Come Down In Time (A Time Travel Romance) (10 page)

“
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?”