Come Down In Time (A Time Travel Romance) (15 page)

“
You’re kidding!” Stacie
said. “I can’t believe that. You seemed so perfect for each
other.”

“
I know,” Jamie said, though
she didn’t know. “But I needed to do it for me and for him. I
realized I wasn’t ready for a commitment, and I just had to do it.”

Stacie frowned for the first time
that day. “I’m sorry, Jamie. I hope you’ll talk to me if you
feel like it.” Jamie would love to talk to Stacie about it, if she
had any idea what she would be talking about. She wished she could
tell Stacie about the mixed-up life she had been living. How she had
been walking on quicksand. But she couldn’t.

“
Thanks,” she said. “You
know I’ll talk to you when I’m ready.”

Jamie kept working at the clinic
every day, and went home every afternoon to an empty house. No one
came to visit and she was lonely. She cried herself to sleep every
night thinking about Tommy and how she had somehow screwed everything
up with her second chance with him. She had no memory of that. She
only knew that she loved Tommy.

Then, one night as Jamie lay in
her lonely bed, she decided she might need to quit the clinic. Even
if she did have a contract. She needed to find a way out of that so
she could get back to Baker. That was where the key to her life with
Tommy was.

The next day, she talked to Nate.
“I need to see my parents,” she said. “I need to check on my
father. I know it’s not convenient for the clinic, but I still need
to go.”

Nate looked at her with his kind
gray eyes. She could see why she had fallen in love with him, but
that was a different life.

“
Of course, Jamie,” he said.
“Take all the time you need.”

“
What if I decide not to come
back?” she said. “Is there a way that I could get out of the
contract if I need to stay with my parents?”

“
Why don’t you go back home
before you decide that,” Nate said. “Don’t cut your ties yet
until you’re sure.”

Jamie hugged him, even though
that was kind of weird under the circumstances. She hugged him
anyway. He was a good guy.

“
Thanks,” she said. “I’ll
let you know how it goes.”

Chapter
Ten

As she drove home, Jamie thought
about her options. If she couldn’t get back to Tommy, she would
keep trying. But how long could she keep doing that if it didn’t
work? What had caused her to go back in time to the day before her
graduation from high school? She believed it was the overhang, but
why? She had clearly heard a little girl’s voice when she was in
the overhang telling her not to fall asleep. She knew now that it was
Darma speaking to her across time. But why shouldn’t she fall
asleep there? Would it send her back to 2013? She had gone back
anyway, without being in the overhang. Why?

Jamie had no answers to the
questions that went around and around in her mind.

Her mother was waiting on the
front porch for Jamie when she drove up. Even though it was eight, it
was still light outside in the late June day. She got her suitcase
out of the backseat and hoped it would be the last time she did that.

“
I’ve got some soup on the
stove, honey. Dad and I already ate.”

“
Thanks, Mom,” she said. She
felt so weary.

“
You look tired,” Mom said.
“Are they working you hard at the clinic?”

“
It’s always busy. I just
wanted to see you and Dad for a while. Get away from it.”

They walked inside and her father
got up from his recliner to give her a hug. “We’re glad to see
you, hon,” he said.

“
You go on up to your room,”
her mom said. “I’ll bring you a tray.”

“
You’re the best mother
ever,” Jamie said giving her mother a hug.

Jamie went upstairs and put her
suitcase on the paisley covered bed. She unpacked it and put on her
gown. A few minutes later her mother came in the room and put a tray
of chicken noodle soup and crackers in front of her. Jamie took a
tentative bite of the soup. Her mother had made it, and it was better
than hers. She felt comforted for the first time in a long time since
her last time journey took her to back to a clinic that she didn’t
know anymore. Where Nate was engaged to Stacie and she was dating
someone named Clay.

She set her tray on the floor and
lay back on the bed. It wasn’t long before sleep took her. When she
woke up the next morning, she didn’t remember having any dreams.
Her cell phone told her it was June 23
^rd
, her wedding
anniversary date to Tommy. Maybe that would be a good omen, she
thought. Maybe I can get back to him today.

Her mother was already in the
kitchen making oatmeal for her father and eggs for Jamie.

“
I think I’ll take a walk
after breakfast,” Jamie said. “I haven’t been out in nature for
a while.”

“
I know how much you like being
outdoors,” her mother said. “I couldn’t get you to come inside
when you were growing up. You just wanted to spend all of your time
in the woods.”

Jamie laughed. “I thought I
wanted to be a forest ranger when I was little. I wonder if I
shouldn’t have done that.”

“
I guess you could have. I’m
sure you would have been the best forest ranger out there.”

Of course her mother would say
that. But Jamie could tell she really did mean it.

Jamie did the dishes, and while
her mother was out of the kitchen doing laundry, she got a couple of
sleeping pills from her father’s bottle. Her father walked in just
as she was putting the pills in her pocket.

“
I’m off now, honey,” he
said. “I’m teaching a class this summer.”

Jamie hugged her father. “I’ll
see you later, Dad,” she said. She sincerely hoped that was true.
She hoped she would see him later in the year 2001.

She got a bottle of water from
the fridge. “Mom,” she called. “I’m going on that walk now.”

“
Okay, hon,” she called back.
“See you later.”

Jamie walked through the pasture
and into the opening in the woods. As she had a month ago, she walked
all the way to the end of the path, to Tommy’s side. She heard the
tractor again, but this time she turned around and walked back down
to the midpoint of the path and the lake. She moved the willow
branches aside and crawled into the overhang. As she had before, she
got the blanket and spread it out. Like before, she took two of the
pills and swigged them down with the water.

She looked out at the lake
between the willow branches that were full with leaves. Jamie prayed
then, harder than she had ever prayed in her life. Please take me
back to Tommy. Gradually, she started to get sleepy. She lay back on
the blanket and looked at the ceiling of the overhang. Was it made of
dirt? She wondered. Was it made of rock?

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Jamie woke up to the loud
quacking of a duck. She looked out through the branches and saw a
mother duck with her ducklings floating on the lake. She felt her
hair. It was long. I’ve done it! she thought. I’ve gone back! She
jumped up and ran from the overhang, catching her hair but not
caring. She quickly untangled it and ran up the slope to the path.
She ran down toward Tommy’s end. As she approached Tommy’s
entrance, she could hear the tractor in the late afternoon. She stood
at the opening on the little hill. She stood until the tractor came
all the way around the farm and was moving along the outside of the
crops. She stood waiting for Tommy.

Tommy approached and saw her
standing on the hill. He stopped the tractor before it passed her and
got out. His hair was the same length as the last time she had seen
him in 2001, and he was clean-shaven.

“
What are you doing out here,
sugar?” he asked. He smiled at her.

“
I was just visiting the
overhang,” she said.

He walked up the little hill and
took her in his arms. “I’m glad to see you,” he said. “I’ve
been thinking about you while I was on the tractor. I shouldn’t do
that. It’s dangerous.”

She laughed and he laughed with
her. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him.

“
I think it’s time to quit
for the day,” Tommy said. “I’ll meet you back at the cottage.”

He walked back down the slope and
got in the tractor. He started it and drove down the perimeter of the
garden, turning around to wave at her once. Jamie followed him,
running all the way home.

She rushed inside the cottage out
of breath. Tommy was waiting for her and picked her up in his arms.
He carried her into their bedroom, their bed, and put her down on the
bedspread. She smelled his earthy Tommy smell all the way there. She
reached up and unbuckled his jeans, unzipped him, and pulled his
jeans down. Tommy stood there in all of his manly glory. She took her
own jeans off as fast as she could and pulled him to her, into her.
She sighed with pleasure.

The ceiling fan whirred around
and around, cooling the sweat from their nude bodies. Tommy held her
hand lightly. “I’m glad we got married,” he said. “You’re
keeping me on my toes!”

Jamie laughed. “I can’t help
it,” she said. “You looked so sexy on the tractor today. I just
had to have it.”

Tommy turned on his side and put
his arm over her. “I love you, sugar,” he said.

“
I love you, too, Tommy. More
every day.” And more every year and every timeline, she thought.

“
Granny’s probably wondering
where we are,” he said. “She’ll be expecting us for supper.”

“
Let’s go,” Jamie said
getting up and pulling on her clothes. “I’m sure Granny’s got
something good to eat and I’m starving.”

Tommy pulled her back from the
edge of the bed before she could pull her jeans up. He hugged her and
kissed her hair before he got off the bed and started to dress.

They walked up to the farmhouse
hand in hand. Granny was taking a pie out of the oven when they
walked into the kitchen. Jamie smelled the rich fragrance of cinnamon
and breathed it in. It was comforting, and she needed comfort after
the house of mirrors she had been living in for the past several
months.

“
Is that apple pie, Granny?”
Tommy asked.

“
It’s from the apples Jamie
and I put up,” Granny said.

“
Granny, I’m sorry I wasn’t
here sooner today,” Jamie said. “I fell asleep at the lake.”

“
Don’t you worry, darling,”
Granny said. “Young people have lives of their own. I vaguely
remember it.” She laughed.

Tommy walked into the den where
Grandpa was watching the news. Jamie helped Granny in the kitchen.
While the apple pie cooled, she and Granny peeled potatoes and cut
them up to boil in a big pot of water.

“
I’ve already put the
meatloaf in,” Granny said. “It’s on low, so the mashed potatoes
should be ready right on time. I’ve been cooking these peas for a
while,” she said as she lifted the top off a big pot. “Jamie
girl, can you get the bowl out?” Granny said from the stove. “Time
to start the cornbread.”

Jamie pulled the blue bowl out of
the cabinet and set it on the counter. She knew what to do, because
Granny had taught her. She measured the cornmeal and mixed it up with
eggs and buttermilk. She added salt and baking soda. The oven was
hot, and Jamie slid the oiled cast iron skillet onto the rack to heat
up. When it was good and hot, she slid it out on the rack and added
the cornbread mixture. It sizzled when it dropped into the hot pan.
She closed the oven door.

Jamie looked over at Granny, who
was checking the potatoes with a fork. Granny was getting older, that
was an inescapable fact. But she had many years left. As she looked
at her, Jamie was filled with an overwhelming love for Granny. She
was her family. She didn’t ever want to leave her again.

They had a big crop of collard
greens and onions during that harvest time, along with a huge patch
of large pumpkins. After they harvested the vegetables for their own
needs, Tommy sold the rest at the farmer’s market. Jamie carried a
wheelbarrow of pumpkins and greens up to the farmhouse and she and
Granny spent two days cooking and freezing the greens and the pumpkin
flesh. The onions and sweet potatoes went into the cellar. They held
back two pumpkins to carve into jack-o-lanterns for Halloween.

Jamie had been back with Tommy
for about a month and she worried constantly that it would end again.
She didn’t know what to do to stop it, if that is what was going to
happen. She didn’t know how to control the shifts to other
timelines. She thought if she loved Tommy hard enough, maybe it
wouldn’t happen again.

On the first of November, Jamie
and Tommy lay in the bed after making love. It had been a perfect day
for Jamie. She and Granny were starting to plan for Thanksgiving and
she intended to learn everything she could about making a turkey and
dressing dinner with giblet gravy from Granny. In that short month
since she’d been back, Jamie had come to realize that Granny was a
treasure trove of family tales and the way to cook.

“
I’ve been thinking lately,”
Tommy said into the dark room. “I feel kind of guilty that you
didn’t get to go to college.”