by Julie Cross
I nodded to Adam, who ducked into the office and closed the door.
* * *
“So, how did you even know which one it was?” My stomach dropped just thinking about the rest of my question. “Or did you read it already?”
We were driving toward my apartment in Mr. Wellborn’s car and Adam was practically giddy with excitement at this big scam we’d pulled off. Before I left 2009, I would have thought this was pretty big, too, but after the many life-threatening experiences in 2007, fooling Melvin was like kindergarten to me.
“I was able to log on to his computer and find a bunch of encrypted files. According to the computer, they haven’t been accessed for at least a month. I copied the files over to a thumb drive. I might be able to decrypt them once I get home.”
He pulled up to the circle drive in front of my building and turned to face me, the amusement dropping from his expression. “I know you want to go after your dad and try to get answers or whatever, but I think you need to be careful. Give me some time to decrypt these files, and in the meantime, get Holly out of town, go somewhere and stay there until we know more. It’s kinda freaky that the EOT dude in 2007 had her picture from 2009.”
I took a deep breath and nodded. “Now all I have to do is convince her.”
“She’ll go, I know she will.” He glanced at his watch. “You’ve got, like, ten minutes before the camp bus gets back to the Y and then she’ll head home in a little while. It’s better if you catch up to her now.”
I jumped out of the car with my bag from this year. The one that hadn’t made the journey back to 2007. But at least I had a cell phone and credit cards from this year. I didn’t need a repeat of my arrest in 2007. In the wallet I brought with me to this year, I also had a false FBI and CIA badge that 007 Adam had made for me. To me, it looked pretty authentic. At least enough to fool an average person or the state police.
The doorman greeted me after Adam drove off. “Can I get the spare key to my car? I’m gonna go for a drive.”
“Yes, sir,” he said, putting his own key into the lockbox.
Holly was just getting off the bus when I pulled up to the YMCA. I left the car running and walked up to wait for her by the doors. As soon as she reached me, I pulled her into a hug. “I’m sorry.”
“Are you … okay?”
“I think so … listen, Hol … can we get out of here?”
Her eyes traveled to the kids pouring from the bus and into the building. “What about dismissal?”
“Adam will cover for us. He’s parking Mr. Wellborn’s car right now.” I brushed my fingers over her cheeks and smiled. “Please?”
She nodded, but there was something guarded in her expression. I took her hand and led her to the passenger-side door.
“You drove here?”
“I just picked up my car for the occasion.”
“I’ve never seen you drive. You can drive, right?” she asked.
We both got into the car. “I’ll manage, don’t worry.”
“You think it’s okay to operate heavy machinery after Adam tried to poison you?”
I had forgotten that 009 Holly didn’t trust my ability to do anything responsibly. I took one of her hands and held it on my lap. “I’m fine, I swear.”
“Where are we going?”
I smiled at her as I drove away from New York City. “Somewhere far. Do you have a passport?”
She laughed. “Are you ever serious?”
“Okay, maybe a place we can drive to. Is five hours too far?”
“When are we coming back?”
“Um … Sunday night?”
The amusement dropped from her face. Now she believed me. “Like a weekend trip?”
“Yes, just you and me. No distractions.”
She shook her head. “This is so crazy.”
“Exactly why we should do it, Hol.” I turned the full force of my eyes on her.
“Okay … what the hell,” she said with a smile. “I’ll think of something to tell my mom.”
She leaned her head on my shoulder and I squeezed her hand. “Take a nap and I’ll wake you up when we get there.”
Holly didn’t fall asleep. Instead, she drilled me with questions about where we were going.
“Martha’s Vineyard?” she asked after at least twenty clues.
“Correct. I know you like the beach and there’s this great resort me and my dad stayed at a few years ago on vacation.”
* * *
After we checked into the hotel, I handed her one of the room keys. She pressed her hands against her temples, rubbing them. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”
“I’ll take you home early, if you want,” I said, leading her down the hall toward our room.
Before she put the key card in the door, she turned to face me. “Tell me what’s going on. Are you running away from something?”
This was an opportunity to tell the truth … sort of. I took a deep breath and nodded. “Yes. I had a fight with my dad. I needed to get away and I didn’t want to go alone.”
Okay, so maybe “fight” was a huge understatement and it happened in a different year and timeline, but it was true that I didn’t trust my dad and being in the same room with him right now didn’t seem like a good idea.
She stood on her toes and kissed my forehead. “Next time, just tell me that so I don’t get so freaked. I’ve had to run from my mother before. Though for me, I just spend the weekend with Jana … it’s not quite this elaborate.”
“Aside from that, it’s basically the same, right?”
She nodded and finally opened the door. “Might have been nice to pack a bag.”
I nudged her forward into the room. “When you’re a spoiled kid like me running away, it’s part of the rebellion to charge massive amounts to your parent’s credit card. If we need something, we’ll buy it.”
The door shut behind us and Holly took in the nice-sized suite. “Lots of charges, huh?”
My phone rang and when I saw that it was Adam, I answered it. “How’s it going?”
“I’m close to cracking the files. Just wanted to make sure you were okay,” he said. “You are feeling okay, right?”
“Yes, I feel great, Adam. I’ll call you if anything changes.” I hung up the phone and Holly kicked off her shoes and flopped onto the bed. “You want to see the beach, maybe go for a walk?”
“I just took my shoes off,” she said.
I grabbed her hand and pulled her off the bed, then scooped her up in my arms. “No shoes needed.”
She laughed and put her arms around my neck. “I’m just going to pretend this is real.”
“I know exactly what you mean.” I turned my head and kissed her arm. “Sometimes I have trouble separating reality from … other things.”
I set her down again once we were on the sand. It was beautiful here. If I ever had time to actually plan a special weekend with Holly, it’s possible this is exactly what I would have chosen.
“I love the beach at night,” she said.
“Me, too.” I didn’t want to get too far from the well-lit hotel with people milling around, so I stopped after a few minutes and we sat in the sand.
“Thanks for letting me tag along on your strange act of rebellion.”
I turned so I was facing her. “You were mad at me earlier, weren’t you? When we were by the pool?”
She shook her head. “No … not mad.”
I held her hands in mine. “Just tell me what was bothering you.”
“You said something before lunch, when you were high on Adam’s drugs or whatever … It’s no big deal.”
I didn’t know what I had said to her before I landed in this year, but I knew we were right around the point where I started ditching her for more and more time-travel experiments.
I lifted her hands and held them to my face and took a deep breath. “I don’t know how to say this without freaking you out…”
Her face filled with alarm. “Too late. You c
an’t say something like that and expect me not to freak.”
“I love you,” I blurted out the second she finished talking. I didn’t do anything but stay perfectly still and watch her face change from fear to shock.
Her eyes were teary and she turned them toward the water. “You don’t have to do this … I’m happy just being here with you.”
“Holly, look at me.”
She didn’t move, so I turned her face toward me. Tears were running down her cheeks. She wiped them away quickly with her hand. Her eyes closed, probably so she wouldn’t be forced to stare into mine. “I’m sorry.”
“For what, Hol?”
“For making you feel like you had to say that. I wish I didn’t care what you thought, that I could just … not want more…”
“I love you,” I said again, moving my face closer to hers.
“Just stop,” she whispered. “This is my fault for—”
I touched my finger to her lips, stopping her from talking. “I love you so much and I’ve never said it because everything’s always so great with us and I don’t know if you can really mean it until … it’s not great.”
Her eyes opened and I could see she might actually believe me this time. “You’re serious?”
I laughed. “Yes. I’m seriously, completely in love with you.”
Her arms went around my neck. “Me, too … I mean … I love you, too.”
I pulled her down in the sand with me, kissing nearly every inch of her face.
“Ew!” a voice said from behind us.
Holly pulled away from me and we both saw two little kids being hurried off by their parents. She laughed and kissed my cheek. “I hate that you made me cry.”
“Cry all you want, just as long as you’re still happy.”
“I’m happy,” she said.
And so was I. In spite of everything.
* * *
I jumped out of the shower and tied a towel around my waist. When I walked back into the room, Holly was lying flat on her stomach in the middle of the bed, sound asleep. The white hotel robe had shifted over, exposing the Japanese character she had tattooed across her shoulder blade. I didn’t really have any doubts which Holly this was. But still, it was nice to have her marked somehow. Maybe I could talk her into getting 009 tattooed right below the other one.
She had crashed in the six or seven minutes I was in the shower, but it was almost midnight. I shook the sand out of my clothes and put them on before leaning over Holly. “I’m going to run to the store. What do you need?”
Her eyes opened halfway and then closed again. “I’m awake. I’ll go with you.”
I pulled the blanket over her. “Just sleep.”
“Underwear,” she mumbled.
I glanced over at her orange swimsuit lying on the floor. Of course she would have had that on under her work clothes. “I guess we really were unprepared. I’ll see what I can find. Holly?”
“Yeah?”
“I have my key, so don’t open the door for anyone, okay?”
She nodded and I left the room quietly. The gift shop in the lobby stayed open twenty-four hours. Holly and I were about to become the hotel’s walking advertisement because nearly everything for sale had their logo written on it. The lady at the counter jumped when she saw me enter the store. She had been dozing in her chair.
“Can I help you find something?”
“Um … yeah. The airline lost my girlfriend’s suitcase. She needs some clothes, underwear and stuff…” I flipped through a stack of T-shirts and pulled out a small and a medium.
“What size?” the woman asked me.
From the corner of my eye, I spotted a little person with red hair snatching a business card from the front desk across from the gift shop.
“Um … I’m not sure. Just give me one of each size,” I said to the woman. “I’ll be right back.”
I walked toward the front desk in just a few quick strides. The child turned around and headed for a hall to the right. Either I was going crazy or this was the same little girl I had seen at the zoo that one day back in June of this year. But this child looked smaller. Younger, by a couple years. She stepped into the little room with the vending machine. I leaned against the wall, waiting for her to come out. It was after midnight. What was a little kid doing wandering around alone at this time of night?
I waited another minute and didn’t hear any sound, so I peeked around the corner. I scanned the soda machine, the ice maker. She wasn’t there. She couldn’t have gone anywhere without passing me.
I walked away, shaking my head. Sleep. I needed sleep, or just something normal. One regular day to stop the insane thoughts … because I was obviously seeing things at this point.
The man in the lobby pacing back and forth, wearing a staff uniform, glanced up at me when I approached the gift shop again.
“How are you tonight, sir?” the man asked me.
The name on his tag read JOHN. “Did you just see a little girl with red hair in the lobby?”
“No, are you looking for someone?”
I shook my head and tried to look calm. “Nope, just thought it was strange to see a kid wandering alone at night. Are you the manager?”
He grinned. “Assistant manager, but I’m covering the night shift on my own.”
I pulled out the fake FBI badge and flashed it in front of him for a second before stowing it away again. Just my one day of secret-agent training with Dad and Jenni Stewart had given me several ideas for methods of protection, and, more important, prevention. Or maybe I had always been good at being undercover … good at concealing things. “Listen, John, I’m going to need to see a floor plan of the entire place and a guest list, updated hourly, if possible.”
“Is everything … okay?” he stammered.
“For now. Let’s make sure it stays that way. I’ll be in the shop waiting for those floor plans. And remember, I’m undercover, so we never had this conversation. Got it?” I said, channeling a cliché Hollywood version of intimidating “secret-agent-speak.”
He nodded and turned his back to me, shuffling quickly toward the front desk. I returned to the woman in the shop, who was holding several hangers in one hand and sifting through a rack of dresses with the other.
“Any idea what size bra she needs?”
I glanced at one of the tags. “Uh … there’s letters and numbers?”
“Okay, one of each, then,” she said with a smile.
I grabbed toothbrushes, toothpaste, dental floss, deodorant, and a pair of sandals for Holly. I piled everything on the counter, adding a few things for myself, and finally John returned, handing me a stack of papers.
“That’s every map I could get my hands on. And I’ve put a note in for the morning manager to get you those updated guest lists.”
I studied the first-floor map and then looked up at him again. I wasn’t sure exactly who I was looking for on the list, but it seemed like the right thing to ask for. “Thank you, John. Room three-twelve, okay? Slide them under the door.”
“Would you like me to charge this to your room?” the woman asked me.
“Yes, please.” I grabbed several paperback books and added them to my already-large purchase. “These, too.”
I had six full bags to cart back to the room while I tested the perimeters of my photographic memory. I attempted to follow the staff-only routes through the first floor and leading up to the third. I already knew twelve different exits. Methods of getting out quick seemed like a good thing to know.
Holly was still sound asleep when I slid into bed next to her. I grabbed one of the books and opened it, keeping the small desk lamp on. I only looked at the book for about thirty minutes before Holly rolled over and ran into my legs.
“Did you find some underwear?”
“Yes, but it has the resort name written across the ass.”
“Underwear is underwear.” She threw her arm around my waist and rested her head in the crook of my shoulder before closing h
er eyes again.
I set the book aside and watched her breathing in and out perfectly. I knew right then I’d do just about anything to make sure that perfect rhythm never stopped. That was the only thing I wanted. I didn’t care about Tempest or the Enemies of Time. None of them could ever give me something more valuable to defend or to fight for.
I watched Holly sleep until my eyes simply wouldn’t stay open any longer.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
AUGUST 14, 2009, 6:30 A.M.
I woke up the next morning feeling fingers combing through my hair. When I opened my eyes, Holly was propped up on one elbow, wide awake, her mouth close to mine.
I lifted my head just enough to kiss her. “Can you do this every morning?”
And then just for a second, her face fell, but she pulled it together and smiled. “I already peeked out the window and it’s beautiful outside.”
“Hol, what did I say yesterday at the pool?” I attempted a smile. “Before I changed clothes.”
She shook her head. “Nothing, really. It was stupid for me to even mention it.”
Her expression contradicted her words and I started to get worried and a little pissed off at my slightly younger self for being such an asshole. I rubbed the back of her neck with my fingertips. “You can tell me. It’s okay.”
Her eyes dropped to my chest and she traced a finger slowly over my skin. “You know how I went to orientation to meet my roommate last weekend?”
The god-awful Lydia. “Yes, I remember.”
“Well … there’s a guy from my school staying on the floor above me.” She started talking faster, maybe hoping I wouldn’t catch everything. “I don’t know him that well, but his roommate changed dorms at the last minute and if he doesn’t find a replacement he has to pay the single rate and … I just thought … since your dorm is so far from mine…”
“You want me to move in … to your building?” Not at all what I’d expected, and I couldn’t remember her ever asking this.
“It was just an idea. I mean … why would you want to move when you already have a place and it’s a lot bigger?” She rested her head on my pillow.
“Now the real question is … what did I say?”
“You said you hated that building and … that I would get sick of seeing you every morning.”