Never Say Never (Resetter Series Book 2)

by Brenda Barrett

  Duke's apartment was across from his at the Jefferson Building. Travis had just had a tension filled dinner with Amelia where he had sat down and listened incredulously as she outlined their wedding. Which designer she was going to use for her dress, the location, their honeymoon.

  "It has to be huge." She had grinned like a Cheshire cat. "As your wife who do you think I should align myself with?"

  Amelia had asked with a dreamy look in her eyes. "The artist crowd, the business crowd or should I position myself as a charity maven? You know, continue with your disabled charity efforts. Why disabilities though? Why not animals, that's more my cup of tea."

  Travis had not reacted.

  "Come on, Travis," she had rubbed her belly. "We need to plan this."

  It was no wonder that he was walking in the rain all the way to the Jefferson Building. He had left his car in the parking lot because he needed to think.

  Throughout dinner the one question that he kept on asking himself was, what was Amelia like in the timeline before?

  Had he met her?

  He had not recorded a thing about her anywhere. Not one line. And he had a feeling after listening to her at dinner that this whole scenario was wrong.

  He walked straight to his shower when he went into the apartment he was dripping wet anyway.

  He allowed the water to sluice all over his face and hair and he searched his brain for a solution to this dilemma that he was now facing.

  There was nothing. He was going to have to marry this woman who he currently had no feelings for, who seemed to be an unashamed social climber. She was planning their wedding and he hadn't even proposed.

  The rest of his life was going to be hell. In the previous timeline he was imprisoned in a wheelchair, this time he would be imprisoned in a marriage.

  And what about Sky?

  The thought came to him when he was getting dressed. She had loved him when he was Travis Jefferson, a crippled university lecturer.

  He passed her pictures on his way out the apartment, stopping to stare at her graduation picture where she was in cap and gown, a smile on her pretty face. Garfield had acquired her pre graduation photos for him. He had it framed.

  He imagined her eyes accusing him of being an idiot. He opened the door to his apartment and saw his father in the corridor standing before Duke's apartment a six-pack of beer in his hands.

  "He told you about the new big screen television?" Travis asked grinning.

  "Yup." Miguel grinned and then squinted at him. "What's wrong?"

  "I'll come and tell you." Travis closed his door at the same time Duke opened his.

  "I am coming over," Travis looked up.

  Duke nodded. "Cool. I don't drink, Dad," he muttered gesturing to the beer.

  "This is Milly's veggie beer," Miguel snorted. "You had better have this, there is more at home, much more."

  Travis headed to the apartment and was promptly handed a veggie beer, which surprisingly didn't taste bad.

  "Milly could make a go of producing this." He held it up to the light. It was green.

  "Uh-huh," Miguel mumbled. "It shouldn't be called beer. Maybe veggie soda?"

  Duke still had not touched his. "I refuse to taste it."

  "Come on, support your sister," Miguel laughed, "rescue me from the loads of the stuff she dumped at the house."

  Travis watched the day's football match with his dad and Duke and then he told them the news.

  "Are you sure she's pregnant?" Duke was the one to ask after Travis finished telling them his story.

  Miguel turned down the volume on the television and looked at him.

  "I don't know." Travis sighed. "She is already planning our wedding and is talking about being the mother of the Jefferson heir."

  "Jefferson heir?" Duke whispered and then he laughed. "Are we royalty?"

  "That's the same thing I asked." Travis smirked. "Maybe she thought Duke's name was a title."

  "I knew she was a social climber the minute I spotted her at dinner with you that night," Duke said. "Don't marry her. You'll regret it."

  Miguel sighed. "But on the other hand, if she's pregnant with your child it is the responsible thing to do. Bring her to the house to meet us. Your mother won't care if she is the witch of Endor if she is carrying her grandchild."

  "What about Sky?" Duke asked. "Your other timeline girl. The woman you have been talking about for the last twenty odd years, long before she was even born? What about her?"

  "I don't know." Travis got up and stretched.

  "I think you should contact her," Duke said, "Write her emails anonymously and when she is done with school, get her a job here at Jefferson's. You'll get to see her everyday. You guys will fall in love again and you'll live happily ever after. Music— the end."

  "Good idea." Miguel nodded, "but there is still pregnant girl. What's her name?"

  "Amelia Perkins." Travis answered absently. He was already thinking of Duke's idea. Contact with Sky.

  He could easily get her email address from Garfield. The next two years wouldn't be so lonely after all.

  "Thanks guys," he nodded to Duke. "I think you are the best brother in the world, you know that?"

  "Of course I am," Duke said. "I want you to be happy. You have been sad for a while now, because of your crazy self imposed no contact with Skyler Porter. This Amelia girl won't make you happy."

  Chapter Twenty Three

  Summer 1999

  Sky had the AC blasting on high in Josh's, Upper East Side Apartment in Manhattan. It was the hottest summer in New York's history. She was sure of it even if the news channels weren't constantly saying so. The heat was like a living thing a wall of impenetrable resistance. She was happy that she had opted to do an Internet based business for her compulsory internship for the summer.

  This way she got to stay inside. She got to create her own company from scratch and she got to hang with Addi who had a cushy job as a model for the summer and she got to spend as much time with her Internet buddy, her unhealthy obsession, TJ.

  They had started corresponding in the summer of '98. He said he was lonely and he was a secret admirer who had been watching her at Mount Faith.

  She had found it funny at the time and a little suspicious but he could tell her very specific things about herself.

  They had quickly moved on from their initial communication to long letters multiple times per day and she should admit she was addicted. He was like a sounding board.

  "He may just be a she," Addi intoned behind her. "You have fallen in love with a girl."

  "Shut up!" Sky looked up from her new laptop. "Why are you hanging around in my head? Shouldn't you be off somewhere having your Barbie doll face painted, showing off your ridiculously long hair and posing prettily?"

  "You sound envious." Addi opened the fridge and then grimaced. "We need groceries."

  "The buffet at the hotel around the corner is low priced," Sky muttered. "If I lived here I would never cook. Hence no need for groceries."

  Addi grabbed a bottle of water and shook her head, "that buffet has too many things I just have to sample. If I gain a pound the camera will pick it up."

  "Don't be crazy, just say no to cake on weekdays, yes on weekends." Sky looked at Addi. "You are turning into one of those fussy model women."

  "Only for the summer." Addi shook her head. "Do you understand how much money I make at one photo shoot? It's crazy! I shouldn't have gone to school. I should have done this and then save and then do something with the money."

  "Hey, watch it." Sky frowned at her. "After this letter to TJ I have to work on my online business… I don't want to hear stuff like that, education is important.

  "Repeat after me, labor for learning before you grow old for learning is better than silver and gold, silver and gold will vanish away but a good education will never decay."

  Addi grinned. "Unless you get hit over the head and you forget all you've labored to learn."

  The phone rang. Ad
di answered and then squealed. "Here? Now? Okay."

  "What?" Sky frowned.

  "Josh is bringing home a friend." Addi leaned on the wall.

  "Okay." Sky nodded. "Is the friend female. Are we going to have to hide in the room while he entertains?"

  "No." Addi twirled her waist length curls around her fingers. "Remember Randy?"

  "Yes." Sky grinned, "Chocolate Randy, Hunk on legs. I do remember him."

  "Well they met at a technology conference in the city." He told Randy we were here and Randy said he wanted to see us again."

  "Cool!" Sky nodded. "It would be good to see how much hunkier he has become. He was pretty spectacular eight years ago."

  Addi groaned. "I am single. I have no life. I still live with my brother. He is going to think I am pathetic!"

  "You are gorgeous and modeling and just finished your first degree. You live in the Upper East Side in an apartment with a view of trees, rent free and didn't you have a boyfriend last month?"

  "Neville." Addi sighed. "He doesn't count. We weren't serious."

  "I should tell TJ that your lover from another time is coming over."

  "Don't mention my name to your secret internet friend." Addi warned. "You don't know who this guy or girl is!"

  Sky snorted. "Even if I tell him he wouldn't believe me. Relax. Tell me who on this earth would take the whole resetting phenomena seriously?"

  "I am going to change." Addi ran to the room that they shared. Sky rolled her eyes. She was in a slip dress, cotton with little yellow flowers on it. She had no desire to change into anything else. Besides, she was not interested in Randy.

  She was interested in no one.

  Well, except TJ, though she didn't know who he was.

  Well, she knew, sort of. He ran a business, a family business. He generally told her about his day. He attended a lot of meetings.

  She figured he couldn't be too busy because he always wrote her back as soon as she wrote to him.

  One night or was it early morning she had bad period cramps and she had written him at two in the morning. He had written her back. He had stayed up with her and distracted her from the pain.

  She wrote him now. she glanced at the clock. It was just eleven forty-five.

  My cousin Addi's lover from another time is coming to visit. She is panicking. She hasn't seen him since 1992…when she changed the timeline. She put a smiley face after the sentence and waited.

  TJ would probably laugh at her, ask her which movie she was watching.

  She waited for his response and got none. Josh even came by with Randy by then she had stopped checking.

  Randy looked delicious. Even Sky had to admit that. He was the type of guy whose biceps women would squeeze to see if they were real, and he had the kind of face that made you look twice and then wonder what kind of genetic mixture made him stand out so much.

  He even made Josh look ordinary, and Josh was good-looking.

  They chitchatted for a while.

  Randy was anxious to see Addi. Sky could tell he kept looking at the door of the bedroom.

  "Isn't she coming out?" Randy asked Sky again.

  Sky grinned. "I have no clue."

  But just then Addi came out of the bedroom in the same outfit she had run in with initially—cut off jeans shirt and singlet top with curls streaming down her back and a face devoid of makeup.

  "Hello Randy," she said solemnly.

  Randy didn't respond for a while. It was crazy; Sky actually thought he was speechless.

  Addi made Randy speechless.

  She heard a ping, which indicated to her that she had new mail and she opened her laptop quickly. It was TJ!

  Was in a meeting.

  How did the meeting go? Sky wrote back: Are you seriously not going to laugh at me?

  TJ wrote: No. Why would I?

  Because I said time travel and timeline and all of that fictional stuff.

  TJ wrote: I haven't seen you since 1975 when I changed my timeline. So I guess I won't laugh.

  Sky laughed out loud and typed back, I knew you weren't serious. I was born 1977.

  Josh looked over at her. "What's so funny?"

  "Just talking with my friend."

  Josh sighed. "I see I am like an extra wheel here. Anybody want us to go to lunch?"

  Sky looked across at Randy and Addi, they were talking, more with their eyes than their lips. They were like magnets to each other. The rest of the room was forgotten.

  "I'll pass." Sky snorted and looked back down at her computer.

  "Me too." Josh muttered. "Hey buddy, Randy! I am going back to the conference."

  "Sure." Randy said not shifting from his seat. His eyes fixed firmly on Addi.

  ****

  December 31, 1999

  I want to meet you before the world ends.

  Travis was sitting on the patio at his parent's house. He had the laptop on the table. He was instant messaging Sky. They had graduated from email for a couple of months now.

  He looked at the simple line and he almost gave in.

  She was in Boston, hadn't bothered to fly home for the Christmas. Her family had met up in New York.

  Josh had bought a house in Manhattan and they had a party there. She had just flown home to Boston.

  He knew more about Sky and what she was thinking and doing than he had ever hoped for. They were basically having a long distance relationship without explicitly stating that it was what they were having.

  He typed back: Why meet now?

  She hated when he took long to respond.

  Because everything will go boom at 12. She typed back. The world will stop.

  But Addi said that she experienced the year 2017, obviously there won't be a boom tonight.

  He chuckled when he was typing.

  Sky typed back: I still can't get over the fact that you believe me about resetters. Why do I want to meet you now? Because I just want to ... I want to put a face to the repository of my thoughts for the last year and a half.

  He replied with the thought that was paramount on his mind: I want to hug you, pull you close to me never let go.

  She was silent for a long time. He had never written her anything so explicit and overly intimate.

  They shared everything over the past couple of months, the inane and the exciting, and yet he hadn't ever stepped over the line until now.

  When can we finally meet? She responded to him.

  Travis sighed in relief. When you are done with school. I am here in Jamaica waiting.

  Are you sure that after all this time you are not a girl?

  Travis laughed and then wrote. I am sure. And all my parts seem to be in working order.

  Do you have any secrets I should know about?

  He was about to write and then he pulled back his hands from the keyboard.

  "Honey," his mother came to the patio entrance. "Come and join us inside for the count down."

  "Coming." Travis looked up and smiled at her. "Let me just finish this conversation."

  His mother looked at the computer and then at him. "You people and those things."

  He wrote to Sky: I have secrets and I will share them with you face to face. Goodnight and Happy New Year. You are the loveliest girl I know.

  ****

  May 14, 2000

  What does TJ stand for?

  You are just asking me this? Travis asked, he was on the way from Toronto Airport after a conference.

  Are you cute?

  No. Cats are cute.

  Lol. I got an invitation to an interview in Jamaica. I will be there in a week. My dad is so excited.

  As am I. Travis wrote her back, we should arrange for a place to meet when you get here.

  Yes. Somewhere where I can run and hide if you turn out to be a monster. Addi still thinks you are a girl or a kook and that I will be disappointed.

  Where is your interview, again?

  Jefferson Pharmaceuticals.

  Travis smiled when he saw th
at response.

  That's quite a scoop just after leaving college.

  Yes it is. Sky wrote back. They are huge.

  I hope we'll have time to meet up after your interview. Have lunch. The Pegasus.

  Chapter Twenty Four

  Summer 2000

  "I am sorry Miss Porter but you are not qualified for this job," Mrs. Beckett held out her hand to be shaken.

  She didn't look sorry. Sky looked at her outstretched arm and considered for just a split second to be rude but she didn't. She shook the lady's hand and searched for something to say that was pleasant, something that didn't scream her disappointment.

  The door to the office was unceremoniously opened before she could formulate a word and a rather handsome guy pushed his head around the door.

  "Oh good, she is here. Send her to my office Bertha, will you?"

  Sky frowned and looked from Mrs. Beckett to the mysterious gentleman.

  Mrs. Beckett looked miffed. "But I already checked over her résumé as you asked me to do, sir, and I think..."

  He came fully into the room. He was tall, over six feet. He had dark nutmeg brown skin and jet-black wavy hair, which was brushing his collar—some of it was falling in his chocolate brown eyes. He was the definition of tall, dark and handsome.

  He pushed his hand in his suit pocket and looked at Sky for longer than was polite and then back at Mrs. Beckett.

  "This interview was supposed to be a formality, Bertha. If I didn't have that meeting I would have been around to welcome Sky into the Jefferson Pharmaceutical family."

  And then his magnetic brown eyes were eating her up. "I am sorry for the misunderstanding, Skyler." He moved from the doorway and advanced to her a smile in his eyes.

  "My name is Travis Jefferson. Will you be so kind as to walk with me to my office?"

  Sky nodded as if she was in a daze. He called her Sky with a hint of familiarity that was puzzling and exciting at the same time.

  This was the Travis Jefferson, the head of the company. She had no idea he was so young, maybe early thirties and no idea that he was so attractive. Sky tried not to stare when she walked closer to him. She could smell his cologne—something earthy.