Once Again

by Amy Durham

  “Interesting.” I handed the sea glass to him.

  “See how the edges aren’t jagged?” he asked, running his finger around the uneven roundness. “Some people try to replicate sea glass with machines and chemicals, but you can tell it’s genuine sea glass from the ocean by these small pores. If you look closely, they look kind of like a C-shape.” He turned it over in his palm and pointed to a flat area. “Green and brown are the most common colors, but sometimes you find blues and whites or other colors.”

  “It’s beautiful,” I said. “It almost looks like an emerald.”

  “We’ll keep it for good luck,” he announced with a grin, slipping the green jewel into his pocket. “Since I saw you for the first time right here on this beach.”

  I liked that thought. And the sea-glass lesson had been a lovely, momentary discussion.

  Back to reality. “If you’re the reincarnation of this man, do you think I’m the reincarnation of the woman?”

  “I think so,” he said. “It makes sense, in a weird sort of way.”

  “What are they trying to tell us?”

  “I’m not sure, but I think we’ve got to figure it out if we want the scary dreams to stop.”

  “You’ve had others?” I asked. “Other scary ones.”

  He nodded. The breeze picked up, causing the edges of the blanket to billow. I leaned closer to Lucas, seeking his warmth. His arm tightened around me for a moment.

  “Let’s get out of here,” he said. “Get out of the wind. We can talk at my house, if you want.”

  “Okay.” I stood up and grabbed the water bottle. “You want to tell your mom?” I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. I liked his mom a lot, but this was all so new to me.

  “Eventually.” He picked up the blanket, shook the sand off the bottom, and folded it. “But not yet. Right now this just seems rather, well, personal, I guess. Like I’m not ready to share it with anybody but you just yet.”

  CHAPTER 15

  We found his mother in her office, working away at her computer. She smiled brilliantly when she saw me, jumping up to hug me.

  “Welcome back, Layla,” she said. Then to Lucas, “There’s coffee cake in the kitchen. Be sure and get some for her.”

  “Thanks, Mom. I’ll do that.” He kissed her cheek. “Listen, Layla and I have some things we need to talk about. Is it okay if I take her upstairs?”

  “To your room?” his mom asked, eyes narrowing.

  “Yeah. We won’t bother you that way, and if we need to, we can use my computer. We’ll leave the door open.”

  “I suppose I can trust you,” she said with a smirk, and it was clear that she did trust him. “But get some coffee cake first.”

  “Will do.”

  “You and your mom have a great relationship,” I said on the way up the stairs with a piece of coffee cake and a can of Coke. “You didn’t really have to ask her about bringing me up here did you?”

  He lifted a shoulder. “Probably not. She trusts me, and I never give her reasons not to. But she’s my mom, and I don’t forget that. So, I ask permission when I should.”

  No one else on the planet could be like him. There was not another boy alive who thought of his mother this way. It said a lot about Lucas himself, but also about the way Gwen had raised him.

  “I love your mom, by the way.”

  He pushed open the first door on the right and stood back to let me enter. A double bed was against the far wall, and a love seat under the front window. Along the wall opposite the little sofa, sat a rectangular table with a small TV on one end, and a computer and work lamp at the other.

  “She loves you, too.”

  We settled on the love seat with our breakfast, which was now closer to lunch. “The relationship you have with her, it’s really great.”

  “Thanks,” he said. “I like to think that we take care of each other nowadays. She’s never needed me to take care of her. She’s too self-sufficient for that. But it’s always been just her and me, so I’ve felt like the man of the house for a long time. She’s done a lot for me, and it’s nice that in some ways I can take care of her, too.”

  We finished the coffee cake in comfortable silence, both aware the talk we began on the beach had to continue. Despite the grave mood, it was pleasant to enjoy the lull and normalcy of sharing a meal.

  “I dreamed of you several times before school started,” he began, taking our plates and sitting them on the table across the room. “Again, no specifics, just glimpses of us together.”

  He came back to the love seat and tugged me to his side, his arm resting on my shoulder. He kissed the top of my head before going on.

  “After we met, the first time I saw you in a dream was the night before I ran into you at Emerson’s Antique Store. That night I saw you standing in the front door of the house. I was walking up the yard toward you, like I was coming home to you after work.”

  I gasped. He’d just described the exact dream I’d had. He must’ve heard me, because he took my chin and turned my face up to his.

  “You had the same dream?”

  “Yes,” I whispered.

  “I thought you might’ve,” he said. “But I couldn’t be sure. It was possible my dream had just been pointing me there so I’d find you.”

  “I had a vision,” I said. “While we were inside the store. It was more a flash, like you described. When I looked at you through the glass of that paperweight, I saw you as you’d been the night before in my dream. It was just a split second.”

  He nodded. “I experienced the same thing.”

  “This is bizarre.”

  “I also had a vision of you while I was running yesterday, during the meet. I saw myself saying goodbye to you, in the back room of that house. The same place I found that paperweight. I think it may have been the kitchen at one time.”

  I discovered I wasn’t surprised anymore. That he’d experienced the same dreams and visions as me, at the same times, was oddly comforting.

  “I fell asleep before the game,” I said. “I only meant to chill out for a while. But I fell asleep, and I had the same dream. You didn’t want to leave, but you thought it was the only way.”

  “I wish I knew what I was so afraid of.” He scooted near the edge of the love seat and turned to face me. “I wish I knew what the danger to us was. I was trying to protect you by leaving.”

  “Maybe now that we’ve figured this much out, the dreams will show us more,” I offered.

  “I don’t know whether to be happy about that or scared to death,” he said, a slight laugh in his caramel-smooth voice. “You may get sick of this and decide to leave town.”

  Strange, but that thought hadn’t occurred to me at all. In fact, since meeting Lucas, I’d thought of Nashville and my former life less and less. It was as if Sky Cove had worked its way under my skin without me realizing it. Even with the frightening dreams and unexplained visions, the thought of leaving Lucas was incomprehensible.

  “No way,” I whispered. “I’m not leaving you.”

  “Good,” he said. “It’s probably selfish, but I want you to stay.”

  I shook my head. “Not selfish.”

  He smiled then, and leaned forward to kiss me softly. Surprising how quickly I’d grown accustomed to his touch, the way he handled me with care and familiarity.

  I thought about his reaction when he’d seen me for the first time at school and smiled. How crazy it must’ve felt to him when I walked in the building.

  “What did you think when you saw me the first time in person?” I asked. “In the lobby, the first day of school. You looked kind of shell-shocked.”

  He inhaled deeply, a slow smile spreading across his face. His deep brown eyes lit up as his grin encompassed his entire face. He pressed his forehead against mine, forcing my gaze to lock with his.

  “I thought, finally,” he whispered. “Finally she’s here.”

  CHAPTER 16

  A week had passed since Lucas and I found e
ach other on the beach. A week since I discovered I was the reincarnation of a woman from some previous century.

  In many ways, it was almost like it hadn’t happened – the dreams, the fear – but I knew it had all been real. I’d had no dreams or visions in the last week, and neither had Lucas. Perhaps our predecessors had decided to give us a break from the intensity of what we’d been shown.

  Whatever the case, it was a relief.

  My routine with Lucas continued. Literature class second period. A walk to my third period U.S. History class. A quick meeting in the parking lot after school.

  And lots and lots of phone conversations in the evenings.

  Luke ran every day after school, and, given that he was an honors student, his evenings were taken up with homework and studying, as were mine. But he always made time to talk with me.

  I’d had a couple of boyfriends in Nashville, but I’d never felt like a priority to either of them. Lucas’s attention made me feel special, and cared about.

  We’d agreed to always keep our cell phones handy. I even slept with mine in my hand or beside me on the mattress. Once we discovered that our dreams and visions were happening simultaneously, Lucas said it only made sense for us to be able to call immediately.

  He even told me to call in the middle of the night if I had a dream.

  He’d been dealing with the reincarnation business for quite some time, and though he was taken by surprise by the specific and frightening nature of our recent visions, he knew that for me it was especially scary.

  He said there was no reason for me to be afraid alone, when he was just a phone call away.

  Our relationship wasn’t exactly public, though after the football game speculation had increased. But nothing about our appearance at school had changed. He didn’t move to hold my hand in the hall or the parking lot, and I had a suspicion Lucas wanted to keep some things private.

  It also kept me from looking like a total liar to Chris, Robbie, and Lance, whom I’d turned down because I “wasn’t ready to start dating”.

  Today was Friday, and Luke was running in a cross-country meet after school. The host school was in Belfast, a town only twenty minutes away, and my parents agreed to let me drive over and watch.

  Not that cross-country was that exciting to watch. I basically just sat near the finish line with Gwen and waited for him to show up. The runners would end their route in the high school parking lot, and several chairs had been placed under the awning at the front of the school.

  Gwen settled in to read a book while we waited, and I decided I could also make good use of my time. Luke said he let his mind wander when he ran, that relaxing his mind while running sometimes allowed the visions to come to him in a way that didn’t knock the breath out of him.

  I figured I might as well try to chill out and see if anything popped into my thoughts. I wouldn’t mind something flashing around in there so much if I was expecting it.

  The day was overcast, not rainy, but damp and cold, like some sort of anti-sauna. I’d bundled up in black fleece pants and a black turtleneck. Lucas had insisted on lending me one of his Sky Cove X-Country hoodies. It said Ellis on the back.

  Wearing it thrilled me to pieces.

  I lifted the hood, pulling the sides tight around my face and ears, and leaned back in my chair. Ipod headphones went in my ears, and I hit shuffle and tried to relax.

  I liked music a lot, and I liked a lot of different music. Lucas said shuffling through the library on my iPod was the equivalent of aural-whiplash.

  I leaned back in my chair, closed my eyes, and tried to turn my mind loose.

  Plenty of things ran through my thoughts. Of course, Lucas was the star. I thought of school, the football game, the countless phone calls, even that awful dream that guided us both to the beach last weekend. It all kind of flitted across my consciousness, flashing in and out like slides on a power-point presentation.

  But there was nothing new. No new pictures from the past, no new emotions from the long dead people who had invaded our present reality.

  I was both disappointed and relieved.

  Disappointed because as much as it frightened me and interrupted my normal life, I really wanted to know what had happened. I wanted justice or vindication or whatever would make it right for the people Lucas and I had once been. I also wanted the dreams and visions to stop. At least the scary ones.

  The relief I felt was two-fold. For one, the visions left me ragged and raw, emotionally drained, and it would have been difficult to hide that in front of Gwen. True, she knew about Lucas’s reincarnation, and she knew that he’d seen me in his dreams before I came to Sky Cove. But she didn’t know about the dreams I’d had, or about what Lucas and I had discovered about ourselves. I was also relieved because Luke wouldn’t be distracted by a vision during his run. He could focus totally on his sport, and hopefully come in first again.

  I wanted to see him cross the finish line before anyone else and cheer him on as he did.

  “You know,” Gwen said, breaking the silence between us. “Lucas has a birthday on Sunday.”

  I pulled the headphones from my ears, a smile spreading across my face. “He didn’t tell me.”

  “That doesn’t surprise me,” she said. “He never likes to draw attention to himself.”

  “Which is exactly why he gets so much attention,” I added.

  She nodded. I wasn’t telling her anything she didn’t already know.

  “Would you come to lunch on Sunday?” she asked. “We’ll surprise him with a little get-together, just the three of us.”

  “I’d love that!”

  Instantly, my mind whirled with possibilities for a present. With Lucas, it couldn’t be ordinary. It had to be unique, unexpected. But, of course, he wouldn’t want anything extravagant. He’d be embarrassed if I placed too much attention on his birthday.

  It came to me then, the perfect gift for him. Funny, yet special. Something that would commemorate all that had happened between us.

  A group of runners came into sight, just as a sliver of sunlight peeked trough a tiny break in the clouds. They curved around the bend in the road on the hill above the school. One runner broke from the pack, as if a burst of energy propelled him forward toward the finish line.

  I knew at once it was Lucas.

  Gwen and I cheered as he came down the hill toward the parking lot, faster and faster, traveling further from the rest with every stride, as if he’d saved his last burst of energy for the end of the race. I decided that must’ve been exactly the strategy, because other runners did the same thing, but with much less effect than Luke.

  He crossed the line first, to the cheers of his coaches, his mom, and, of course, me. He only took a moment to catch his breath, down half a bottle of water, and then he came toward us. He kissed Gwen on the cheek, then scooped me up in his arms and twirled me around, as if having me there waiting for him was the best thing in the world.

  The heat from his body seeped through the layers of my clothes and warmed me as I wrapped my arms around his neck. He smelled a bit sweaty from his run, but not in a bad way. In a way that reminded me how hard Luke worked for the things that meant something to him.

  While watching the world spin as Lucas laughed and twisted around, I thought this must be what falling in love felt like.

  Yikes.

  CHAPTER 17

  Ashley Emerson was as pretty as I remembered, with bright green eyes and the kind of dark auburn hair I’d always wished I had. But mine was just one shade off it seemed... all of the brown without the hint of red. And she was just as friendly today, when I walked into Emerson’s antiques after my Saturday shift at String City.

  “Looking for anything specific?” she asked.

  “Actually, yes,” I answered. “And I think I remember exactly where it is.”

  She waited at the counter while I made my way to the back room. I found what I wanted quickly, pausing for a moment to recall being here several weeks ago
with Lucas.

  The musty smell once again seemed pleasant and welcoming, rather than old and moldy. I’d wondered if coming back here would feel awkward. It didn’t. Instead, it felt comforting, familiar, correct. Of course, my knowledge that this was most likely the place the people in our dreams had lived added to the emotional effect the place had on me.

  Still, no vision erupted in my mind, as it had the last time I was here.

  I glanced around the room once, trying to imagine it as it had been in my dream, with a wood burning stove and wooden table. The room was small, and though several short rows and cabinets of antiques now filled its walls, as a kitchen the table and stove were probably the extent of what it could hold. I closed my eyes, concentrating on the feel of the room, the air temperature, the scent, the uneven slope of the floor beneath my feet.

  When nothing happened, I made my way back up front.

  “Interesting choice,” Ashley said, ringing up my purchase.

  “Sort of an inside joke.”

  She laughed, a musical laugh that made me feel warm inside. “Well, I hope he appreciates it.”

  “How long has this house been an antique store?” I asked, hoping to prod just a bit into the history of the place, without rousing suspicion.

  “My mother-in-law opened it three years ago,” she said. “I’ve been working since earlier this year, since I married into the family. My husband is Seth Emerson.”

  “Did anyone live here before that?” I handed her my money.

  “Not for several years.” She counted out my change. “Seth’s grandparents lived here until the early nineties, but then it became difficult for them to maintain, so they moved into a condo for elderly residents in Camden. It sat empty for almost seventeen years before the store opened.”

  “That’s sad,” I said. “That they had to leave their home. Are they still in Camden?”