The Dream Jumper's Promise

by Kim Hornsby

  When he took a deep breath, a stabbing jolt of pain seared through his head like a soldering iron. Jamey fought against blacking out. He must have called out because Tina was there, kneeling beside him, her gentle hand on his forehead. “Jamey?” “I’m better.” It took everything he had to say that.

  “I’m worried you might die.” Her voice was shaky.

  “I won’t.”

  “Do you always get these headaches?”

  “Lately.” It hurt to talk. He closed his eyes. “Sorry I took the bed.”

  “I’m sorry this happened because of my dream,” she whispered. Jamey tried to nod but grunted instead.

  Minutes passed and finally she spoke. “Would you mind if I lie on the other side of the bed?” She waited for his answer. “I want to be closer to keep an eye on you.”

  “Get in.” Jamey tried to shift over and Tina put her hand on his arm.

  “Don’t move,” she said.

  He barely noticed her slip in under the covers.

  “The alarm is set for 6:30.” Her hand hovered above his arm. He could tell she was afraid of touching him. “Will it hurt your head when it beeps?” Tina whispered into his shoulder. “No.” He closed his eyes and prayed for the searing pain to subside. And to live to hear the damned thing beep.

  Chapter 16

  When Jamey woke, sunshine oozed from behind the drapes and spilled into the room. The bedside clock read 11:24. Sleeping had erased most of the pain. It was just a dull migraine now. He was alone in the bed, the door closed, Obi and Tina gone.

  Carefully, he eased out of bed and looked out the window. Tina’s truck was gone. Noble’s red truck was there. Shit. He wasn’t up for a confrontation with Noble this morning.

  Any other time he’d be happy to be in Tina’s bedroom on a sunny Hawaiian morning—under much different circumstances. But Jamey had urgent questions that needed answering, especially because Tina’s sanity was at stake, with the lines of reality smudging. A note was taped to the inside of the bedroom door.

  J: I hope you feel better. Call me ASAP. I’m worried. It looked bad last night but better at 7. What happened? Kind of made me forget my dream. Please be well. Tina

  Yeah, what had happened? He’d never been in a dream with a dead guy before. Was Tina simply dreaming about her husband, or was Hank giving his wife this vision to show her the location of his body? If so, he’d jumped the mind of a dead guy. Fuck. This was getting complicated. If Hank’s ghost was lingering in the bedroom, then Jamey needed to think long and hard about what to do next. Probably sleeping in Tina’s bed wasn’t a good idea if Hank was the jealous type. Noble sure was.

  He poured a cup of coffee from the pot in the kitchen and took a careful sip. Caffeine was good for migraines, but Jamey wasn’t so sure he had a textbook migraine. The warmth of the liquid felt good going down. With the mug in hand, he went back in the bedroom to get his watch from the nightstand. Wearing metal on a jump was dangerous. It was one of the best pieces of useful advice Uncle Don had given him about jumping. For that reason, Jamey had never worn a wedding ring to bed, or his watch. In the testing he’d done with Sixth Force, he had helped determine that wearing metal ran the risk of losing control of the dream; strange things happened, he stayed too long, lost the portal. And that was deadly when he jumped with the enemy.

  With the watch in hand, he noticed a presence in the room. The temperature dropped. Quickly. Someone was with him; someone who was not a living person. “Hank?” He spun around slowly, stopping to stare at the closet. If he flicked on the light, maybe Hank could turn it off again. “I’m trying to help her find you.” His words were soft. “Can you help us?”

  A piece of paper on the nightstand moved. Jamey watched until it shifted again. It moved to the edge in jerky motions, then fell to the floor. This was not his area of expertise, but he was pretty damn sure someone was trying to communicate. “I saw that.” The air in the room was still cool. “Where is your body, Hank?” A whisper of a breeze moved through the bedroom, leaving an icy wake and then, just like a switch had been thrown, it was over and the room was warm again.

  As Jamey bent to pick up the paper from the floor, his mind was racing with possibilities. The paper was cold. Frozen almost. What just happened? Dammit, he was a dream jumper, not a ghost expert.

  Exiting the bedroom, Jamey felt another presence, but this time it wasn’t a spirit. On the deck outside Tina’s patio door stood two older people, perfectly alive and staring at him from the other side of the screen.

  The man was about seventy, gray cropped hair and slightly paunchy, and the woman was country club-ready with steel gray hair and an overly formal dress for Hawaii. Feigning innocence, he slid open the screen door. “Hello.”

  “Is Kristina here?” The older man’s suspicious eyes grazed Jamey’s form. These were the dreaded parents from Seattle, and they’d just watched him come out of their daughter’s bedroom, fastening a watch around his wrist like he’d spent the night. Which he had.

  “No, she’s at the dive shop.” He stepped through the doorway. “You must be her parents?” Jamey flashed them his best policeman smile.

  The mother looked down her nose at him. “And you are…?”

  Jamey extended his hand to the mother. “James Dunn. I’m an old friend of Kristina’s, on vacation from Carnation, Washington.” Maybe they’d think he knew her growing up. When a hand did not meet his, Jamey turned to the father. “Nice to meet you, sir.” He gripped the father’s hand with strength, hoping he’d appreciate a good handshake.

  The parents blocked the stairwell.

  “I’ll be on my way now, but I hope to see you again. I’m diving off Tina’s boat this week.” When Jamey nodded towards the stairs, he hoped they’d move. Instead, they stood firm.

  “Why are you in our daughter’s house?” The woman looked ready to pounce.

  Jamey knew the question was coming and had prepared an answer. “Tina forgot something here and asked me to swing by to get it.”

  The mother took a lingering look at Jamey’s cup of coffee and neglected to hide a scowl. “I see you helped yourself to Kristina’s coffee.”

  Geez, these two were a tough audience. “Yes, your daughter makes a good cuppa joe. Are you two sightseeing today?”

  The father answered this time. “We’ve done all the sightseeing on Maui that anyone ever needs.” He stepped closer, as though his next words were a secret between men. A cold steel wall had shot up around him. “We’re here to make sure our daughter is not doing something that will ultimately bring her more heartache.”

  The message was clear and Jamey nodded as though that was his mission too. “I served in Afghanistan and can appreciate protecting someone.” Mentioning the army didn’t seem to help. They continued to stare at him like he was vermin. He said a quick goodbye and snuck behind them, to get as far away from the Greenes as possible. How had Tina turned out so sweet?

  ***

  At least now Jamey was in on her secret, and for that, Tina was grateful. The burden had been lessened and broadened with the involvement of a second person, like diluting a stain.

  After signing the invoice for gear she couldn’t pay for and unpacking delivered boxes, Tina grabbed her coffee and found her way to the back room of the dive shop. Caffeine could not, in any way, be responsible for the bizarre dreams that haunted her. Could it?

  “Anyone home?” Jamey’s head peeked in through the back door. “How are you feeling?” Tina jumped up and almost hugged him, stopping just in time. She noted the difference between the Jamey who lay shivering and moaning in her bed the night before, and the vibrant, healthy man standing at the door.

  “Better. Sorry to scare you.” “What was that last night?” she asked.

  “Like a migraine, but before we talk about that, your parents are right behind me, looking for you.” He glanced towards the store like they might be hot on his trail. “They saw me coming out of your bedroom twenty minutes ago. I told them I was pickin
g up something for you.”

  Tina hid a smile with her hand. “Don’t take it personally. They don’t like anyone I know. Who did you say you were?”

  “Your bisexual, homeless lover.” He grinned. “Actually, I said I was a friend from Carnation.”

  “I’m looking for Kristina.” Tina’s father’s voice boomed through the store. Jamey was right. They were hot on his trail. “Who?” Katie’s voice was small in comparison.

  “Speak of the devil,” Tina whispered to Jamey, and disappeared into the shop. “Good morning, Father.” She kissed his cheek, introduced him to Katie, and when Jamey didn’t emerge from the back room, knew he was gone. She didn’t blame him.

  “Your mother and I are going to the golf course for breakfast and want you to join us.” “I ate already and have some work to do here, but I’ll join you for lunch, or dinner later.”

  Her father looked around the shop like it was one of her childhood forts messing up his perfectly landscaped yard. “Fine. At least come outside to say good morning to your mother.” This wasn’t a suggestion. Even though she didn’t live under their roof anymore, or take money from them, her father’s requests still had the same effect as when she was little. She’d always obeyed.

  Elizabeth sat waiting in the back seat of the Lincoln Town Car, her veined, bony hands folded across her skirted lap. “Good morning, Mother.”

  With a scowl, she got right to the point. “Kristina, there was a man at your house, coming out of your bedroom.” She paused for effect. “Your father and I feel, regardless of your relationship to him, this is inappropriate behavior for a widow still in her grieving year.” She looked over her glasses at her daughter, lips pursed.

  Tina silently counted to five before sliding in beside her mother. “That man is Jamey Dunn, a former decorated police officer in Seattle and now a soldier in Afghanistan.” Her parents would probably appreciate this information. She did. “But aside from that, he’s not my boyfriend. He is an old friend and was only at the house this morning to get something for me.” The truth was not an option.

  “He was in your bedroom.” It was clear Elizabeth thought this would be disturbing information, but Tina only nodded. “You must be careful. People will misinterpret.”

  A sigh slipped out before she could censor it. “This is Maui, Mother.” She softened her voice. “There’s no upper echelon here to police my improprieties, even if I was being inappropriate for a widow.” Tina resisted the urge to mimic her mother’s voice.

  “Don’t remind me that you now live in a society we don’t approve of.” She lowered her voice. “Now, come to breakfast with your father and me.” Her voice took on a tone of finality.

  Tina attempted a smile, even though Elizabeth was now busy straightening her skirt, her eyes lowered. “I have things to take care of here, but I’ll join you later.”

  After watching the Town Car round the corner, Tina ran over to the Sunrise Cafe to get a smoothie. She hadn’t eaten like she’d told her father and now needed something in her stomach. She hated to rock her parents’ boat, especially after her father’s heart attack two years ago, but dammit, she was an adult. Would she ever get used to disappointing the people she loved?

  Poor Noble. He hadn’t been amused at Tina’s tipsy display the night before and she couldn’t blame him. Why had she been so unnecessarily flippant to a man who’d been her rock all these months? And then, this morning in the kitchen, when she’d tried to explain Jamey’s presence, he cut her off. “Aside from my own feelings about this, Ti, you can’t be getting drunk and letting men into your bedroom. I know you, and that is not you,” he’d said. “If you have something to say to me, then say it. Don’t use…Jamey,” he’d spat the name, “to tell me something.”

  Tina cringed at the memory of the conversation. She ordered her mango smoothie and sat on one of the cane chairs in the cafe to wait. Noble didn’t know the full story. Later she would find him and apologize without revealing everything. How could she say that Jamey was hanging around to help her because he was psychic and could jump into her dreams to help find Hank’s body? That made him sound like some crazy-ass liar who just wanted in her bed.

  ***

  Pops had a theory. “Maybe you’re not the jumper, Jamey. Maybe the ghost of Hank is able to enter his wife’s dream or she’s jumping into his thoughts.”

  Jamey stretched his long legs to reach the balcony railing and slouched down in the cane chair. “That sounds crazy, doesn’t it?”

  Pops laughed. “More than jumping dreams?” His breathlessness told Jamey that his father was smoking again, despite his emphysema. “This would be new territory, so be careful, son.”

  “Maybe Tina is somehow jumping into Hank’s ‘glimpse’ and I’m piggybacking her jump,” Jamey said. “Do ghosts have glimpses or dreams? And if they do, how can Tina jump into them?” He sighed. “I wish I could talk to Uncle Don about this.” It came out of Jamey’s mouth before he thought that the comment might resurrect painful memories of Uncle Don’s sudden death. But his uncle had been the one to explain the intricacies of being able to enter a dream.

  He’d been the one to call memory dreams ‘glimpses.’

  “Me too, son. I’m not thrilled you got the headache.” Pops’ cough was back too.

  “It wasn’t that bad. Not like last time.” Jamey watched a humpback whale breach and smack the surface with its massive weight out in the channel.

  “I don’t know what to say.” Pops’ voice was filled with concern. “Aren’t you under orders to not jump?”

  “It was a suggestion.” No one could control Jamey’s jumping. It was his skill alone, and the military didn’t own him. If he was done with jumping, they’d be done with him faster than he could say ‘medical leave.’ That wouldn’t be so bad. Not when he thought about Jade and Jasmine. “They advised me to not jump.” His voice was filled with hidden meanings.

  “Be careful, James. I don’t want to get a call from the hospital saying that you’re in a coma…or worse.”

  “I don’t want you to, either.” But now that Jamey knew there was a ghost involved, the game had changed. Unfortunately he knew precious little about ghosts. Sixth Force probably dealt with this kind of shit, but he wasn’t privy to that information. Maybe if he presented the situation and asked what they thought, he’d get some suggestions but telling them would be costly. At the risk of letting on that he was jumping, he needed some answers, because Hank’s presence added a whole new level to a game Jamey wasn’t equipped to play.

  ***

  Unless Tina’s parents lightened up, it would be an excruciatingly long visit. In the past, she’d fantasized about getting them drunk and asking them all the questions that puzzled her. But that would never happen. Her mother didn’t drink and Philip could hold his liquor like an elephant. Still, they seemed miserable, and they were making her equally miserable with their smothering concern for her wellbeing. Funny thing was they neglected to see what could actually make her happy.

  After lunch, once again, they suggested she sell the dive shop and come back to Seattle. “Take the bar exam, Kristina. Join your father’s practice,” Elizabeth said. Their disappointment in her not following the life plan they’d made for her was still holding up after all these years.

  “I love it here, Mother.” Tina imagined herself standing with a shield in front of her body, like Doc Chan suggested. “I’m just saying that the memories are painful.” Elizabeth seemed to be searching for the best way to get her point across. “You need a change right now. Maui will always be here if you decide to return some day.” The word ‘if’ stood out to Tina like an arrow headed for her heart. Elizabeth took a mint from her purse and handed it to Tina. “Garlic,” she said.

  Tina popped the mint into her mouth.

  The Town Car navigated her twisty driveway. “I’ll think about it. Thank you for lunch and I’ll talk to you later.” She kissed both parents on the cheek, always her custom.

  Rounding the side
of the house, she and Obi crossed the backyard to find Noble sitting on the front porch swing of his cottage, watching her.

  “Are you available for an apology, or should I come back when I’m not an asshole?” Tina tilted her head and tried smiling.

  “I’m available.” Noble didn’t smile back.

  “I am the worst friend, so stupid, ungrateful. I feel badly about how I talked to you last night. And this morning. I was severely hung over.” She sat on the top step and stared at the traveler palms in her yard. “Did you know that those palms are nicknamed ‘Helpful Imposters’?”

  Silence.

  “They grow east to west, helping lost travelers. You know that, right?”

  Nothing.

  “But do you also know they’re not palms, but are in the bird of paradise family?”

  “Tina, stop.”

  “I’m sorry, Noble. I’m selfish.” She didn’t look over. More was needed. “Jamey and I are not lovers.” It sounded ridiculous to say it aloud. “He slept in the chair beside my bed because I asked him to stay. I’ve been having bad dreams.” She cleared her throat, buying more time to let Noble speak, but he said nothing. “I didn’t want to burden you anymore. I rely on you too much. I just want to get us back to normal.”

  A mynah bird screeched from the lemon tree beside the cottage, and the caged bird next door called back. “Jamey ended up getting such a migraine that I almost rushed him to the clinic.” Still nothing. “He’s an old friend. I scuba-certified him long before I knew Hank.” She looked over and noticed a slight twitch in Noble’s jaw.

  “That explains it,” Noble whispered.

  She took a run at the next part. “Noble, I want to talk about what you suggested the other night.” How to approach this without sounding callous? “About having a baby.”