me?”

  “I just can’t believe you can rewind.” He looked at Leah. “Does Lillian know about him?”

  She raised her eyebrows. “Not that he’s your son,” she answered. “Or that we’re related at all. She’s met him once, but I didn’t tell her—”

  Jake was scowling. “I’ve never met her.”

  Leah looked at him, confused for a moment. “Oh, that’s right, I rewound it. You guys both met her.” She gestured to Jake and me. “We were trying to convince her not to try anything stupid, but it didn’t work.”

  My stomach did a flip. “I met her?” I asked. “What did I say? How did—”

  Leah held up a hand. “I’ll tell you about it later,” she promised. She lowered her voice a little and leaned toward me. “It didn’t go well, but it wasn’t a total disaster. And obviously it didn’t help.”

  I tried to tuck this information away for later, but realized I had never asked—“Wait, does she remember your rewind? Does she remember the ten days?”

  “Ten days?” Rob repeated.

  We both looked to Rob, who obviously hadn’t been polite enough to ignore our semi-private conversation.

  Leah sighed. “Yeah, that’s what caused all this,” she said, gesturing to Jake and me. “Why they both went to the hospital. And yeah,” she said to me, “she remembers.”

  “Wait, was this a few days ago? The springback of all springbacks?”

  My eyes went wide. “You felt it too?” I asked.

  “Of course I did; how could anybody not feel that?”

  “What about the other one?” I asked. “A couple weeks ago?”

  He nodded.

  “You felt them all the way from New York?” Jake asked.

  Rob’s brow furrowed. “It’s the Ring of Time, Jake. It doesn’t matter where you are.”

  Jake looked away again, and I felt another flare of annoyance at Rob. “He’s only been rewinding two months,” I said. “It’s not like he knows everything about it.” Rob looked like he was about to say something to defend himself, but I kept going. “And I didn’t know that either, even though I’ve been rewinding since I was nine. It’s not like there’s a book about the Ring of Time to tell us all this stuff. Nobody taught us.”

  Rob’s expression changed once again. “What do you mean, nobody taught you?” He looked to Jake. “Leah didn’t teach you?” He looked to me. “Or your parents?”

  I shook my head. “My parents don’t know anything about it,” I answered. “Jake and I both inherited it, and we both figured it out on our own. It just—happened.”

  “But we can talk about that later,” Jake said, determination is his voice as he turned to his dad. “You were about to tell us what you’re doing here.”

  Rob was still obviously stunned about our revelation, but he just sighed and scrubbed at his face. “I told you, I came because your mom called me about you. You were unconscious, and it happened to be just hours after that springback.”

  “And what did you tell her?”

  “I told her no, that we don’t have any cancer or neurological diseases that I know of in our family.”

  “But you’d felt the springback,” Leah said. “And you knew the two were related?”

  He nodded, looking steadily at Jake. “And I was afraid that maybe Jake was doing something dumb—following in his dad’s footsteps.”

  Jake’s expression clearly demanded more explanation, so Rob sighed and leaned forward again, his gaze drifting to the sidewalk. “I was the one who Uncle Gene taught,” he said. “Initially. I was older than Lillian, and even though she was his daughter, he didn’t think she was mature enough to handle the responsibility that came with it—with pulling and inheriting the amulet.”

  “What?” It was Jake who said it, but Leah may have whispered it to herself as well.

  “You were the rewinder for your generation?” Leah asked.

  “So I probably would have been too?” Jake blurted. “You—you would have taught me?” He was almost doing his crazy eyes again, but there seemed to be a catch in his voice as well.

  Rob nodded. “But I was just as bad as Lillian would have been,” he confessed. “Maybe worse. He waited until I
was twenty to teach me, hoping I’d be ready, that I could handle it without—” He shook his head. “But I wasn’t. I started seeing it as a free pass in life. I could go drinking, I could cheat, I could have as much fun as I wanted, then”—he shrugged—“just rewind over it. No consequences.”

  Jake’s face had begun to fall.

  “When I met your mom, I tried to shape up,” Rob told him. “I swear I did. But I wasn’t making much money, and married life was harder than I thought. That and—well, I never told her.”

  I stared at him. “About rewinding?” I asked. “You didn’t tell your wife that you could rewind time?”

  He sighed. “I was young, and dumb, and”—he sighed, shaking his head—“I thought I could get away with more if she didn’t know.” He winced at the admission. “But then, she found out she was pregnant, and I—I don’t know, I freaked out. I knew I wasn’t cut out to be a dad, and honestly I didn’t want to be expected to pass this on. So I left.”

  Jake looked skeptical. “Wait, I thought she left you.”

  Rob nodded. “She did, eventually. But I left her first. I ran away, went to Vegas for a few weeks, and when I came back, she was gone.”

  There was a heavy silence for a while until Jake asked, “That’s it?”

  Rob just watched him, his face resigned.

  “That’s it?” he repeated. “You were young and dumb? You were a messed-up loser, and that’s it?”

  Rob held his hands out, leaning forward in an effort to get Jake to understand. “How could I teach you to do this, knowing that all it had done was screw up my life?” he asked. “But at the same time, how could I not give you that opportunity? I knew there was a chance that you would be better than I was, that you might actually be worthy of it.” He gazed at Jake for a moment, the regret burning in his eyes. “But how could you learn how to use it right, with me as your example?” He leaned back. “I couldn’t handle it,” he said simply. “Couldn’t handle the responsibility of teaching you, but couldn’t handle the temptation. I was afraid I’d do it anyway.”

  “What, so you think you were being all noble by leaving or something? Saving me from turning out like you?”