“Not a chance, buddy. This is my new favorite shop.”
The woman behind the counter turned around. “You must be Jennifer. “I’m Sherry, Michael’s mother. I can’t thank you enough for helping him out. Anytime you want a permanent job, I’d be delighted to hire you.”
Sherry’s smile drew Jen in. There was something familiar about her . . . Wide green eyes. Pixie cut black hair. It should be longer. The memory bloomed. A stranger in a green dress that matched her eyes. Her head tipped back, sending a rain of black hair almost to her waist. Looking up at Jeremy as if he’d hung the moon.
“What’s wrong?” Sherry asked. “You look as if you’d seen a ghost.”
Jen muttered something unintelligible and ran from the shop.
Lance glanced up from the message he’d been tapping. “Problem?”
“Jeremy’s Sherry owns my shop. She’s Michael’s mother. We have to tell him.”
~ ~ ~
Jeremy’s bed was empty.
So was the lab. The smell of burnt wires still emanated from the broken door.
Lance frowned at the monitor. “He left the machines on.” He picked up the note propped against the keyboard. Jen wasn’t going to like this.
The thrum of the computers muted the rhythmic sound of hammering.
“Maybe he’s talking to the workers. I’ll go check.”
Lance put out an arm to stop her. “No. He’s gone. He used the machine.”
“How?” Jen asked. “The door’s broken.”
“One of the other doors.”
Jen stared at the row of closed doors. “We have to follow him. Which one?”
Lance handed her the note Jeremy had left.
Jen read it aloud. “Someone once told me there’s no difference between a memory and a vivid dream. Now I believe it. I dreamed five years last night. I know how to find Sherry. I’ve calibrated the machine to take me to the day after she came back to her future. Wish me luck. We’ll catch up sooner or later.”
“But she’s here,” Jen wailed. “He could have seen her here.”
“No.” Lance folded his now and only love into his arms. “Their future hasn’t happened yet. But it will. It’s just a matter of time.”
Epilogue
Sussex. December 24, 2016
“Rummy.” Jen threw down her last card. “You owe me a million pounds, Kat. Want to swap out for your first-born?”
The first-born in question sat in her grandfather’s lap trying to pull his ears off; screaming with laughter at Jeremy’s pretend moans.
Daniel gathered up the cards. “How about we give you babysitting rights in perpetuity?”
“Today I’d give you Abby in a heartbeat, but I’d probably regret it tomorrow.” Kat continued nursing baby Daniel. “I don’t suppose you’d like to get her ready for bed?”
“You suppose correctly.” Jen dealt out another hand. “I haven’t taken all Michael’s money yet. Let her grandparents do it.”
Jen looked to where her own mother and Sherry sat near the Christmas tree, heads close together. “Sherry, Kat says you and Jeremy can give Abby her bath. Aren’t you lucky?”
Sherry rose instantly, and held out her hand to her granddaughter. “Come, Abby. Grandpa and I have a wonderful new story to tell you.”
The look Sherry and Jeremy exchanged was so full of love that Jen’s eyes prickled. She cleared her throat. “I hope they don’t tell her about one of their adventures. I don’t know how they do it. I can’t imagine willingly using that bloody machine again.”
Michael studied his cards. “Better them than me. It keeps them young.”
Michael had grown from a lanky boy to a quite spectacular man. So wrong. A successful doctor still single. “Some lovely girls are coming tomorrow for the party.”
“No matchmaking. As it happens, I’m seeing someone. Rummy.” Michael spread out his cards and rose from the table. “I’ve got to make a phone call.”
He had a perfect hand. Outrageous!
Lance dropped a kiss on the back of her neck. “If you’re done taking everyone’s money?”
She arched her neck into his kiss. How was it possible love could continue to grow? “I’m ready.” She rose. “We’ll see you lot tomorrow. Merry Christmas.”
Lance helped her on with her coat. “It’s freezing,” he murmured in her ear. “Sure you’re up for this?”
She pressed a kiss on the corner of his mouth. “Always.”
The moon was a thin slice in the black, starry sky. Exactly as it had been the first night, so long ago.
Hand in hand they walked through the rose garden to the folly. The marble edifice, built for her great, great grandmother, had twinkle lights strung over its pillars and around the surrounding shrubbery. She pointed to the circular bench inside the folly. “That’s where you sat. All hunched over. The moon glinted off your glasses. Your cheeks were wet.”
“I wasn’t crying.”
“Liar.”
“And you sat down beside me. A little bit of a girl, with straggly pigtails. You patted me and said . . .”
“Don’t cry. I’ll marry you when I grow up. And you said—”
“I’m never going to get married.”
She lifted her face for his kiss. “Aren’t you glad you were wrong?” The love she saw in his eyes quickened her pulse.
“Always.”
Also from Susan B. James and Soul Mate Publishing:
TIME AND FOREVER
When Lorena finds The Castle, which specializes in Virtual Reality adventures to any point in time, she and her friend both jump at the chance to play. But when the door opens to 1969's London, it's apparent they've walked into more than just a game.
Available on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/yba3z6mp
Maybe This Time (A Second Chance Romance) Page 20