by Louise Clark
Discover Time For Love
Forward in Time, Book Two
Louise Clark
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Contents
Discover Time for Love
Claim Time for Love
Discover Time for Love
The Forward in Time Series
Chapter 1
“You want me to leave? Now?” The last word emerged as a squeak, caused, Liz Hamilton was quite certain, by shock, amazement and not a little horror. She stared at her boss, the paleontologist in charge of the dinosaur dig she was working on for the summer excavation season, unable to believe he had just told her she was being replaced.
An academic on the rise, Dr. Alfred Scarr was in his mid forties, a relatively young man in the academic world. He’d received his Ph.D. before he was thirty and Liz had heard that since then he’d not only become a full professor, but had achieved tenure, almost unheard of in the current academic scene. He was a man who would push your career upward as he rose in his. You wanted him as a mentor, not the man who was laying you off because someone better was about to arrive.
Being part of Scarr’s dig was important—she’d only just defended her Ph.D. this spring—and she knew finding an academic position in a competitive market would be tough. She needed the reference Scarr could give her, so she swallowed hard and tried for compromise. “I’d be happy to stay and simply be one of the dig team.”
But Scarr was shaking his head even before she finished. “Sorry, Liz, but we don’t need any more diggers.” He peered at her through black-framed glasses that never seemed to move on his beak of a nose. His eyes were dark and, Liz thought, beady, but that might have been the thick lenses. “Look, this doesn’t have anything to do with you. It was just an opportunity came out of nowhere and begged to be grabbed.”
“But Dr. Scarr…”
Scarr sighed. The expression on his round face said that Liz was being difficult and he wished she’d stop. “It’s Zachary Doyle,” he said. “Surely you understand.”
Unfortunately she did. In the small world of dinosaur paleontology, Zachary Doyle was a comet that hadn’t yet reached its apogee. Everyone talked about Zac, the papers he’d written, the talks he’d given. All the grad schools competed for his presence in their programs. Every day he received a new accolade. No one had a bad word to say about him. If she’d been in Scarr’s place, she’d have wanted Zachary Doyle as a team leader too.
She couldn’t bring herself to acknowledge Scarr’s request, though. Zachary Doyle’s career was everything she wished hers could be and she was super jealous of him. She straightened her shoulders and said instead, “We have a contract.”
Scarr looked at her in amazement. Clearly he thought mentioning Zac’s name was enough to get her acquiescence. “That’s an internship agreement. It’s not binding.”
“Sure it is,” Liz said. She sounded belligerent to her own ears. She knew that wasn’t the way to deal with Dr. Scarr, but she was desperate. She needed this post. Needed to stay until the last day of her contract. Needed to receive a glowing report about her contribution and capabilities. Needed the recommendation for permanent employment that Scarr could provide.
He narrowed his eyes. “The internship agreement says you must complete six weeks on the site before I evaluate you. You have completed thirteen, more than enough for me to write my report. I sent it in last night. The contract, as you call it, is fulfilled. For both of us.”
Blood flowed into her cheeks in a hot rush that left her feeling weak. She was contracted to stay for another six weeks. The whole department at the university would know that she had been let go early. They’d assume she hadn’t been able to do her job adequately and she’d be shuffled to the bottom of the hiring pile. Her career was over. Nine years of post secondary education finished with no future in sight. “I’d like to see it.”
Scarr blinked. “See what?”
“Your report.”
He frowned. “I sent it to Dr. Benoit. It’s up to him to decide whether to let you see it, or not.”
Dr. Benoit was the Dean. This was bad, very bad. She gathered her courage. There was no way forward, no going back. She had nothing to lose. She set her jaw, jutting out her chin. “Freedom of information. If it’s about me, I have a right to read it.”
Scarr’s brows snapped together in a frown and he pursed his fleshy lips together into a tight, annoyed line. “I’ll forward it to your e-mail account.”
Liz nodded. It was a small victory, but she didn’t feel like cheering. If his assessment had been positive, Scarr wouldn’t care if she read the report. His reluctance told her that he’d either torn her to shreds or he’d been so neutral that anyone reading it would think the worst.
“Zac arrives tomorrow on the morning flight,” he said briskly. “I’ll pick him up and bring him back to the site. I should be back by mid-afternoon. I’d like you to help him set up, show him around and introduce him to everybody. You can fly out the day after.”
She stared at him. This was worse than she expected. “You expect me to smooth the path for my replacement?”
Scarr’s mouth tightened even more. “He’s not your replacement. He’s a new, exciting, addition to the team.”
“Since he’ll be doing my job and I won’t be here any more, he sure sounds like my replacement!” She needed to guard her tongue, considering whom she was talking to, but she couldn’t do it. Disappointment, outrage and fear had her in their grip and she was reacting, not thinking, right now.
“You are not doing yourself any favors, Miss Hamilton.”
“It’s Doctor Hamilton, as you well know! I defended my dissertation and was granted my degree before I came out on this dig.” She shot him a fulminating look as she spoke.
Scarr raised his eyebrows and smirked.
She knew what that meant. Yes, she’d achieved her degree, but she didn’t have a hope in hell of getting a tenure track academic position. Not without a glowing recommendation from Scarr. He knew what was in that internship report and it wasn’t enough to get her the job she so desperately wanted.
She drew a deep breath to stop herself from spitting out words that were somehow even worse than those she’d already uttered, then she turned and stomped out of the command tent where Scarr had his office.
As she left the admin tent she grabbed the keys for Scarr’s pickup from the security cabin
et. The undergrad seated at the long table where they catalogued finds, looked up and smiled, but didn’t ask if Liz had permission to take the vehicle. Why would she? Liz often used it when she went out to scout new locations.
Liz nodded curtly to the girl as she passed, then grimaced, ashamed of herself. It wasn’t the kid’s fault she’d just been fired. She couldn’t help the bitter anger that welled up inside her, though. The girl was so cheerful about the experiences she was having this summer, so full of optimism for her future. The contrast with Liz’s own gloomy career direction was painful.
The pickup’s powerful engine leapt into life as soon as Liz turned the key in the ignition. She drove out of the site, bouncing on the rutted dirt road that was little more than a track. She didn’t have a particular objective. She just wanted to get away from everyone associated with the dig. Perhaps absconding with Scarr’s personal vehicle was childish and maybe a bad idea overall, but right now she didn’t care.
A curve in the road had the camp disappearing from sight and she heaved a sigh of relief. The sun glinted off the red sandstone rocks, reminding her to put on her sunglasses. She reached for her pack and grimaced. She’d left it at the camp.
The road forked. Since she had no particular destination in mind, she angled away from the sun. The track skirted around a rise where hoodoos carved by wind and weather over countless millennia rose in odd, twisted shapes. The sight made her sigh. She loved the other worldliness of this western landscape. She would miss it when she left.
In the shadow of the hill, she braked to a stop. She put her head on the steering wheel and closed her eyes, fighting not to allow the gathering tears to fall. She drew a deep breath. Then another. And another. One tear sneaked out, but that was all. After a minute she sat up. What was, was. Scarr wouldn’t back down. She was going home two days from now. She’d better get used to the idea.
She put the pickup in motion and continued on. After an hour she knew she should be getting back. She wasn’t quite sure where she was, but she knew she was off of the government land where Scarr’s permit entitled his team to dig. The adjoining land belonged to a farmer who had leased his dig rights to a private exploration firm called Discovering Dinos. Both the farmer and Mike Edmonds, the owner of Discovering Dinos, were reputed to be fierce in their defense of those dig rights. Scarr’s opening remarks on the day his team gathered had focused on the boundaries they were to work in and where they could explore. Stay on the government side of the line had been a mantra at every staff meeting since. Liz was pretty sure that even driving on Discovering Dino’s leasehold would be a fighting offense.
She should head back. The sun was low in the sky and there were dark clouds building. The morning’s weather forecast had predicted a thunderstorm and heavy rain for the evening. Downpours in this area could be dangerous. The light soils had a poor vegetation cover that made it easy for them to be washed away. Roads could disappear in an instant and crevices appear just as suddenly. She didn’t want to be out after dark in the middle of a raging downpour.
Still, it wasn’t dusk yet. She’d been gone about an hour, maybe an hour and a half. She had plenty of time to get back before darkness and the storm made it impossible.
She came to another fork and stopped. The terrain was open here and she could see the road twisting away, the gap between the two routes gradually widening. She stared at it for a bit, then pulled her phone out of the pocket of her jeans and dialed. She’d call her sister, Faith, before she turned the pickup and headed back to camp. That was, providing she had cell service.
She did and Faith answered on the first ring, saying her name.
Her sister’s voice immediately took Liz back to her home in Lexington, Massachusetts. A vision of a white, colonial-style house, set back from the road and surrounded by green grass and mature trees, had her eyes tearing up again. Faith had been her champion throughout their lives, and that hadn’t changed with her marriage to mathematician Cody Simpson.
“Hi. It’s me. Have you got a minute?”
“Liz!” Faith’s voice was delighted. “You have cell service. This is great. I tried calling you the other day, but you were out of range.”
“It’s the river valley we’re camped in,” Liz said, not for the first time. “We can only get service when we’re away from the main site. Even then it’s spotty.”
Faith laughed. “The joys of being out in the wild west. What’s up?”
“I… I’m coming home.” As she said the words, the threatening tears leaked out. She dashed them away, angry with herself.
There was a pause. “Okay,” Faith said, lengthening the word until it was a cautious statement. “When?”
“The day after tomorrow.” She resisted the urge to sniff. Faith would know she was crying and that would upset her, something Liz wanted to avoid since Faith was heavily pregnant with her first child.
Another pause. “Why? What happened?”
Liz hesitated, then told her about the interview with Scarr.
“Bastard,” Faith said.
Since she rarely swore, Liz realized how much angry her sister was on her behalf. It eased the sting—a little, anyway. “The thing is, this means I’m finished. My career is over before it’s even begun.”
“No, it’s not.” Faith’s tone said she was stating a fact, not offering an opinion. “You spent the last thirteen weeks managing a bunch of inexperienced undergrads and a couple of first year post grads. What did Scarr do? He hid in his tent and worked on his findings. You managed the dig, not him.”
“And now he’s got Zachary Doyle, the wonder kid of the paleo community, to help him out. It will be Zac who gets all of the find credits for the season along with Scarr. My name won’t be mentioned.”
“But will Zac do as good a job of keeping the team on track?”
“Probably. His reputation says he will.” Liz sighed. “Even if he doesn’t, he’ll have the benefit of my time on the site. He can’t lose.”
“Scarr is an idiot,” Faith said.
Liz laughed, with some bitterness. “Crazy like a fox.”
“Liz…”
She sighed again. “I’m okay, Faith. It hurts right now, but I’ll get over it. The sun’s about to go down, so I’d better head back. Thanks for listening.”
“Okay. When you’ve confirmed your flight details, let me know and I’ll pick you up at the airport.”
“I will. Thanks again.” She disconnected, then sat for a moment staring at nothing. Talking to Faith had made the whole situation more real, her upcoming departure inevitable. Something inside of her shattered and the torrent of tears she had struggled to hold back came flooding out.
She wiped them away with the heel of her hand and gave herself a talking to. Faith was right. Liz knew she’d done a good job this summer. So did Scarr. He was just a jerk who had grabbed a flashy opportunity. He was sacrificing her because she might be capable, but she didn’t have star quality. Zac Doyle did, and having his name attached to Scarr’s dig would boost the careers of both men.
She sniffed and put the truck in motion. Ahead of her, the dark clouds were thicker. She reversed and turned back the way she’d come.
The rough road kept her focus on staying safely on it, so she didn’t worry too much about her own trials for a time. The hill with the spectacular hoodoos was ahead of her, a landmark that reminded her she was still on private land, when she saw the beam of a low lying light.
She frowned. The sun was behind her, descending below the horizon in a glow of oranges and reds. It wasn’t dark yet, so the blaze of light ahead couldn’t be the headlights of another vehicle. They wouldn’t show up clearly until darkness had fallen.
The road curved and the location of the light became clear.
She was right. It wasn’t the headlights of a car or truck, because it was some distance fro the road on an unsettled part of the open prairie.
The orb, for she couldn’t describe the bright spherical glow any other way, was
motionless. She stopped the pickup and stared at it, her heart pounding.
If this was what she thought it was, it could not be.
She opened the door and slid out of the cab. Slamming the door behind her, she rounded the hood. Then she stood and stared at the blazing beacon of light.
Her heart pounded, hard and fast. Her stomach churned, until she was almost sick with excitement.
And fear.
No, not fear. Terror.
What if she was wrong? What if she was hallucinating?
The light beckoned her. The desire to walk toward it fought with an instinctive fear of the unknown.
But it wasn’t unknown, was it? Not really. Not if it was what she thought it was.
She drew a deep breath and began to walk.
With every step the light seemed to beckon her forward, to grow more welcoming, joyous somehow. The distance to it was further than she expected, but that didn’t matter. By the time she neared it, her measured, cautious steps had turned into something closer to a skipping jog.
Close up, the blaze of the light should have seared her retinas, but it didn’t. It glowed without fire and urged her forward. When she reached it, the light flowed around her, wrapping her in a blanket of love and pleasure.
Her heart thumping like a jackhammer, she stepped forward, into the past.
Chapter 2
Except she didn’t.
Walk into the past, that is. She walked into the future.
Liz Hamilton came from a family with an extraordinary capability—they were able to travel through time. She had no idea if anyone outside of her family possessed the same skill, for it was a closely kept secret, only shared with those who could be trusted not to divulge it.
They called themselves Beacons and Travelers. Those who were Beacons generated a light that drew the Travelers to them. Once found and entered, the light acted as a portal. One moment the Traveler was in her own time, the next she was in the Beacon’s.