by Jill Cooper
Lara wiggles her eyebrows. “That was fun.”
I blush at her statement and don’t know why. She’s my wife. I’ve been with Lara for years, I shouldn’t have to blush but part of me feels like I’m dealing with a stranger. Her body felt the same, but it didn’t respond the same. Even the rush of her breath was diferent than I was used to. “I noticed the port on the back of your head is missing.”
Lara touchs the back of her head and strokes it. “This Lara doesn’t have a port. She wasn’t a time traveler like me.”
“I know. I get that, but if you were in another timeline and now you’re here, you’ll carry the knowledge of both those timelines, right?”
She nods. “What are you getting at?”
“The headaches. The only way you were ever able to survive multiple time jumps, was because of that port and the experiments Rex did on you. Much as I hate to say it, he saved your life just as much as he stole from it.”
“What are you saying? My brain is going to reduce to mush or something?” Lara stops eating and pushes the tray toward me as if she can’t stomach the idea of eating again.
“You tell me. Did you have headaches in the other timeline?”
“I…” Lara’s face falters. “I guess I did, but they weren’t bad. I just popped a few asprin.”
“These aren’t usually pop a few asprin type of pills.” I study her. “I watched you suffer with the headaches before we graduated. Your power was changing, speeding time and fast forwarding. You couldn’t control it. The only way you managed was that restraint device that Xavier Daniels equipped you with.”
Lara’s face is blank and then she smiles. “Right. Of course. Well, I’m sure I’ll be fine. I mean, I feel fine. I feel great.”
Her behavior sent alarm bells off in my head. Why hadn’t I seen it before? Her behavior, the things she says are different and I was so distracted by my feelings for Cassidy, that I missed it. I missed how different my wife is acting.
“You have no idea what I’m talking about.”
Lara’s eyes widen. “Of course, I do. I was there with you, Don. I remember. You used to trust me.”
She’s right. I’ve always trusted her, but alarm bells are going off in my head. I don’t trust her and if I don’t, that means there’s something amiss. Every which way I think about it, it all leads me to the say place.
She’s not my Lara. She’s an imposter and I just slept with and made love with some other timeline version of my wife.
“You believe me, don’t you?” Lara tilts her head to the side and her eyes open wide. It’s a look I’ve seen before but her eyes are more conniving, there’s no innocence. She’s playing me and I have to find out why. If she knows where my Lara is, I can’t let her know I’m onto her.
“Sure,” I crack a smile. “It’s been a rough few days, even if you fixed all that.”
She grins and relief spreads over her face. “It’s what I do, right? Fix all that crazy wibbly time travel nonsense. I’m Lara Crane.”
“James,” I correct her.
“Sorry.” Lara cringes. “It’s new. Maybe tomorrow we can visit my parents? I’d love to make sure they’re doing okay.”
“Sure. We could stop by before work.”
“Work. Right. Guess I forgot about that too in all the excitement.”
“I’ll order us some dinner. You feel like pizza or Chinese?”
“Surprise me.” Lara says as she slips further down on the bed and reaches for the television remote, like she doesn’t have a care in the world.
I creep out into the kitchen and pick my cell phone off the counter. Instead of dialing a restaurant I dial Cassidy. It rings four times and then dumps to voicemail. If she’s on the bridge, if Lara sent her away where I can’t reach her, then she won’t have be able to check her messages until she gets back.
“Hey, Cass. We have a problem,” I whisper. “A real big problem.”
Chapter Thirty-Four: Molly Montgomery
The timeline skews, it ebbs, it’s broken, but I can’t pinpoint where the angst is coming from. At home, I pour myself a glass of milk in the kitchen, replaying what happened at the wedding. Frustrated, I gulp my milk back, unable to find what’s wrong. What we’ve all been through sucks, it’s crap, but we’ll get over it with time. We have each other and that’s what’s important so why do I feel like things are so broken?
Maybe it’s time to leave well enough alone. I’m home with Mom and Mike; Lara’s with Donovan and Cassidy—oh, poor Cass. Maybe I should seek her out and make sure she’s doing okay. Maybe that’s what the problem is.
I stand in the doorway of the living room. Mike’s sits on the sofa and Mom is dotting after him like he’s a baby. I haven’t seen him look that happy in a while and I have questions, big questions.
Dad heads over as John takes his place on the sofa. “You going to be okay, kid?”
I nod as I lean into him for a big hug. Things have been hard for him. “Can I come over and spend the night tomorrow?”
“Sure thing. Your room is always waiting for you. Just make sure your mom is okay.” Dad gives Mom a long glance with love. I wish things between them could be fixed, but all the paths lead toward John Crane, at least for now.
It wasn’t always this way.
“Bye, Dad.” I show him out and when I return to the living room, Mike’s walking up the stairs to his room. He looks back at me and there’s a look in his eye that I don’t like. “I’m going to go up to bed.”
Mom holds her face in her hand and John stands to give me a kiss good-night. I pull him in for a moment and whisper in his ear, “don’t leave her tonight.”
The surprise on his face only lasts a moment, but then he nods. “Have a good sleep, Moll.”
I grab Mom’s hand as I walk past. “You’ll be okay, Mom.” But when I touch her, I see so much of what’s unsaid and the paths that haven’t been walked. Her turmoil over losing Lara. It must’ve been hard to lose Lara when she was just a child, even though it never happened, Mom had those memories.
The image comes at me harder than most. I’m on bended knee in front of Mom as she sobs on the sofa. I take both of her hands in mine and whisper to her. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save Lara, Mom, but she left us to save us. She’s…gone.”
She lives in the stream now.
That can’t be true. Lara’s fine. She saved us, she’s with Donovan on her wedding night. She’ll be happy but…Donovan suspects things he shouldn’t. It’ll lead him down to a path of destruction and danger. Every way he desperately turns in his hunt for the truth leads to heartbreak. And Cassidy begins to self destruct, consumed by her anger and her need to fit in.
I’m upstairs now even though I barely remember moving. Mike is leaning against the wall beside the bathroom with a toothbrush in his mouth. “You okay?” He asks with serious, morbid eyes.
“Mike.” His name rolls off the tongue. He’s my twin and he’s happy. He’s received the attention he’s been desperate for, but the fifteen-year-old version of him isn’t innocent in what’s happened.
He knew. He was complicit.
“Where were you?” I demand and step up to him.
“Brushing my teeth.” He goes back into the bathroom to spit into the sink.
I don’t buy it and I think he knows where I’m coming from. “I was locked in the hospital and being sedated, drugged. But no one ever saw you. So where were you?”
Mike wipes his face with a white towel and gives me a look just over the terrycloth. The look in his eye is anything but confused. It’s manipulative.
“What you’re doing is dangerous.” I take a breath as what happens rises to the surface. “You met him? You conspired with him? The adult version of you?”
“You’re talking crazy. Go to sleep, Molly.” He shoulder checks me as he walks by for his room and I follow him. He opens his door and steps inside.
“We need to talk about this. If Rex convinced you of anything—.”
“Just
let it go for one night. We’re home. We have Mom right where we need her and soon we’ll have Dad. Soon this crap situation we’ve been living, it’ll be gone.”
“I that what he told you? Mike—.”
He slams the door in my face. Angrily, I puff my cheeks out and twist the locked door knob. “Mike!” I bang my fist repeatedly on his door but he doesn’t answer.
This is bad. Real bad. If I can’t reach him, I’m not just dealing with a temper tantrum. I’m dealing with his undoing.
“Not tonight, Molly.” Mom comes up the stairs and she looks so tired and withdrawn that I back off the door. “It’s been a very long…well, I don’t even know how long it’s been.”
“I’m sorry, Mom.” I keep all my anxiety inside as she takes my cheek in her hands and kisses it.
“I don’t know what I’d do without my babies,” she genuinely smiles at me before going into her bedroom and my heart sinks into despair.
Lara isn’t here. This is all on me, but I can’t do it alone. I can’t save this family by myself.
I need Cassidy.
Chapter Thirty-Five: Cassidy Winters
The bridge is functional again and things appears as they should. As I talk with Gavin and a few of the others, I issue orders. “Tell the TTPA we are going to need more men. Round the clock. We don’t stop until we find wherever Rex and this adult Mike are hiding. We need this done, like yesterday.”
A time joke, I cringe. I hate the time jokes. It’s Lara who loves to make them. Thinking about her again causes my stomach to tighten. She was so cold and angry with me just a short while ago. I worry about what that will mean to our future and it sickens me. I need her in ways I can’t put into words.
I dismiss Gavin and shortly later return to the timeline I call home. I open the bridge’s portal into my small studio apartment. It isn’t much but it’s cozy. The main living space pairs a white sofa by the window overlooking the city of Boston and a white rug. I change into sweat pants, a t-shirt, and fuzzy purple socks.
The kitchen space isn’t much more than a mini fridge and a simple row of cabinets. It’s big enough to keep what’s most important near by.
Wine, lots of it.
I pour a glass and then flop down onto the sofa. Sipping it, I lean my head back and enjoy the cold acidic drink sliding down my throat. Doing so, I block out the memories of what’s led me here. It was a win, or so we acted like, but with what future Mike had done, was going to do, the ripples of it were going to be felt everywhere.
Tomorrow’s problem. Today I would celebrate that things were fixed. Donovan and Lara had their happy ending, even if a few short hours ago I thought it would be mine. Tricks and foolery.
I think about ordering dinner and pick my phone off the table and notice I have a missed call. I scroll through and Donovan’s name pops up, I groan audibly. It’s his wedding night, he shouldn’t be calling me.
Maybe instead of dinner, I should go straight to bed. Sleep might be the only thing that makes me feel better. I stand as I drain my glass and return it to the kitchen. A knock at the door distracts me and I consider ignoring it.
“You’re going to decide to let me in, so just open the door already,” Molly shouts and bangs on it a little harder.
Molly. Well, at least it isn’t Donovan.
When I pull the door open, Molly bursts in. She’s blue paisley pajamas and a jean jacket. I raise my eyebrows. “You forgot the bunny slippers.”
“Funny,” Molly tosses her hair back and crosses her arms. “I barely got out of the house so if we could skip how stupid I look and get to the crux of the matter.”
“Which is how you’re robbing me of my beauty sleep?”
“You know I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t important.” Her nose scrunches up and her lips disappear somewhere between angst and pout.
“Is it about what I did with Donovan…”
“It’s not about Donovan and it isn’t about Mike either. It’s bigger than both of them. It’s about Lara.” Molly’s eyes widen into a frenzy.
My stomach tightens as if I’m being accused of something even though that’s not Molly’s style. “She was cold, but she’s been through a lot.” How much do I tell her and how much does she know? “If we can just—.”
Molly shakes her head emphatically. “That’s not it. She’s not Lara. The woman we saw at the reception a few short hours again, isn’t our Lara.”
Her phrasing sends alarm bells raging off in my head. “Of course she is. She looked different but she helped us stop Rex and reset things back to how they are supposed to be. She—.”
Molly shakes her hands to interrupt me. Her wide eyes are frantic and it’s clear she believes what she says but she’s never doubted Lara before. This new development scares me. “She’s not our Lara and if you’d stop for a second and let me explain, I would.”
If she’s not our Lara then who the hell is she? Why would another Lara pretend to be our Lara? Every Lara I had ever met would stop at nothing to restore the timeline and protect her family. “How can you be so sure?” I shake my head. “Molly, a lot has happened—.”
Molly grabs my wrist. “I know it’s not her, just like I know what happened between you and Donovan when we were in VR, just like I know what happened between you two when you worked for Patricia James. I see every decision and where it leads. This is a Lara from a timeline where she never changed time and never unlocked her powers.”
She’s given me the answer I need to hear. “Well, see then? She did go back in time at the wedding reception. She put us all back there.”
Molly shakes her head with impatience. “No, she didn’t. Our Lara put us there and then she disappeared. Someone is playing us and I think we know who.”
Future Mike and Rex? “Molly,” I resist rolling my eyes. “She helped get you away from Mike and Rex. She traveled to the right moment and pushed you away.”
“No, you traveled to the right moment. She just happened to be standing there when you did it, but that’s what she wanted. She wanted to fool all of us because she’s working with Rex.”
I take a breath and think back. Molly’s right, I don’t know why I didn’t see it before. I think the guilt of what happened between me and Donovan made me think Lara was acting a certain way because of me. “Why? Why would she work with him?”
Molly stares at me blankly. “This timeline has what she wants most of all. A family. A home. She wants what our Lara wanted. Her parents. If she thinks we’re onto her, it goes badly. We can’t confront her. Not yet.”
Not confront her? “Molly—.”
“Cass, I know what you’re going to say,” she implores me. “But if we push her at the wrong time, it ends bad. She’s the only link we have to find what’s happened to our Lara.”
How can that be true? “The bridge. You…you can read the timelines and find her.”
Molly shakes her head and fear lines her face, it bubbles up in her eyes. “She’s lost in the stream. A piece here and there but I can’t get a beat on her. I don’t know how to get her back.” Her teeth chatter at the idea of Lara being lost and I wrap my arms around her, willing myself not to spiral into the same fear chasim that’s swallowing her.
“We’ll get her back.”
“I can’t see it. I don’t see that. Cassidy, please…” she grips my arms and peers up at me. I want to protect her, I need to fix this and get Lara back. “She’s lost. She’s gone. I can’t find her anywhere.”
I swallow hard, unsure what to say or do. “We need to question her.”
Molly pulls away. “First we give her some rope to hang herself. Some breathing room. I know it’ll be hard to pretend but she has to let her guard down. Tomorrow she’ll visit Mom. That’s all she wants. We just have to be waiting. Ready but from a distance.”
That makes sense even though I hate it. That’s when it hit me. “Donovan called.”
Her eyes widen. “You better find out what he wanted. If he suspects something…” Molly p
auses and runs her hands through her hair. Blood trickles from her nose and I grab a tissue off of my coffee table, handing it to her.
“What did you see?” I grab my cell phone off the table as Molly squeezes her nose shut.
“He’s afraid. He suspects. It can go one of three ways. Just tell him he can’t confront her. He has to play along, as much as he doesn’t want to. If he scares her off, it’s all lost. We’ll never…”
Her voice trails off and I follow. I understand what she’s getting at.
“I’ll do what I can and get back to you soon as I can. Head home before your mom realizes you’re missing. She doesn’t need any more surprises.”
Molly nods. “Mike too. We….we can’t trust him.”
My heart wrenches. “You be careful.”
“There’s no room for mistakes, Cassidy.” Molly looks far older than fifteen as she sucks her bottom lip to quell her chin quivers. “If we mess this up, all the time travel in the world won’t bring Lara back.”
Oh God, my heart wrenches and I send a quick text message to Donovan. I’m here. What’s wrong.
After a slight delay, I get a message back. Everything.
I can’t breathe as I sit down on the edge of the sofa, perched close to the coffee table as Donovan sends another message. He sends the address of where he wants to meet. It’s the address of where we lived in the altered timeline.
My heart skips and it leaves a lump in my throat. Done.
*****
Not many people could link this address to where Donovan and I lived in a timeline that no longer exists. I hope that’s why he picked it as a place to meet, but it leaves me feeling sick inside. I’m sleezy, the worst kind of person, and I can’t scrub that feeling as I step into the alley.
I lean against the wall and check my watch. It’s nearly two in the morning and there’s no sign of Donovan yet. Part of me is glad he’s not there yet, maybe he changed his mind, maybe I won’t see him again. Then I hear a metallic bang behind the dumpster. With alarm, I peer around, looking for whoever is there.
“Cass?”
