by Kim Hornsby
The hardest part for Jamey was thinking she was out there somewhere, horribly upset, and he couldn’t even help her understand. Jamey sat down in the snow and waited. And waited. The snow piled up on the dock and finally he had to jump up and down to keep warm. Where was Tina? If she’d woken, why hadn’t he? Knowing that dreams can span a whole day when it’s really just a few minutes of dreamtime, he told himself to be patient.
Damn! He had to get to her. He might have to go across the bay to that clump of trees he’d marked to jump out. The kayak was gone, but seeing the ocean freeze over gave him an idea. Jamey tried standing on the ice to see if it would hold him, lowering himself from the dock slowly, putting one foot down to test the surface’s strength. It held, and he put the other foot down, letting his weight transfer from the arms gripping the dock, to his legs. He stomped and nothing cracked, so he set out.
By the time he got to the other side of the bay, where he’d first seen the kayak, the wind was blowing sideways. He could hardly see the stand of trees where he’d landed in the dream. Luckily the small conifers had escaped most of the snow because they were sheltered by a group of thicker, taller trees. The mark he’d left in the dirt would be buried in snow by now, but he saw the general area. Crouching, he tried to jump into the portal, but nothing happened. He moved over three feet, then back a few feet, tried several places but nothing.
After about twenty tries in the general area, Jamey sat down out of the wind to catch his breath. What would he say to Tina to make things right? Everything he thought of sounded like he was just trying to dig himself out of this mess. Which he was.
Hours later, Jamey was still in the dream, watching the snow pile up outside the shelter he’d made by layering branches across a thick coniferous overhanging. He shivered and rubbed his cold arms. Damn it, Tina. Wake up.
***
Tina sped along the rural road, through Fall City, and over to the interstate highway that led back to Mercer Island and Seattle. Thankfully, there’d been very little traffic because she was a mess. She’d cried the whole way. Pulling off at Mercer Island, just before three a.m., her heart was heavy with thoughts of Jamey’s betrayal.
It was difficult to comprehend that Jamey had taken it upon himself to locate her parent’s address with the intention of sabotaging her relationship. Hank and Jamey knew each other. Jamey had had countless opportunities to reveal that he’d met Hank but instead, he pretended he didn’t know what her husband looked like.
Even thinking he was saving her a life of heartache; he had no right to interfere that way. Sending that letter was interfering in the worst sense. No wonder when she’d said she was never going to talk to her mother again, Jamey had urged her to reconsider. It wasn’t completely her mother’s fault.
Tina crept up the grand staircase, not wanting to alert the nurse, or wake anyone. Checking the guest room, she found her mother sound asleep and headed to her room where she yanked back the covers on the bed and got under the quilt. How could she ever trust Jamey again after knowing what he’d done to her marriage?
When sleep hadn’t found her by five o’clock, and thoughts were driving her crazy, Tina went to the bathroom and took a sleeping pill she’d brought from Maui. She needed to check out of her thoughts and get another few hours of sleep if she was going to cope later. Soon after swallowing the pill, and getting back into bed, she lost consciousness.
When her cell phone rang at eight, she looked to see it was Jamey, put it on mute, and turned over to go back to sleep. Of course he wanted to talk to her. He’d be full of explanations and excuses, but she couldn’t talk to him. Not yet. She wouldn’t be clouded by his words. No matter how you looked at it, Jamey had harbored a very important secret from her when he said he’d only keep the ones that made her safe.
Tina woke an hour later, unsure if she’d dreamed or not, but plagued by a feeling that something was horribly wrong. She ran down the hall to check on her father. The nurse was taking his pulse and he smiled at her. “Where’s Mother?” he said.
“In the guest room. I guess she’s getting that good night’s sleep.” Maybe something was wrong with her mother. “I’ll go check on her. Good morning, Daddy.” She blew him a kiss from the doorway and disappeared around the corner. Everything looked fine in the guest room. Tina’s mother was breathing heavily, enjoying her last moments of slumber, covers gathered around her shoulders. What was the feeling that something was wrong? Was she getting premonitions now too? She hoped not. Jamey gave these intuitive feelings some credibility, but they didn’t rule his life. If she and Jamey were finished, how would she cope if the ability to jump and sense danger didn’t go away?
Back in her bedroom, Tina saw that her phone had rung five more times--from Jamey. Taking the phone into the bathroom, she considered why he wouldn’t be giving her space. He knew she was very upset. What he didn’t know was that it was much more than being mad, or disappointed. Jamey had betrayed her twice now in their life together. First, when he left her without an explanation, ten years before, and now. He was a secretive person. He had to be, with his ability, she understood that, but keeping secrets from her, especially at this stage of their relationship, was a bad sign. Especially this secret.
She washed her face in her sink, staring at the anonymous letter she’d left on the counter. He must’ve seen it the day before when he’d slept over. That was why he seemed distracted when he got back into bed after being in the bathroom. The phone vibrated again. This call was from a Carnation number, not Jamey’s cell phone number. He was probably trying to call from Pops’ house phone, but something told her to pick up. The feeling that something was not right was as strong as if someone was in the room screaming at her.
“Hello.”
“Tina, this is Pops. Are you okay? Where are you?”
“I’m back on Mercer Island. Why? What happened?”
“We can’t wake up Jamey. The girls have been trying for ten minutes. He’s breathing, his vitals look good, but he won’t wake.”
What the hell? “We jumped together last night. It was a strange dream. I left first. Try jolting him.”
“I did. I tried everything short of dragging him into the shower, but he won’t open his eyes. It’s like he’s in a coma. I’m one step away from calling an ambulance.”
“Let me try to jump in on this end, see if I can find him. I’ve jumped his dreams before from miles away.” Her words sounded more confident than she felt. “Just tell me first, this isn’t a ploy to get me back to your house. Jamey and I had a fight and I’m upset.”
“No joke. I wouldn’t do that to you, Kiddo.” She believed him.
“Okay, I’ll try to jump in.”
“Then call me back on his cell phone, will you? The kids are beside themselves. If I don’t hear from you in twenty minutes I’ll have to call an ambulance.”
“I understand. I’ll try right now, and let you know if I get in. But, Pops, if he stops breathing or turns blue, call that ambulance, okay?”
With her heart beating wildly in her chest, and her confidence at an all-time low, Tina lay back on the pillows and concentrated on getting into Jamey’s dream. Her breathing slowed and she imagined Jamey asleep in his bed at home--the thread-bare white sheets, the slim pillows, the old scratchy blankets piled three deep on his bed--all signs of a boy growing up without a mother to add the extra niceties of home, she’d thought the day before. Concentrating on getting back into that snowstorm on the dock, she hoped to hell this would work.
Then, she felt the pull, like being sucked backwards by a giant vacuum cleaner, her feet uprooted from the floor, her body surrendered to the force. As she traveled, the temperature dropped to freezing.
Chapter 14
Her landing on the snowy dock was soft. The frozen bay stretched before her, like one huge field of fluffy whiteness. Jamey was nowhere to be seen. “Jamey!” She called, but the sound was dead with all the snow. He could be underneath. Frozen. Or, he could be in another drea
m, like when she suddenly ended up in the garden.
“Jamey!” Tina shuffled twenty feet down the dock, fully prepared to trip over him under the snow. But nothing. The icy bay looked solid. She kicked snow around the area where they’d been standing when she jumped out. No Jamey. Then she remembered that he’d come from across the bay. There was no easy way to reach it by land. How the hell would she get all the way over there in this storm?
Luckily, she was able to summon a down-filled coat with a drawstring hood. She next tried to imagine herself across the bay, but it didn’t work. Easing herself onto the ice below the dock, she wondered if she’d wake from the shock if she fell in the icy water.
Imagining that she could fly didn’t work; neither did extending the dock all the way across the bay to the rocky outline where she’d seen Jamey. So, she took off walking. To be safe, she imagined herself staying light on top of the ice, just in case that worked. She kept her eye on the far shore, hoping that when she got there, she didn’t find a frozen Jamey. When the thought of running crept into her mind, she felt a push from behind, and away she went. Each step covered about twenty feet and in a minute, she was at the shore on the other side of the bay. Tina couldn’t deny the feeling of power from these superhuman abilities. It was heady, being able to command your own fate. If she hadn’t been concerned about finding Jamey, she might have run around more or tried to fly again. No wonder Jamey missed jumping.
She walked towards the woods, hoping this was the area where he’d jumped in. “Jamey!” Wandering into the woods, she looked for anything out of the ordinary. The scene was beautiful with snow-laden branches everywhere. Trying to will warm weather and sunshine again, she got nothing. Then, she imagined a blazing campfire, and twenty feet off to her right, it appeared. Thank God.. The snow stopped falling and, up ahead, she saw branches move. Jamey stepped from under a tree fifty feet away, his arms wrapped around his shivering form.
“Tina?” His voice was muffled in the silence of the snow. He wore the T-shirt from the dream, his lips blue. He looked like a frozen Popsicle.
She ran over. “Why didn’t you jump out?”
He could barely talk, “I couldn’t.”
“Oh my God, Jamey.” She wrapped her arms around his body, pressing her warmth into him. “Let’s get you to the fire, then find the portal and jump out, back to your bed, and a cup of hot coffee. Pops is waiting for you.”
He tried to smile. They walked to the fire, and he held out his arms, standing as close as was safe. “I was waiting for you to wake up.”
“Can you find your portal again? Because mine is across the bay.”
He nodded, looking at her with regret in his eyes. “Didn’t work.”
“Crap. I guess we can both try again.” If they couldn’t get out this way, she’d have to get Jamey back to the dock, she guessed.
“Sorry.”
“Let’s get you home, Jamey.”
He led her to his portal. Even though the ground was covered with snow and his scuff marks couldn’t be seen, he seemed sure. They held hands, crouched, and jumped only a few inches in the air. Jamey was too stiff for anything more. In the seconds it took to jump out, Tina felt his hand slip from hers and a feeling of sadness overtook her.
She woke in her bed on Mercer Island, knowing Jamey would be in Carnation. Sitting up, she reached for her phone and called Jamey’s number. He answered. “I’m here.”
“Oh, thank goodness, you’re home.”
“Where are you?” His teeth were chattering.
“Mercer. You’d better get into a hot shower.”
“We need to talk, Tina.”
“You warm up. The girls were frightened. Let Pops make you breakfast. Give me today to think. I’ll call you tomorrow night. Don’t call me.”
She hung up the phone knowing that by the time she actually made that call, she might be back on Maui, putting as much distance between herself and Jamey as possible.
***
Waking up alone in the bed was strange, especially because he’d been holding Tina’s hand on the way out. Pops came rushing over from the doorway. When Jamey hung up with Tina, his dad took the phone from his hand.
“We couldn’t wake you.” Pops’ forehead was wrinkled, his mouth turned down.
“Strange dream. I couldn’t get out. I need a hot shower.”
Pops helped his son out of bed. “I had to phone Tina to see what was going on. The girls are worried. I told them that you were having a dream you had to finish.”
Jamey nodded and smiled sadly at his father. “I’ll tell you later.” He hobbled to the bathroom, calling out a good morning to his daughters when he passed the top of the stairs.
Once the feeling came back to his extremities, Jamey got out of the shower to dress and joined the girls and Pops for breakfast. It was Saturday and they had plans that started with Pops’ crazy pancakes with blueberry syrup.
Pausing at the top of the stairs, he listened to his father telling Jade and Jasmine that Daddy had only been sleeping in. They had questions why they couldn’t wake him.
“Deep sleep,” Pops said, like the answer was as simple as that. “He learned to do that in the army, with all those noisy bunk mates.”
Jamey smiled to imagine that it was possible to sleep in when you lived an army life, or that he actually had noisy bunk mates, like it was one big sleepover party.
In Afghanistan, he rarely interacted with other people. He was sequestered and solitary, like some prisoner. If anyone asked who he was, the rumor was that the strange bearded man was a psychologist working with the higher ups. He was good at saying very little.
Passing the front door, Jamey glanced out the window and saw that Tina’s car was gone. She’d come out of the dream last night and driven home. Then jumped from Mercer. He’d remained in the dream, something that had never happened before. Weird. And worrisome.
Right now he had to reassure his daughters that he was feeling fine, and looking forward to their soccer game. They’d be disappointed that Tina was gone, but his girls were masters at fending off disappointment with a deployed soldier for a father.
Pops shot him a worried look as he entered the kitchen.
“I’m feeling all rested, after that fantastic sleep!” Jamey said, stretching his arms above his head. He smiled at his daughters who were still in flannel nightgowns, eating bacon at the kitchen table.
“Daddy, we couldn’t wake you. That was weird, so we got Grandpops.” Jasmine’s frown was enough to make Jamey want to take her in his arms, but he had to make light of the situation.
“Good idea. I was dreaming that I was eating a hot fudge sundae and, of course, I did not want to leave that dream.” He made slurping sounds.
They laughed, agreed, and continued with their breakfast. As he fixed himself a cup of coffee, he and Pops exchanged a look of concern. They’d talk it over later, when the girls were busy and little ears didn’t hear everything.
“Oh, I had a cool dream last night too. About playing soccer with the Sounders,” Jade’s face was lit with excitement.
“Lucky.” Jasmine poured syrup on her stack of steaming pancakes.
“Who wants eggs?” Pops set a dish of scrambled eggs on the table.
“Is Tina coming back today?” Jade asked.
Jamey served each girl a scoop of eggs. “Her dad isn’t feeling well, and she had to go home to check on him. She might miss the game. She’s sorry.” Jamey wanted to believe the words that came out of his mouth, but he wondered if his girls would ever see Tina again. Now that she knew he wrote the letter, he wouldn’t blame her for running in the opposite direction. Forgiving him for ruining her marriage and ultimately causing two deaths would be hard to do. He was having a tough time forgiving himself. But that was another topic on the docket for a talk with Pops, he guessed.
While the girls brushed their teeth, got dressed, and went outside to kick a soccer ball, Jamey and Pops washed the small amount of dishes created from breakfast.
Doing dishes was always a good excuse to have what Pops called a “down and dirty, heart to heart.”
“What happened last night, Jamey? And, I don’t want details of your sex life. I just want to know what happened in the dream, and then your fight with Tina.” He looked over at his son. “She told me you guys fought, and she left.”
Jamey dried a plate and set it on the stack. “She found out it was me who wrote her parents a letter two years ago to warn them about Hank scamming her.” He let that sit for a minute while he put the dried plates back in the cupboard.
“Why did you write that letter?”
“Long story, but in a nutshell, I was on Maui in 2001 and saw Hank at the grocery store. Remember, I’d met him a year before and we went night diving for octopus? That night I went back to his girlfriend’s house with him, and it turned out to be Tina, so I left before she got home.”
Pops nodded. “I remember you telling me about that.”
“Then, almost a year and a half later on Maui, I saw him flirting with a pretty lady at the grocery store. I stood back for a few minutes and watched. Hank was smarmy and going in for a phone number. I’d already seen a ring on his finger, and knew he’d married Tina.”
Pops interrupted. “And that was your business?”
“No, but I love her, Pops. That didn’t die. I wanted a good life for her.” He set the dishtowel on the counter and stared out the kitchen window to the backyard. “I went to my car and Hank’s old Chevy truck was parked nearby. I sensed something, so I went over and put my hand on the driver side door.” Jamey blew out a deep breath. “The vibe I got was shady, really bad. Like he’d married Tina for her money. The feeling made me nauseous. So, I had Chuck at SPD check him out.”
The two men were now facing each other.
“He found warrants for him and Noble, his best friend, who turned out to be his half-brother. I told you some of this. They’d conned women in Florida, California, and Nevada, under aliases. Henry Santiago was his real name. The deal was that he and his brother, Nolan, would find a rich woman, one of them would zero in on her, and after a few months, they’d run off with her money.”