by Amy Reece
Elijah’s little face lit up with delight when he saw Jack. He didn’t try to say his name, but he held his arms out to him, wanting Jack to hold him. He was an affectionate baby, and I watched my tough, rugged boyfriend melt into a puddle right there in my kitchen.
“Hey, little buddy. Aww, you got so big this summer! Come here.” He picked him up from the floor. “Oof! You got fat too. What have they been feeding you, huh?”
I smiled at the adorable picture they made and then bustled around the kitchen getting the items for our picnic packed. Megan helped, and when were done, Jack carried the heavy basket out to my car. I loaded Elijah into his car seat and while Megan buckled herself into the seat beside him I handed Jack the keys and he drove us to a nearby park that had a nice play area with baby swings for Elijah.
Twenty minutes later, we had a blanket spread under a shady tree and were diving into the dinner I had packed. I fed Elijah his baby food, but he was more interested in Megan’s food. I managed to get a small amount of food into him before he demanded to be taken to the swings. It amazed me that such a small child could absolutely direct the actions of two adults and a young girl. Elijah was clearly the one in charge of our agenda this evening. He finally wore down an hour later and crashed for a nap on the blanket next to Jack and me. Megan headed off to the playground to play with some new friends, so Jack and I finally had a few quiet moments to ourselves.
“Tell me about your summer, querida. You didn’t tell me very much last night,” Jack ordered, combing his hands through my hair as I lay my head in his lap.
“Probably because I couldn’t keep my hands to myself. I missed you, Jack. I’m tired of being apart.”
“Me too, babe. Me too. Now spill.”
“Yes, sir. Well, it was pretty much the same as last summer: we spent a month with Kate and the rest of the Conseil. We mostly trained with short breaks for Kate to question me endlessly about any visions I’ve had. I think she hopes I’ll make a prophecy of some sort soon. It was pretty miserable,” I sighed.
“What about that creepy guy, Lance? Larry? I forget his name.”
“Luc. Ugh. Yeah, he is creepy. It seems like every time I turned around, he was there watching me. Thankfully, I didn’t have to talk to him much and he was gone a lot of the time. I don’t know…I just don’t like him.”
“What about the wedding?” Jack changed the subject to something much more pleasant. “How did that go?”
“Oh, Jack! It was the best part of the whole summer! Genevieve was so beautiful and radiant! And Arnaud looked at her like she was the best thing that ever happened to him. It was so romantic.” Rémy’s cousin had finally managed to get the much older Arnaud to admit his feelings for her. They had only dated for a few months before he proposed. I was so glad I was able to attend the wedding.
“It sounds nice. I’m glad there was something good about the trip. What about Ireland?”
“It was okay. More of the same: train, talk, train some more. I’m not really sure how much good the training is doing. I don’t see any real improvement in my abilities.”
“What do you call what you did to me this morning?” he asked incredulously.
“That’s different. We’ve never told the council members, French or Irish, about the extent of our mental abilities. We think it’s better to keep that to ourselves for now,” I admitted.
“Probably a good idea. From what I’ve heard, I don’t totally trust that either group has your best interests at heart. Do they still think you’re going to be the next Oracle?”
I nodded. “Yeah, but we’re no closer to knowing for certain. It’s so frustrating! I don’t want any of this! I just want to live my life!” Elijah whimpered in his sleep and I realized that I had been nearly yelling.
“Shh, babe. It’s okay. We’ll figure this out. I’m just glad you’re back. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I missed you. I don’t want you to go next summer.”
“I don’t want to, either.” We were silent for a while, enjoying the quiet evening and the respite from watching the children, although we were careful to keep Megan in our sight the entire time.
“Excuse me,” an older woman said as she and a man approached. I sat up to see what they wanted. “We just wanted to tell you what an adorable little family you are. It reminded us of when our children were small. Enjoy them while they’re young; they grow up too soon,” she sighed wistfully. “You two don’t look old enough to have two kids already.”
Really? Some people might find this sweet, but I found it intrusive and shot a warning look at Jack. I was thoroughly sick of people telling me what I should do. “Well, I got knocked up back in junior high. He’s not around anymore. This is my new baby daddy.” I leaned against Jack as I said this. I could feel him trying to hold in his laughter. “We’re not married or nothin’.”
“Oh. Well,” the woman said. “Um, have a nice evening.” She and her husband rushed away, whispering to each other, no doubt about the shocking lack of morals in today’s youth.
Jack chuckled and pulled me down on the blanket with him. “You’re awful! That poor woman.”
“Poor woman, my foot! Nosy old biddy is more like it. It’s none of her business how old we are or how many kids we have. Or don’t have. Whatever!”
“Remind me to stay on your good side, querida,” he softened his comment with a kiss, so I didn’t mind. Since we were in public and supposed to be watching Megan, it was brief. As I sat back up, I got that creepy feeling again that I was being watched. I stiffened, fighting the urge to look around. “What is it? What’s wrong?” Jack was always so in tune with my emotions; it was impossible to hide anything from him.
I couldn’t stop myself from looking around. I gasped when I caught a glimpse of a dark, hooded figure amidst the trees at the far corner of the park. It reminded me of the dream from this morning. “There!” I pointed to where the figure had been seconds before. “I swear that guy is watching me!”
“Stay here!” Jack ordered. “Watch the kids.” He jumped up from the blanket and took off at a run toward the trees. I saw him look around the stand of trees and then disappear out of the park and up the residential street. I made sure I could see Megan on the playground and I scooted closer to the sleeping Elijah, trying to calm my racing heart. Jack was back moments later. He flopped down on the blanket, out of breath from his sprint.
“Did you see where he went?”
Jack shook his head, not willing to meet my eyes. With a sinking heart, I realized that he hadn’t seen the figure at all. He had run toward the trees on my word alone. I loved him for it, but dreaded what it meant.
I dropped my head into my hands and groaned. “Am I going crazy, Jack? Why do I keep getting this feeling? That’s what my nightmare was about this morning. The one I didn’t want to tell you about. What’s wrong with me?”
He pulled me against his side. “There’s nothing wrong with you, Ally. I don’t know why you keep getting this feeling, but it could be all the stress this whole Seer-thing has put you under. I just wish I could make it go away, babe. I really do.”
***
Jack, Tara, and I started our sophomore year in college the following Monday. Freshman year had gone well: I got A’s in all my English and humanities classes, a B in my science class, and eked out a C in my Math for Dummies class with much help from Jack. I had helped him pass English 101, so I didn’t feel completely stupid. I was, thankfully, done with math—hopefully forever. I was required to take a foreign language and decided to begin studying French since I spent so much time over there. Rémy was a huge help/pain in the ass, forcing me to practice simple conversations with him all the time. Last year, Jack, Tara, and I had taken psychology together, which was fun, but we weren’t able to get any of our classes together this semester. The University of New Mexico was a sprawling urban university serving upwards of 25,000 students so we had to plan to meet or we would never see each other. Tara was majoring in biochemistry and spent t
he majority of her time on the north campus where all the science labs were, so I rarely saw her at school any more. The engineering building, where Jack had the majority of his classes, was near the humanities building, where I had several of my classes, so we could meet for lunch, at least. I had more classes this year in the education building, which was on the other side of campus and not at all convenient; I would be getting plenty of exercise this year with all the walking between classes.
I settled into my mid-morning literature class, a survey of Shakespeare’s tragedies, which I had hesitated to take after my community college experience with King Lear, but it fit well in my schedule. I was tired and cranky, having been woken at 4:00 a.m. by the recurring nightmare where I searched for something in a parking garage while someone watched me. This time I had followed the shadowy figure, but had awakened right before I reached it. I hadn’t been able to get back to sleep, so I had sat on my back porch, watching the sunrise and drinking too much coffee. This is what I blame my bad manners on.
A soft tenor voice asked if the seat next to me was taken. I merely shrugged and proceeded to ignore the tall, lanky guy who took it. I glanced at him when he nudged me with the sign-in clipboard. He smiled shyly, but frowned and looked away when I just raised my eyebrows.
Crap. You just kicked a puppy, Ally, I told myself. The guy was skinny and awkward, with a large Adam’s apple and messy, brown hair falling in his eyes. He seemed to shrink back into himself at my look. Don’t take your sleepless night out on the poor guy. You’re better than that. So, I smiled and said, “Thanks,” noting his name, Michael Conner, above mine on the sign-in sheet. He obviously took my change in temperament as license to become my best buddy, judging by the way he chatted continually to me during class whenever there was a break from the professor. I guess he was starved for conversation or something, because he followed me out of class, all the way to the Student Union Building, or SUB, where I was supposed to meet Jack for lunch. I couldn’t shake him.
He followed me to a table by the pizza counter. “Why don’t you save our table while I get our lunch? What kind of pizza do you like?”
When did this turn into a lunch date? “Just cheese, but I can get my own lunch.”
“Oh, no. Let me, please,” he begged.
“Okay, fine, but here’s some…” I fished in my bag for a five-dollar bill as he raced away to the counter. I sighed in defeat and put my money away.
He returned a few minutes later, holding a tray laden with food. “I didn’t know what you wanted to go with your pizza, so I got a side salad, a pasta salad, and a fruit cup.” He placed everything in front of me with a hopeful expression. “Do you want the Sprite or the Coke? I got both so you could choose. Or I could go get something else. Whatever you want.”
His over-eagerness to please melted my heart and I again thought of a puppy. I was reluctant to stomp on his feelings for the second time, so I said, “Sprite is great. Thanks, Michael. This was really nice of you.” I chose the side salad and the cheese pizza he had bought for me and his face lit up with a huge smile. He could probably be decent-looking if he stood up straight, got a haircut, and grew a spine. I cringed at the uncharitable direction of my thoughts, but what had I done to encourage this level of slavish devotion in such a short time? Whatever it was, I needed to reverse it—fast. It was uncomfortable and kind of creepy, to be honest. I was so flustered I had forgotten Jack was meeting me.
“Hey, hon.” He came up behind me and leaned over to kiss me as I raised my confused face to his. He quickly took in the situation and took over in his capable way. He sat down, scooted his chair close to mine, put his arm around me possessively, saying, “Sorry I’m late. Who’s this?” He jerked his chin in Michael’s direction.
“This is Michael. Michael, this is my boyfriend, Jack.” I leaned into him, relieved to have an out. “Michael is in my Shakespeare class. We just met.” Michael’s shoulders slumped as he acknowledged that I was already taken.
“Mike. Nice to meet you.” Jack held out his hand. Michael obliged, putting his slender hand into Jack’s much larger one.
“It’s Michael.”
Jack actually smirked.
“So, you’re Ally’s boyfriend?” At Jack’s firm nod, Michael shrank even more.
An uncomfortable lunch ensued. Jack and Michael barely spoke to each other, leaving the majority of the conversational burden to me. When Jack made a move to get up and buy himself some lunch, I sunk my nails into his thigh. Don’t you dare leave me alone with him! I used every ounce of mental energy to send him the message. He either heard me or read my body language, because he sank back in his chair and began to eat the pizza slice I shoved in front of him.
We were all silent for several minutes as Jack and Michael ate; I picked at the salad still in front of me. When I could stand the awkwardness no longer, I began to gather my books, saying, “I’ve gotta run. I forgot I need to stop by and talk to my advisor about my schedule.” I leaned over and kissed Jack briefly. “So, I’ll see you at home tonight,” I purposely overstated our living arrangements, hoping Michael would assume we were living together.
“Sure,” Jack agreed casually. “I may be a little late, but don’t bother holding dinner. Love you.” He kissed me as we parted ways. “See you later, Mike.” He stood, watching, as I walked toward my next class and Michael had no choice but to go his own way.
I waited at our usual spot, an alcove by the engineering building, where we frequently met up between classes. I paced back and forth, hoping he would realize that the story about needing to see my advisor was just that: a story.
“Aaah!” I squeaked in alarm as someone touched my shoulder from behind. I spun around and straight into Jack’s arms. “Oh, thank God.”
“Hey, shhh. It’s okay, sweetheart. I’ve got you.” He smoothed my hair and kissed the top of my head. “What the hell was that back there at lunch? Who was that guy?”
Now that I was away from Michael and the bizarre situation at lunch, standing in the security of Jack’s arms, I realized that I had overreacted. Seriously overreacted. I laughed slightly and pulled away to look up into his wonderful face. “I am so sorry about all that. I just…freaked out, I guess. It’s nothing.”
“Ally, I was there. It wasn’t nothing. That guy was weird! Where did you meet him?”
“He’s in my Shakespeare class. I was mean to him and I felt bad so I smiled at him and was nice and he wouldn’t stop talking and then he followed me to the SUB and bought me all that food—” Jack put his thumb over my lips to stop my nervous chattering.
“I have a hard time believing that you were mean to anyone, querida,” he interrupted.
“I was!” I said as I took his hand away. “I was cranky because I had that nightmare again last night and I couldn’t get back to sleep afterward.”
“Well, it looks like you’ve picked up a stray. If he bothers you again I will happily kick his ass. I don’t want to have lunch with him again. He bought you all that food? That is just weird!”
I nodded. “Ugh! It was embarrassing. I hope he got the hint and leaves me alone from now on. Why would he do that? I don’t get it.”
Jack smiled. “I do. He would do that because you are beautiful.” He kissed me. “And sweet.” Kiss. “And sexy as hell.” Long kiss. “And mine.” Longer kiss. “And now I have to get to class. I love you and I’ll see you at your house later tonight.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
“My master through his art foresees the danger
That you, his friend, are in; and sends me forth”
—Shakespeare, The Tempest 2.1
Michael did get the hint, at least somewhat. In class the next day, he apologized for over-doing it on the lunch the day before.
“I am so sorry about that, Ally. I just got carried away. They don’t let me out much.” He laughed in a self-deprecating way. “I’m really sorry. You must think I’m crazy.” He delivered this apology in such a sincere manner, reminding me agai
n of a small puppy, that I readily forgave him.
“It’s okay, Michael. No problem. I just…well, I have a boyfriend, so…”
“Yeah, I got that. Loud and clear.”
I winced. I hadn’t meant to come off as a jerk, but Michael’s behavior had freaked me out. Now I wondered if I had overdone it. Had I let my stress and worry about being followed color my reaction to this sad, rather pathetic guy? And who was I to say that he was pathetic? Who was I to judge? I let my shame over my behavior tamp down the warning bells going off in my head as I said, “Hey, there’s no reason we can’t be friends. If you want.”
His smile transformed his face, and I realized that with some help, fashion advice, etcetera, he could be kind of cute. “Sure. Yeah. That would be great.”
I tried to relax into a casual friendship with him, which worked, for the most part. I gently let him know that I wanted to eat lunch with my boyfriend. Alone. I softened the blow by asking him to meet me for coffee before class the next day. When he tried to pay for mine, I put my hand on his arm, shook my head, and said, “Friends, remember?” He nodded once and stepped aside to let me pay for my drink.
Michael was a sophomore, like me, and planning to major in English. When I teased him about having no future job prospects with that major, he shrugged and said he would worry about it later. College was for learning to think. This was a great sentiment, but I would never be comfortable with not having a firm career path after college; hence my double major in English and education.
My roommates were mixed in their opinions of my new friend: Tara thought I was too nice and in grave danger of being run aground by my sympathy for the downtrodden. “This is what you do, Ally. This is why Travis hung around, even after he dumped you. You always seem to pick up strays.” She had adopted the term from Jack’s description of Michael, when he had shared our lunch story over dinner the night before.
