by Jill Cooper
Leaving Rick chasing after us. “Lara!”
“I thought you liked him,” Molly says, her little eyes peering up at me.
“I thought I did too.” I glance over my shoulder and see Rick is right behind us, scowling. . He appears cross.
Good. He deserves it for everything he’s set into motion.
I keep the kids close as we get to the jewelers, instead of letting them run off. We pick out the necklace we like and wait for the sales lady to grab a box from the back. I’m caught off guard when Rick takes my hand. His is clammy, just like before, but this time I don’t jump when he touches me.
Instead, I glare. “You want to keep your hands to yourself?”
Rick’s eyes widen with surprise. He bites his lip and his eyes look like a wounded puppy’s. “I thought this is what you wanted. I thought that’s what we were doing here.”
“Sorry if I led you on, but this is not what I want.” I pull my hand back and there’s no mistaking the disappointment on Rick’s face.
He falls quiet and I pay for the necklace with my credit card. I manage a smile and drop the receipt into my purse.
Molly talks about dresses and Mike talks about sports on our way through the mall, toward the entrance, off in the distance is a carrousel. My stomach tightens. This is it. This is the place where Molly is taken and everything changes.
Where life as I we know explodes around us in conspiracy, lies, and secrets.
They are so excited, giant grins on their faces, but my stomach only twists with nerves. “Please, Lara. Please?” Molly asks, bouncing up and down.
I squat down in front of her. “Sorry, Molly, we don’t have time today, but I promise next time we’ll have plenty of time. Then I’ll let you ride it all you want.”
Molly’s face puckers like she’s going to cry. Mike puts his arm around her shoulder. “It’s okay, Moll. We can watch your fav cartoon instead. If Lara lets us.”
I smirk and gather my arms around them to usher them past the carrousel. “I won’t tell if you don’t.”
The kids cheer, their arms overhead in excitement. Rick is left scratching his head in confusion. “Lara, if you could just take a second to talk to me. There’s something really important I want to say.”
I instruct Molly and Mike to sit on the bench and then I go to Rick. I push my open palm against his chest. “There’s nothing you have to say that I want to hear. You get me?”
Rick holds up his hands and his mouth falls open. “Where is this hostility coming from?”
“How much are they paying you anyway to give me everything I want? A thousand? Two? What is my life worth to you, Rick?”
His face rolls with shock. He stammers and stares at the floor. “It wasn’t like that. I … there… Listen…”
“There’s nothing you can say, so just leave us alone. Come near us again and I’ll call the police and I don’t think you want them at your place, do you? After everything your brother did?”
It would hurt old Lara to say these things to Rick, but for me things are different. I’ve been through a lot in the last two years. I’ve seen too much and felt too much pain. To let an opportunistic kid like Rick mess up my life isn’t going to happen.
“At least let me drive you home.” His features soften, but I don’t buy a word of it.
Instead, I shake my head. “I’ll go home with him.”
Right on cue, Donovan and his posse of friends walk past the carrousel. Donovan. He had that smug little strut he had when he was with his peers, but I barely notice that. Instead, I notice the twinkle in his eye. The warmth of his smile. I notice he’s alive and not dead.
Oh, Donovan. This could be our second chance.
I wave to him with my arm stretched over my head and grin.
He grins and raises his hand in a greeting. He says a farewell to his friends and starts over. I’m really going to see him. The real Donovan James. I’m going to get to kiss him and if I’m lucky, really lucky, he’ll hold me in his arms.
I want it so bad I can taste it. I bite my lip and wait for him to get closer. “You better leave now, Rick. Before I make a scene.”
Rick starts to back up and he snarls at me. “This isn’t over, Montgomery.” He trots away and I sigh with relief.
The twins are still sitting on the bench, looking bored. “We’ll be leaving soon. Don’t worry.” I smile at Donovan as he reaches arm length distance. “Hey, stranger.”
His eyes flash with surprise and confusion. I guess I did just see him at school. “What are the odds of seeing you here? Was that your old friend from the neighborhood?”
I don’t want to talk about Rick. Actually, he probably is the last thing I’ll ever want to talk about. So I coil my hand around Donovan’s shirt and pull him in for a breathless, hot kiss. Not something I should be doing in front of seven-year-old twins, but after the torture and trials of the last two years, I need this moment.
I need to be whisked away in Donovan’s arms. And I am, as they wrap tight around me and he nuzzles my cheek with his nose. “And here I thought I was happy to see you.” For a moment his eyes flicker. “You feeling okay? I swear your eyes look … worn.” He scowls as he cups my chin.
I tuck my hands between his arms and rest them on his hips. “Tired, I guess. From my trip to the hospital.” The words haunt me as they roll off my tongue. I almost forgot about the time travel headaches.
He rubs the top of my head. “Poor girl. You even left the house in those horrible white pants. What is it, laundry day or something?”
I laugh. “Or something; you caught me. Hey, can you drive us home? Our ride fell through.”
Donovan gives one of those dimpled smiles and I am so happy to see him. So happy that he’s here, alive. I stroke his face and just want to bask in his gaze a while longer. “Of course I can, but we might need to track Molly down first.”
I turn to the bench and see Mike is sitting there alone. He shrugs. “She wanted to see the puppies.”
Am I a fool to let my eyes off her again? Or is this event just destined to repeat itself? “Molly!” I screech and I turn in search of her. Right across the way I see the little girl with her nose pressed up against the glass. She waves at the jumping black puppies. They wag their tails at her.
“Watch Mike.” I don’t wait for Donovan to answer before I sprint over to Molly and pick her up. I cling to her and she wraps her legs around my waist. “Don’t you ever, ever do that again!” I scold her and my brow pinches together.
Surprise washes across her face. “I just wanted to see the puppies. You always let me see them.”
“Never again, you hear me? Not without telling me. Not without holding my hand.” I sigh, squeeze my eyes shut and I barely hold together under the roaring panic building inside my chest.
“She was right across the way, Lara. I think you can cut the poor kid some slack,” Donovan says and when I open my eyes he and Mike are staring at me as if I have two heads.
“I guess I overreacted.” But then my eyes gaze to the left and I see them. The thugs with the golden tattoos from the lab, the ones who kidnapped me and killed Donovan, are coming our way. They are six paces from us, their scarred faces set into angry scowls.
“Montgomery?” Donovan touches my shoulder. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
My arms tighten around Molly. “The men are coming. The ones who have been following me.”
Donovan glances over his shoulder and he puts an arm around my shoulders to shield me. We start away toward the door. “What about if we stop and get some milkshakes on me? Is anyone on board with this plan?”
The twins cheer, their arms over their heads. “This is the best day ever.”
I take a shaky breath. “Best day ever.” My voice echoes in my ears as we step out into the parking lot. The air is crisp and refreshing. I glance back and see Patricia’s thugs staring at us from the curb. The leader’s long mustache twitches.
The day has gone differently than
they thought it would. They thought they were going to snatch Molly and I ruined their plans.
But for how long?
*****
We go to an old-fashioned ice cream parlor and the kids share a large malted frappe. When it arrives, the sheer size of it drowns out their complaints. The frappe is so thick they spend all of their time trying to draw it through the straw rather than arguing with each other.
Donovan spends his time at the window, gazing out into the street. I leave the twins to finish their shake because they are only a few feet away and join him. Donovan takes my hand when I stand beside him. “If they followed us here, there’s no sign of them.”
With relief, I take a deep breath. Thank goodness for small favors.
“These guys are getting more brazen.” Donovan’s face is clearly worried.
“We’re safe now. Thanks to you.” I glance back at the twins and they are happy, talking and together. That’s the best thing I can wish for right now. “If it wasn’t for you, they were going to snatch her today.”
Donovan’s eyes widen. “How do you know?”
I shake my head and my curls swirl. “Let’s just call it a hunch.”
“That’s a pretty specific hunch, Lar. I feel like there’s a whole section of this thing you’re not telling me.”
I lean in and kiss his cheek. “I know I’ve been crazy. Sometimes I’m distant. I’m always neurotic.” I bite my lip as I smile. “But I love you, Don. And I promise, soon it’s all going to be clear. I just need tonight to gather the last of what I need.”
“All right, Montgomery.” Donovan slings his arm around my shoulder and pulls me in. “For the record, I trust you. If I didn’t, I doubt we would’ve made it this far.”
It’s true. Boy, is it true. I rest my head on his shoulder and gaze outside. Part of me can’t believe I’m really here, that I’ve reset the clock two years and now have this second chance. But I have to do things differently. I need an ally and I need someone to help me find a way out.
I need to clue Donovan into everything. I know that, but I’m not ready. Not with the twins around.
“Are you sure we shouldn’t go to the cops?” Donovan asks.
“Not yet, but soon. There’s something I need to get tonight. After that, I should have enough information, but I can’t go to the cops. They’re in her pocket.”
“Her? You know who is sending those men? I thought we were working against a he?”
A he? Then I remember that Lara and Donovan thought the one who framed my dad was Jax. It feels like so long ago that I went through all of this; I’m frozen for a moment and I stutter.
Donovan steps close. “What aren’t you telling me?”
I glance back at the twins. “Not now. Tonight. Can you meet me?”
He takes my hand and kisses it. “Don’t you know by now, Montgomery, I’d do anything you asked?”
****
When we get home, I smell something weird. I sniff and I realize its dinner. Someone is cooking dinner. It’s the first time in the Montgomery home that I remember the fresh smell of dinner cooking and I wonder what the occasion could be.
I lock the front door and peer out the window. Behind me, I hear stomping as feet and a voice rings up. “Hey, kids! Did you have fun with Lara?”
It’s Jax.
My skin rises with goose bumps at the sound of his voice after everything. The images of the broken, haunted man I found at the hospital will be with me forever. But I’ve snatched a second chance for me, for him, for everyone. Now I just can’t mess it up.
Outside everything is quiet. I make sure all the windows and doors are locked. I even arm the alarm system so if anyone gets too close to the outside, it’ll alert us.
I can’t be too careful.
I won’t let Molly be kidnapped again. No matter what I have to do.
Heading into the living room, Jax gives me a tempered smile. “Hey, kid.” He messes with the twins’ hair before he heads over to me. “Nice of you to bring them back in once piece.”
The irony of that statement makes me laugh in a burst. I cover my mouth. “Sorry. I mean, yeah, I should have called. Sorry.” I frown. “But it was spur of the moment, we had some fun. Lunch and Don took us home. I thought you’d approve of that.”
“I guess I do.” Jax studies me. “You’ve been angry the last few days, but now… I don’t see it anymore. Everything better?”
Can’t say things are better, at least not yet. “I’ve worked through a few issues. I just have a few more days to get through and then hopefully everything will be fine.”
“Well good. I love you, Lar, but you’re not always easy to live with. You know that?”
My nose scrunches in a smile and I crush him in a hug. “It’s so good to come home.” I didn’t mean to say it aloud; Jax’s arms go around me to give me a squeeze. I cringe and wonder what he thinks of my statement. How can I explain it if he asks me what I mean?
But he doesn’t. “This will always be your home. No matter if you think we’re mad, or we think you’re unreasonable, you’re always welcome here. No matter what.”
I stare up into his eyes and I do feel like I’ve come home. Jax is my dad just as much as my real dad, who is in prison. I don’t think I can change that anymore even if I wanted to, but I can get Dad out and, starting tomorrow, I’m going to. But first I have to make sure Molly is safe. Because she’s my family too and I won’t trade family for family.
Not again. Not anymore.
“Thanks, Dad.” I hug Jax close and for a moment too long, refuse to let him go.
“You’re just doing what teens do. We get that. Why don’t you go into the kitchen and see your mom? I’ll help the kids with their homework.”
Nodding, I give the kids a final glance and head into the kitchen. Mom is wearing a lace trimmed apron over her power suit and she pulls a pan from the oven. Satisfied, she places it on the counter and tears off her oven mitts with a sigh. “Well, that should just about do it.”
She turns to me and her eyes are stern with me, but I can’t help but to just stand there and stare at her with my mouth partially open.
“Do you have anything to say for yourself?” Mom asks and it’s clear she’s more upset with me for taking the twins out than Jax.
Mom never lets me off the hook. She’s always angry with me. But at least I have her. At least we’re here and she remembers who I am. That stern look in her eye might as well be a look of love for all I am concerned.
“No, ma’am,” I whisper and my lip quivers. I’m headed into full on ugly cry mode and I don’t know if I can stop it. So I turn and rest my head against the wall. I can’t stop what I’m feeling. The release of everything I’ve been through in the past two years is too much for me. I rock back and forth and cover my mouth.
It stops the guttural cry from coming out too loud or too fast.
Mom’s hands are on my shoulders. “Lara, honey, what is it?”
She turns me around and the concern in her eye is too much for me. “I’m so scared, Mom,” I whisper and rest my head on her shoulder. “Please don’t be mad at me.”
“Oh, honey.” Mom strokes my hair. “I’m not mad at you, I swear. I was just worried about the twins.”
The twins. Her words cut through me like a knife. “Why can’t you ever worry about me?” My voice cracks and I pull away from her and rub my face. It’s clear that just time traveling two years into the past doesn’t change relationship problems, because if it did, I’d be living a happy ever after.
“Well, of course I do. I just worry about you differently. I worry about your grades, the company you keep, what you’ve gotten yourself into. I love you, Lara. You have to know that.”
But I don’t. I really don’t. In the future, it was so easy for her to forget me. Logically. I know it was Rex and Patricia, the technology at their fingertips. But my heart says if Mom did love me, she could never forget me.
“What’s this about?” she asks softly.
“Is it Don? Something at school that has you so upset? Your father?”
I roll my eyes and wrap my arms around myself. If only it could be something that easy, that simple. “You wouldn’t believe me if I tried.”
Mom laughs. “Oh, c’mon on. I’ve done it all. I was you once, angry at my parents and trying to do my own thing. Why don’t you try me?”
“For two years I’ve been trapped in a Rewind Agency lab and I’ve come back here, to this moment in time, to fix everything.”
I study her as she studies me. Her mouth falls open and her eyes flame with anger.
“See, I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.” I turn from her and head up the stairs. Behind me, I hear her chasing after me.
“Wait a second, Lara!”
I turn and she’s right behind me on the stairs. She glances over her shoulder to see where Jax is. “Why don’t we go up to your room and you can tell me more. All right?”
Now it’s my turn to be floored. She isn’t just entertaining me. She believes me, which means…
Mom knows about the top-secret lab.
Chapter Fourteen
I sit on my bed and cross my legs. It’s been years since I’ve been here but now it’s only been since that morning. Now I am two years older and have been through hell so the posters on the wall and the prom dress hanging in my closet are like a joke. I don’t know how I can ever care about those sorts of things again.
How can I let go of the pain of being controlled and manipulated, my mind raped by Rex, even though now, it hasn’t even happened?
In my mind, it’s more real, raw, than all of this, so how can I ever hope to go back to a normal life?
Mom closes my door and slides onto the bed beside me. All of my questions fall away because I am here, back with her, and that’s real. That’s tangible.
It’s all I ever wanted.
“You know about the secret lab?”
“The question is, how do you?” Mom asks and she bites her lip. It’s clear that she expects an answer, a truthful one, but is it possible that she’ll believe me?
