Jamie walked up the bank of the lake and stepped onto the path. It was dark in the woods, too dark. She reached in her jeans pocket for her iPhone. It had a flashlight on it. But she pulled out a flip top phone, like the one she had years ago. No flashlight. Jamie was scared now and began to moan softly. Tears filled her eyes. She didn’t know what to do, where to go. But she knew one thing: she had to get out of the woods.
It was a long walk, but she kept putting one foot in front of the other, hoping that when she emerged in her own yard, this nightmare would be over. She finally saw the opening and ran for it. She ran all the way through the pasture. When she got close to the house, she noticed her mother’s vegetable garden was lush with leaves and fruit.
Her mother stood at the stove frying chicken in a cast iron skillet.
“Mom!” she screamed. Her mother turned to look at her. She was younger, her hair with no trace of gray.
“What is it, honey? You don’t have to shout.”
“Why is my hair long?” she asked desperately.
“Because it’s gorgeous?” she said. “You’ve always worn it long.”
“No, I cut it years ago. It’s not supposed to be long.”
Her mother turned off the stove and walked over to Jamie with a look of concern. “Are you all right?” she asked. “Why are you talking like this?”
“Something’s happened,” Jamie said. “I went to the lake and fell asleep. When I woke up, I wasn’t me anymore.”
“Of course you’re you,” her mother said. “Are you getting sick?” She felt Jamie’s forehead.
“I’m not sick. I must be dreaming, but it’s the most real dream I’ve ever had. Everything seems so real.”
“Everything is real, honey.”
Jamie heard her father in the den. “Turn it down some, son,” he said. She could hear the war sounds of a video game. She walked into the den. Bobby was playing a game on his PlayStation; her father was in his recliner reading the newspaper.
“Bobby?” Jamie said.
“Yeah?” he said. He didn’t look up from his game.
“How old are you?”
“That’s a dumb question,” he said. “You know I’m thirteen.”
“Jamie, I think I need to call the doctor,” her mother said behind her.
Jamie looked at her, then back at her father and Bobby. She was caught in something, but she didn’t know what. A dream? It must be.
“No, Mom,” she said. “I just need to lie down. I’ve got a headache.”
“I’ll bring you something,” her mother said.
Jamie walked slowly up the stairs and opened the door to her room. Her mother had made her bed and smoothed out her pink rosebud comforter. Jamie took her shoes off and lay back against the pillows. She was frightened. Maybe she should let her mother call the doctor.
A few minutes later, her mother came in with some Advil and a glass of water. Jamie sat up and took the pills, then lay back down.
“I’m worried about you, honey,” her mother said.
“I’m okay. I don’t know what came over me,” Jamie said. The last thing she wanted to do was worry her mother.
“I ironed your gown. It was so wrinkled, I couldn’t stand it.”
“What gown?” Jamie asked.
“Your graduation gown, silly,” her mother said. “You do remember that you’re graduating tomorrow, don’t you?” The worry came back on her face.
Graduation! Tomorrow! The day Tommy died. She was going to live that all over again.
Unless she changed it.
“I need to get there extra early since I have to speak,” she said. “Can I take your car?”
“I thought Tommy was picking you up,” her mother said.
“He is, but there’s no reason for him to get there that early. I need to call him.”
“That reminds me,” her mother said. “He called earlier looking for you. Said he couldn’t get you on your cell phone.”
After her mother left the room and closed the door, Jamie flipped open her phone. There were three missed calls, which must have been from Tommy. That was good, because she couldn’t remember his phone number. Her hand trembled as she pressed the call back button.
“Where have you been?” Tommy said when he answered. Jamie started to cry when she heard him. She had forgotten his rich, lazy voice.
“What’s wrong, sugar?” Tommy said. He always called her sugar. How could she have forgotten that?
“I can’t believe I’m hearing your voice after all this time. I know I’m in a dream right now, but your voice sounds just like it did.”
Tommy was silent for a moment. “Are you playing a trick on me?” Tommy asked. “Because it’s not very funny.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I went to the overhang and fell asleep out there. I’ve got a headache. But what I want to tell you is that I’m going over early to the school tomorrow so you don’t need to pick me up.”
“I can go early, too,” he said.
“No!” she said sharply. “I don’t want you driving over here tomorrow at all. Something terrible is going to happen if you do.”
“Like what?” he said.
“Like a terrible accident. I can see it and I want to stop it. Please promise me that you won’t come down that road tomorrow.”
Tommy sighed. “Okay,” he said. “I promise. You always have been psychic, so I’m not going to mess with that.”
“I love you, Tommy,” Jamie said. “Always and forever. I hope I get to see you before this dream is over.”
“Sugar, I wish I knew what you’re talking about. I love you, too. See you at graduation.”
Jamie got up and went into the bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror for the first time since the dream started. Her eighteen-year-old self looked back at her. She stared at herself for a long time.
Back on the bed, Jamie pushed in Nate’s number. It rang and rang. Finally, he answered.
“Nate! I was hoping you would answer. Something very weird is happening to me.”
“Who is this?” he said.
“It’s Jamie. Is this Nate?”
“Yes.”
“Nate Abbott? Dr. Nate Abbott?”
“Yes, but I don’t know anyone named Jamie,” he said.
“What year is it?” she asked Nate.
“I don’t know what this is about,” he said. “But it’s 2001.”
She knew that already, didn’t she? Did she really think she was going to reach through time and get in touch with Nate, the man she was going to marry? He didn’t even know her yet. If whatever was happening didn’t stop, he was never going to know her.
“I’m sorry, Nate. I guess I got the wrong person.”
“Okay,” he said. “Bye.”
“Bye.”
She lay back on her bed again. She wanted to see Tommy so much it was killing her, but she wanted to try to get her bearings straight, figure out what was going on, what she should tell Tommy without him thinking she’s crazy.
Someone knocked softly on her door.
“Come in,” she called.
Her mother came in carrying a tray. “Sit up, honey. I’ve brought you some supper.” She put the tray in front of Jamie and the smell of the fried chicken wafted up to her nose.
“Thanks, Mom,” she said.
Jamie picked up a drumstick and sank her teeth into it. She sighed with pleasure. It had been too long since she had tasted her mother’s fried chicken. She took a bite of the creamy mashed potatoes and gravy. May as well enjoy it, she thought. We won’t be eating like this in a decade or so.
The meal filled Jamie up and when she lay back again, she was drowsy. I need to see Tommy, she thought. I want to wake up back here again so I can see him. Please, God, let me wake up in 2001. I need to know that Tommy doesn’t die.
The sun was streaming through Jamie’s windows the next morning when she woke up. She needed to get up and make her father’s breakfast. Then she remembered yesterday. A
day that had started out in 2013 and ended up in 2001. A day when she talked to Tommy again. She reached up and felt her hair and smoothed it all the way down to her waist. It was still 2001.
After she showered and blew dry her hair, she went downstairs where the smell of bacon greeted her.
“It’s almost ready, honey,” her mother said from the stove.
Jamie walked over to the coffeemaker and poured herself a cup.
“Do we have any cream?” she asked.
“When did you start drinking coffee?” her mother asked.
“Oh, I don’t really drink it much. Just sometimes. Like today. I want to be good and awake when I give the valedictorian speech.”
“It’s a good speech,” her mother said.
“Do you know where it is? I couldn’t find it?”
“Probably in your purse.”
“Do you know where my purse is?”
Her mother stopped cooking the eggs and looked at Jamie. She looked like she was trying to decide if Jamie was really all right.
“I’m sure it’s in your room where you always put it.”
Jamie ran back upstairs and found her purse, a little brown leather bag, sitting on the chair. How did she ever use such a small purse? She opened it and found some paper folded over. Her graduation speech. She sat on the bed and read it. How could she have written such drivel? Seriously!
She went back downstairs carrying her speech with her. She sat at the table and marked it up.
“Are you changing it?” her mother asked. She put a plate of bacon, fried eggs, and buttered grits on the table in front of Jamie. Her parents were definitely going to have a sea change in their diet, but why spoil their fun now?
“This is delicious, Mom,” Jamie said. “Really good.”
“Thanks, honey. You’ve never told me that.”
“I should have told you that. You’re a fantastic cook. I learned everything I know from you.”
Her mother blushed. “You’re sweet to say so, honey.”
It was really true, Jamie thought. Youth is wasted on the young. She was in a unique position now to know that. To be able to act differently while she was living in the moment of youth.
Her father came in then, and sat at the table. Her mother put his plate and her plate on the table and they both started to eat.
“Enjoy it, Dad,” Jamie said. “You won’t be able to eat like this forever.”
“Huh?” he said.
“Nothing.” Why did she have to go and say that? She needed to think before she spoke, especially in this strange new world.
After breakfast, Jamie covered a plate for Bobby to be heated up later. She washed all of the dishes and wiped down the countertops. Her mother sat at the table and stared at Jamie in amazement.
“You’d better get ready now,” her mother said. “You need to get to the school. I’m so proud of you, honey.”
Jamie hugged her mother. “Thanks.”
When she came back downstairs, carrying her cap and gown on a hanger, Bobby was in the kitchen eating his heated up breakfast.
“I’ll see y’all at the school,” Jamie said. She walked out into a clear June day. A gentle breeze blew her hair. She drove by the spot where Tommy died, but there would be no dying that day. She was going to see Tommy.
The parking lot was already getting full with students’ cars. As she was driving through, looking for a place to park, she saw a green truck. Tommy had a green truck. He had died in his green truck.
Jamie was so nervous she thought she was going to faint. She closed her car door and started walking toward the school.
“Hey, sugar. Wait up.”
Tommy! She whirled around and there he was, his brown hair shiny in the sun, his arms tan. She dropped her cap and gown and ran to him. He opened his arms right before she got there and she nearly knocked him over. He laughed. Then he put his arms around her.
“I can’t believe it’s you,” she said against his chest. “I’ve missed you so much.”
“I’ve missed you too, sugar. I was a little worried when I couldn’t get in touch yesterday.”
She raised her face up and stood on her tiptoes to reach his lips. She parted them with her tongue and tasted Tommy Grisham for the first time in twelve years.
“I can’t wait till this is all over and we can be together tonight,” Tommy said.
“Me either,” she said. She pressed herself close to him.
“I’m not gonna be able to walk in the place if you keep doing that,” he said. “Oh, wait. I’ve got my graduation gown. That’ll cover anything up.”
They both laughed. She loved Tommy.
Tommy took her hand and they walked into the school, then into the auditorium. The teachers were down front, organizing the students alphabetically. She and Tommy stopped and put on their caps and gowns.
“Jamie,” the principal said when he saw her. “This is where you’re going to sit so you can come up and do your speech.”
“I’m sorry I can’t sit with you,” she said to Tommy.
“I know you’ll do me proud,” Tommy said moving away to his assigned seat on the row behind her. She turned around and looked at him several times while they waited for the auditorium to fill up with parents and grandparents and brothers and sisters and everyone else who wanted to see them graduate.
The lights dimmed and Principal Mackey stood at the podium, telling everyone that it would be his most special graduation because it would be his last. He was going to retire. Then he called Jamie to the podium. “Our valedictorian, Jamie Walters, will now speak to us.”
Jamie walked up the stairs. For some reason, she felt confident. She unfolded her speech and started to read about a new door opening as they started their lives. She read on for a few minutes, and then she put the speech down and looked out at the audience. She saw Tommy and he smiled at her.
“This is what I know,” she said. “I know that our world is going to change drastically.” She was thinking foremost about the twin towers coming down in a heap of metal and fire, taking human lives with its destruction. That event was a mere three months away from that day. She wouldn’t say that, though, because they all would surely think she was crazy. Instead, she said: “Digital technology is already a part of our lives and it’s going to get even bigger. It’s growing faster than we can handle it. We need to find a way to use it without letting it take over our lives. I also know that things are happening in the world, close to home and far, far away from us, that will eventually affect how we live. Things won’t be the same ten years from now. As we go out into that world, we need to find ways to deal with the changes. Most important of all, we need to not just be part of the changing world, but find ways to help it. To heal it. To not turn our backs on our fellow humans. Thank you.”
People began to clap uncertainly as she left the stage, then the clapping got louder and louder as Jamie sat back down in her seat. She turned around and looked at Tommy and he gave her a thumbs-up. Graduation proceeded, like graduations always proceed. No one was killed on the way there that day. Tommy was alive and well.
They walked hand in hand to the reception in the main lobby of the school. Her parents were there with Bobby, who was already at the food table filling his plate. Tommy’s parents were there with his little brother and sister, Jason and Sara. Everyone was there. She wasn’t asking her parents frantically if they had seen Tommy’s parents.
As the reception wound down and people were starting to leave, Tommy put his arm around her. He whispered in her ear. “Let’s got to our place,” he said.
“Mom,” Jamie said. “Can you drive your car back home? I’m going with Tommy.”
“Of course, honey,” she said. What a great mother she was. If only Jamie had fully realized that the first time she had been eighteen.
Tommy drove them to his house and parked his truck. His parents weren’t back yet, and they jumped out and ran to the back. Tommy’s garden was full and green. They walked through
it and into the pasture beyond, taking off running when they hit the cornfield. They ran all the way to the opening in the woods. They stopped before going in. They were gasping and out of breath. Tommy leaned down and gave her a kiss. “Congratulations, valedictorian. You gave a hell of a speech.”
She followed Tommy on the path and down into the overhang. He got the blanket out and spread it on the floor of the cave. They lay back together kissing. She reached for his belt buckle, still kissing him, their tongues moving in and out of each others’ mouths, sliding along their lips. She unzipped his jeans and pulled his pants off.
“You’re hot for it today,” he said.
“I’m hot for Tommy,” she said. “I’m going to get a tattoo on my butt that says that.”
“You mean right here?” Tommy said, grabbing her butt and pulling her close to him. She parted her legs and drew him into her right away. She wanted to feel Tommy Grisham inside of her again. Her hips rocked against him as he thrust. When she moaned, he joined her. Afterward, she lay in his arms listening to the birds in the woods.
They both began to get drowsy, as they often did after lovemaking in the overhang. Then she got a clear message, a voice shouting in her head. Do not fall asleep, it said. It sounded like a little girl voice. She sat up abruptly and started getting dressed.
“What are you doing?” Tommy asked. “I was about to fall asleep.”
“I need to get going,” she said. “I’ll come over later, okay?”
Tommy put his jeans on and zipped them up. He buckled his belt.
“I can’t wait until we’re married and don’t have to answer to anyone else,” he said.
“Me either,” she said. “It won’t be long.”
He kissed her on the path, and he started down one way, and she the other. She turned around once, before he was lost to her sight, and said, “I love you, Tommy.” He waved at her. “I love you, too, sugar.”
Jamie and Tommy had been given a second chance.
Chapter Eight
“Don’t move,” Jamie’s mother said around the pins in her mouth. Jamie stood on a stool and her mother sat on the floor, pinning up the hem of her wedding dress. She wore the white lace-up ankle boots she had chosen so the hem would be right. Her mother put pins into the hem. “Now turn just a little,” she said. Jamie turned as her mother instructed. Around and around she went until her mother had placed the last pin in the hem.
Come Down In Time (A Time Travel Romance) Page 7