“Jamie,” Nate said.
“Hmmm,” she said, lost in herself, the fire, the music.
“I know that I’m going to cross a line right now, and I know I’ll probably lose you at the clinic, but I want to kiss you.”
Jamie opened her eyes and sat up on her elbows. She looked at Nate who looked back at her. She laughed.
“Okay,” she said. “I want to kiss you, too.”
Nate sat up then and brought Jamie’s face to his. His lips touched hers gently, then urgently. Their tongues slid together, in and out, sliding around, together.
Nate pulled away. “If we do this,” he said, “I’m going to want to be together with you. I don’t give myself to just anyone.”
Jamie laughed softly. “Me either,” she said. She found his mouth again and drew him in. They moved their hands over each other while they kissed, up in their shirts to their skin, down lower. Nate unzipped Jamie’s jeans and slid them off her. He pulled her shirt over her head. She unzipped him and pulled his jeans down below his hips. He pushed his hardness against her nude body then, and skin touched skin. He slid out of his jeans and shirt and they rubbed their nakedness together. Nate gently pushed Jamie back against the pillow and got on top of her. She sighed as he entered her. Together, they moved against each other as the Stones sang “Playing with Fire.” Nate moved in and out of her, rubbing against her, before moving away and coming back again. Jamie was carried away to another place as she neared her climax, and then she gasped. Nate groaned a second later. She wrapped her legs around him, and he stayed inside of her for a few moments.
He moved off of her slowly and lay back on the pillow. The fire crackled and smelled smoky and woodsy. The Stones had moved on to “Satisfaction.” They looked at each other and laughed.
“I know that every employer’s handbook in the country says we weren’t supposed to do that,” Nate said.
“Probably,” Jamie said. “But I’m glad we did it.” After a while, they got up and went to Jamie’s bed. They reached for each other again. Jamie was hungry. Very hungry. She wanted to kiss him, taste him, feel him inside of her. She couldn’t get enough of Nate.
“I’m going to have to tell Stacie,” Jamie said the next morning. “She’s going to figure it out. I’ve got to tell her ahead of time.”
“This is a little embarrassing,” Nate said. “But I guess she’s got to know. I hope she takes it all right.”
Nate left Jamie’s house in the early evening. He had been gone for thirty minutes when Stacie called.
“I’m back,” she said.
“How was it?” Jamie asked.
“It was better than I ever imagined it could be,” Stacie said. “I really can’t believe how good it was to see him. He seems so much more mature now.”
“That’s good,” Jamie said. She didn’t know how to bring up the fact that she had been with Nate.
“This may sound crazy,” Stacie said. “But we’re going to give it another try. We’re going to be together.”
“That doesn’t sound crazy,” Jamie said. “There’s nothing like being with someone you already know.” How did Jamie know anything about that? She didn’t, but it sounded good to say. Sounded good to think about being with someone you knew. An image of Tommy’s face floated in front of her mind, but she pushed it away.
Stacie kept talking about her weekend, where she and Dustin had gone for New Year’s, Dustin’s apartment, his job. She was bubbling over with excitement.
“So how was your New Year’s?” Stacie finally asked. “Sorry to go on and on about Dustin. How was it here on the home front? Did you see Nate?”
“I did see Nate,” Jamie said. “I saw him a lot.”
“What does that mean?” Stacie asked with a suspicious tone in her voice.
“It means that we saw each other on New Year’s Eve. It means we got together.”
“What do you mean ‘got together’”? Stacie asked.
It was hard for Jamie to say it outright. “I mean that we’re together now. We’re a couple.”
“Oh my God!” Stacie shouted into the phone. “Are you kidding me?”
“Not kidding,” Jamie said.
“I’m not surprised,” Stacie said. “Well, I am surprised. But I’ve seen the way you look at each other. It seemed like something that was going to happen.”
“You never told me that,” Jamie said.
“I didn’t want to freak you out, girlfriend,” Stacie said. “But it’s been sort of obvious for a while now.”
“We don’t want it to have any affect on work or our relationship with you,” Jamie said. “We know it’s not necessarily the easiest thing to deal with.”
“Hell, don’t worry about me,” Stacie said. “My two favorite people have found each other. I’m a happy camper.”
Jamie blushed the first time she saw Nate at the clinic after they had been together. He gave her a sly smile. Once, when she was in the supply room, he came in and shut the door. He moved behind her and nuzzled her neck. She turned and kissed him.
“We need to control ourselves better,” she said laughing. “This is not professional.” Nate rubbed up against her. “You’re right,” he said. But he didn’t stop. She kissed him. “We’ve got to get back to work,” she said.
Stacie and Dustin started seeing each other every weekend. He came down to Grahamville the week after New Year’s and they all went on a double date to a restaurant in Athens. When they got back to Grahamville, the couples separated and Nate went back to Jamie’s house.
It was cold and rainy in the mountains through January and February. Every other weekend, Jamie and Nate spent time with Stacie and Dustin. On the other weekends, Jamie and Nate were together at one or the other’s house. They cooked together and they slept together. Jamie felt secure and comfortable with Nate. By April, when the trees had green baby leaves and flowers had started to push their heads out of the ground, Jamie and Nate were inseparable.
On a sunny Friday in late April, Lela rushed Darma in to the clinic. It was another asthma attack, only this one was worse. Jamie gave the child oxygen and sat by her bed holding her hand. She considered taking Darma to the hospital in Athens, but the girl started to get better. She calmed down.
As Jamie sat at Darma’s side, the little girl looked at Jamie with her brown Native eyes. She looked into Jamie’s Native eyes.
“I’ve got something to tell you,” she said.
“What’s that, Darma?” Jamie asked the little girl.
“Tommy loves you,” she said.
Jamie felt the blood drain out of her. How could Darma know anything about Tommy? What was she even talking about? The girl must be delirious.
“What do you mean?” Jamie said.
“It’s a message for you,” Darma said in her little girl voice. She was talking in a way that was too big for her. She didn’t sound like a three-year-old. She sounded like an old woman. “Tommy loves you,” she said. “He’s waiting.” Darma closed her eyes then. Stacie looked at Jamie. “What’s she talking about?” she said in a whisper to Jamie.
“I have no idea,” Jamie said. “I think she’s not thinking straight due to lack of oxygen or something.”
Jamie left the room then, leaving Darma in the capable hands of Stacie. She walked back to the supply room and stood with her hands on the counter. She didn’t know how she was going to go back out and work as a doctor. Darma had mentioned Tommy’s name when she had no idea who he was. Jamie crumpled against the counter and put her face in her hands. Tommy.
Chapter Four
After that first day that Jamie had seen Tommy’s garden, she got off the bus at his house every day for the rest of the year. There wasn’t much of the year left. It was late May and school ended for the summer in early June. Jamie told her mother that Tommy was teaching her about organic gardening and would it be all right if Tommy walked her home later. Her mother had no problem with that. She knew Tommy’s family, had known them for years. It was oka
y.
The next time that Tommy and Jamie walked through the path from his land to hers, Jamie noticed a definite difference. The path was clear. There were no branches or bushes reaching out to grab her long hair. Tommy had trimmed all of the branches. It must have taken him a long time to do that. It was a long path.
When school was over for the summer, Jamie got up every morning and walked the path to Tommy’s garden. He was waiting for her. He showed her his organic fertilizers, which included manure teas. That seemed disgusting to Jamie, but Tommy explained it all to her. He gave her a watering can with manure tea and she poured it all around the roots of the vegetables, like Tommy showed her.
Tommy walked Jamie home every day at the end of the day. They walked through the forest path, stopping off at the lake. Tommy had found a blanket and kept it in a plastic garbage bag, which he placed under a large flat rock in the overhang. When they stopped at the midpoint on the lake, beside the big willow tree that was bent over craving the water, they pushed the willow branches aside to get into the overhang. No one could see them there, if anyone happened to walk down the path, which was very unlikely. Tommy pulled out the blanket. He spread it on the ground. They were in their own private world.
They kissed, but their kisses had gotten intense. It was much more than kisses they were doing out there in the overhang on the blanket. They were exploring each other’s bodies, rubbing their hands all over every part of themselves. They kissed long and passionately. They put their hands down each other’s pants. Tommy unhooked her bra and rubbed her breasts and nipples. And then, one day in June, Tommy told Jamie that he had gotten some condoms.
“I don’t know what you’re thinking,” he said to her. “But if we’re going to do it, then I want to be prepared. I’m not gonna lie to you. I want us to be together, but only if you want to.”
Jamie thought about nothing but doing it with Tommy. It’s all she wanted to do in the entire world. She was relieved he had bought condoms. She didn’t know where he got them—surely not anywhere near their hometown—but she was glad he got them. She was ready to move to the next step with Tommy. It felt right.
“I’m ready,” she said. She kissed Tommy again. He had already removed her jeans and panties. His jeans were already unzipped and Jamie had been rubbing him for several minutes. Tommy pushed his jeans off and rubbed against her while they kissed. He stopped then and put the condom on. Jamie was on fire with anticipation of what was to come. She couldn’t believe that she was actually going to have sex, and she welcomed it. She loved Tommy.
“Are you sure?” Tommy said as he rolled over onto her. Their bodies were close, melded together. He was ready.
“I’m sure, Tommy,” she said. “I’m sure.”
He guided himself into her, and there was a sharp stab of pain at first. But then Tommy was filling her and she moved against him. It was everything she wanted. It was more than she thought it would be. “I love you, Tommy,” she said, her voice thick with passion.
Tommy got his license in June when he turned sixteen. When the weather turned cold, he and Jamie started going out in Tommy’s mother’s car. They went to the movies or out to eat at a diner on the edge of town where other high school kids hung out. But at the end of the night, Tommy found a place to park where they could be together. He knew of secret paths off dirt roads where no one would find them. Jamie and Tommy grappled in the confined space of the backseat, which was more difficult for Tommy and his tall frame, but they always managed to get where they wanted to be. They always managed.
But in the warm months, when the days were warm and long, they went to the overhang, their first place. Their best place. They were always careful, always used a condom.
When they were in the fall of their senior year, and they were in the overhang because it was still warm enough for that, Tommy said, “My parents want me to go to college, but I’ve told them I don’t need to. I know what I want to do. I’m doing it.”
Jamie was still lying on the blanket, but she sat up. “I know you are,” she said.
“I don’t want them to spend a bunch of money they don’t have to send me to college. I don’t need it. It’s not like I’m some country bumpkin that doesn’t know how to read. I read all the time. But I don’t need to go to college.”
Tommy sat up beside Jamie. “But you might want to go to college,” he said.
“My parents want me to go, but I don’t want to. If I go to college and you stay here, then we’ll be separated. There’s no telling what might happen. I wouldn’t want anything to happen, but I don’t know.”
“I don’t want to keep you from doing something you might want to do,” Tommy said. “You’re super smart. You’ll get scholarships. I don’t want to hold you back.”
“Tommy,” she said gently. “I don’t want to leave you. I want to be with you.”
“I need you to be sure about that,” he said.
“I’m sure. Why would I want to leave you? I love you.”
“I know we’re young,” Tommy said. “But I feel like I’ve found the person I want to be with forever.”
“Me too,” she said touching his arm. “I want to be with you forever.”
“Then I want us to get married,” Tommy said. “I want us to work for our future as a couple. I want to have children together.”
Even though they were only seventeen, they only wanted each other. They wanted their life to be together.
That was the day they decided to get married, but they didn’t tell their parents until their senior year was nearly over. They decided on a wedding in Tommy’s garden, and no matter what either of their parents said about college, they were determined. Finally, all of the parents gave in. They were up against a force of love that none of them had ever seen. Jamie and Tommy would be married in June, two weeks after they graduated from high school. They would live in the cottage near Tommy’s grandparents’ farmhouse. Everything was set.
And then Tommy died.
Chapter Five
Nate walked into the supply room while Jamie was gripping the edges of the countertop.
“Hey,” he said with concern. “Stacie said you left the room and she was worried. Are you okay?”
Jamie took a deep breath and turned to look at Nate. Her heart melted when she saw the concern on his face.
“I’ve got a splitting headache,” she said. “I’ve had it all morning, but it’s getting worse.”
Nate put his arms around her. “I think you need to go home,” he said. “I’ll give you something for the headache.”
Jamie breathed in Nate’s clean smell as she put her head on his chest.
“I don’t want to leave you and Stacie here to handle everything. I think if I take something, I might be all right in a while.”
“No,” Nate said. “We’ll be fine. I want you to go home and sleep it off.”
Jamie accepted. She really did want to get out of the clinic and get home so she could try to deal with what Darma had said.
“Okay,” she said. “I won’t argue with you.”
Nate handed Jamie some samples of painkillers. “Call me later,” he said. “When you wake up.”
Jamie rushed home. She needed to feel solid, connect with her house, her current mind. She needed to stop thinking about Tommy, the past, her ruined life. What she didn’t need was a painkiller, because she had no headache.
It was only two in the afternoon, but Jamie poured herself a glass of wine and sat on the couch. Why did Darma say those things? How could Darma possibly know anything about Tommy? How could she know that Tommy loved her? And what did she mean when she said, “He’s waiting.” What did that mean? Waiting where?
She had wanted nothing more than for Tommy to come back to her somehow. After he died, Jamie had prayed deeply. She had been so desperate for Tommy that she had found incantations online to reach the afterlife. She had bought a ouija board and tried to contact him. She had visited a palm reader with her friend Rayna. But nothing br
ought her back to Tommy or Tommy back to her.
Tommy had been dead for three days when he first visited Jamie in her dreams. “Tommy!” she screamed. “You’re dead.”
“I am?” he said. “Why am I dead?”
“You went over the cliff,” she said. “But I don’t know why. No one knows why you went over the cliff.”
Tommy had faded out from her dream then and she had awakened thinking he was there. It took her a moment to realize that Tommy wasn’t there. Tommy was never going to be there again.
Now, Jamie sat on her couch with her glass of wine. Eventually, she got off the couch and walked out her back door to the garden. All of the flowers she had planted along the back of the house were starting to bloom—petunias and cornflowers, marigolds and Queen Anne’s Lace. The dogwood tree in the corner of the backyard was near the end of its bloom time with a lacework of white flowers covering the tree. Jamie had planted a small plot with herbs that were big enough to be snipped for supper. She knew how to grow plants. She had learned that from Tommy.
Jamie sat on the back porch for a while. A gentle breeze blew in, caressing her face. She had a hard time getting Darma’s little serious face out of her mind. It had been so long since she had seen Tommy. So long since he had died. She was happy now, with a new life. She was falling in love now with Nate, and she was sure that he was falling in love with her. He was going to be telling her he loved her any day now. Or she would tell him first. But it was a real love. She wanted a life with Nate and his passion to help people in need. She wanted to live in the cabin he was going to build up in the hills. She wanted Nate. She loved him.
When the sun went down, Jamie had decided that she was going to tell Nate she loved him the very next time she saw him. They usually spent every night together, but tonight was different. She had gone home sick. She went inside and undressed. She pulled the covers back from her bed and got in.
Come Down In Time (A Time Travel Romance) Page 4