I must’ve fallen asleep because before I knew it, the building came to life with students filtering into the hallway and professors going in and out of their offices, preparing for morning classes.
I glanced down at my watch. It was five minutes before Jax’s class started.
“Crap!” He hadn’t stopped at his office. If he had, he’d probably taken one look at me lying in a pool of my drool and tiptoed past my crazy ass.
Gathering my things, I dashed out and headed to his class, determined to talk to him. I’d drag him away from the lectern if I had to.
Yeah, I probably should wait until after class, but I didn’t want to. It may have only been a few hours since I’d been with Jax, but it’d been years, decades, for him. I had to let him know that he wasn’t crazy. I was his Nicole and that I hadn’t abandoned him.
When I reached the classroom, there was a crowd of students standing outside the closed door talking excitedly.
“I heard he quit on the spot.”
“Nah, he’s probably passed out somewhere.”
“My friend’s boyfriend’s cousin works in the dean’s office and she said she saw Cooper arguing with the dean, and the dean fired him.”
I spotted Travis in the center of the crowd and made a beeline to him.
“Aw, man. Don’t hit me!” Travis cried when I pulled him away from the crowd.
“What are you talking about?”
“You’re not mad about the,” he glanced around to make sure no one was near then leaned in and whispered, “the fake date? Greg said you were cool about it.”
“I’m still pissed at you, but I don’t have time for that now. What’s going on with class?”
“It’s canceled.” He thumbed back to a posted sheet of paper on the door. “I’m going to Rainbow’s place to see if I can get Greg out of bed. Want to go with us to Jitters for breakfast?”
My heart fell. How was I going to find Jax now? Maybe I could find HR and talk them into giving me his address. It was a long shot considering he wasn’t even listed in the campus directory.
I shook my head. “I have somewhere I need to go. Oh, wait, Travis.” I reached out and whacked his arm.
“Ow! What was that for?”
“That’s for later just in case I forget.”
“It’s the PMS, isn’t it?”
I pulled my arm back again.
“I’m kidding! I’m kidding! Geez!” Travis hurried away before I could whack him again.
After he left and the crowd thinned out, I made my way to the posted note, hoping that maybe there was some explanation, anything that would explain why Jax had canceled class.
“You’ve ruined his career. Are you satisfied?”
I spun around, shocked to see Flapper Girl. She stood down the hall with her arms folded over her chest. Her lipstick was a bright red slash across thin lips and a pale face.
“Excuse me?”
Heels clicking, she marched down the hallway, stopping within a couple of inches of me. “I warned you to stay away from him. This game you’re playing has ruined him. He can’t eat, he can’t sleep. He can barely manage to do his work. It’s pure evil what you’re doing, bringing up a past he doesn’t want to remember.”
“I didn’t do—”
“Don’t even try that fake innocence with me,” she snapped. “You’ve gone too far. Be prepared for the biggest civil lawsuit of your life.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. This jealous crazy-ass chick was actually threatening a lawsuit on—wait a minute.
“You’re a lawyer,” I said.
“You’re damn right I am. And I’m the best there is. When I’m done with you, your grandchildren will be paying for what you’ve done to my brother.”
I sucked in a breath.
“You’re brother? Jax is . . . he’s your . . . ?”
Astonished, I gazed intently at Flapper Girl, looking past the scowl, the obviously dyed black hair, to the splattering of light freckles hidden underneath layers of makeup until, finally, a six-year-old girl with light brown eyes and pigtails emerged.
“Caroline,” I breathed.
Chapter Five
Caroline snorted.
“So you’ve done your homework, and you know my name. Big whoop,” she said. “How long did you and your mother plan this scheme? You know, if you focused on your acting career rather than taking advantage of my brother, you could make something of yourself instead of being the skank you are now.”
“Caroline, it’s me, Nicole.”
She flinched, taking a step back when I reached out to touch her.
“Stop it!” she snapped. “I’m not my brother. You can’t screw with my head.”
“I’m not acting. There is no scheme.”
She was so beautiful and strong. Even with the death glare honed in on me, I couldn’t help but be proud of the woman she’d become. “It’s really me. I’m the Nicole who rocked you in my arms when you were little.”
Her eyes softened as if lost in a memory. I reached out again and lightly touched her cheek. “You remember that, don’t you?”
Jerking back, she slapped my hand away. “Knock it off!”
“Please believe me, Caroline. I’m not pretending. I know it’s hard to believe, but I’m the same Nicole that helped you look for Ethel. The same Nicole who took you to the carnival. The same person who held your hand as you skipped through the park. Just please look at me, and you’ll see I’m telling you the truth.”
She paused, blinking as she studied me.
“I know this sounds crazy,” I continued. “I went back in time and that’s how I met you and Jax. I can’t explain how it happened, but it’s true. And then that day of the storm, there was a tornado and—”
“Do you think I’m an idiot? You must think I am because . . . time travel? That’s your story? Really?”
“I’m not making this up. How else would I know about your doll Ethel or that Jax called you shortcake?”
“I’m not buying into your time travel bullshit!” she yelled, her face growing red. “It’s obvious you got all your information from your mother, Nicole Applewood.”
I groaned. That stupid name I made up just kept on biting me in the ass.
“Come on, Caroline. You have to know it’s a fake last name. I think even Jax knows I made it up. Besides, my mother’s maiden name is Higgins, not Applewood. And her first name is Elizabeth. You would know this if you had any information on my family.”
“Oh, I did my homework on your family. The moment Jax sent me a ridiculous email about reincarnation and some chick named Nicole Ashford in his class, I had a private investigator friend dig up information on you. I know perfectly well that your mother is a famous concert pianist known to everyone as Elizabeth Higgins Ashford. We haven’t found the paper trail yet, but I know she’s the real Nicole Applewood, so don’t even try to pretend that she isn’t.”
My lip quivered as I held back a smile. The spunky little girl had grown up to be a fierce woman. Even if I couldn’t get her or Jax to believe me, I’d never regret going back in time or doing what I had to make sure Caroline was safe from an abusive father.
“I suppose you have photos of my mother then? It’s not hard to find with a quick web search.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Of course, I do.”
“Then you know what my mother looks like and that we don’t look at all alike.”
She stilled, her lashes fluttering.
Yes! I’ve got her there.
“Well?” I smiled, satisfied that I was finally going to be able to convince her.
She scowled. “So she colored her hair black and wears brown contact lenses. People do that. I dyed mine.”
“Yes, true, but that doesn’t explain the other differences.”
“People’s features change when they age.”
“Noses don’t.”
“So she got a nose job.”
“To make it bigger?”
/> I tilted my head up, making sure she got a good angle of my small, slightly upturned nose, which was so very different from my mother’s large hooked one.
“I . . . she . . .” Her freckles darkened as she became flustered. “Noses get bigger when people age.”
“And I suppose she added wrinkles and age spots? She’s supposed to be the same age as Jax, remember.”
“So she’s a smoker,” she barked.
“And I suppose all this so called smoking made her shrink too?”
“It happens.”
“An entire foot?”
She open and closed her mouth, unable to argue anymore. I could see it in her eyes. I was breaking her down. She wanted to believe me, but she was fighting it every step of the way, despite having seen photos that clearly showed there was no way my mother could be Nicole Applewood.
Taking a breath, I spoke to her softly. “Look, I know you’re trying to hold to something that is remotely logical. And if I were in your shoes, I’d do the same thing. But what happened to me, to us, defies all logic. I went back in time. I’m Jax’s Nicole. I made up the name Applewood because I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t want to accidentally change anything.”
“Please don’t do this.” Her voice shook when I placed my hand against her cheek.
“You want to believe me. I know you do, my cute Caroline.”
Teary light brown eyes flicked to mine. “What did you call me?”
I took a deep breath and sang “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” substituting her name in the chorus. As I sang, I brushed the tears from her cheeks. Her chest rose and fell as her breathing quickened, the words appearing to touch memories buried deep within her.
When I sang the last note, she stared at me silently for a moment. And then, in that sweet voice of the six-year-old girl that was forever etched in my heart, she whispered, “Nicole? Is that you?”
“Yes,” I croaked.
“Nicole!” She threw herself into my arms and sobbed.
Chapter Six
Laying on a small patch of grass with Caroline’s hand in mine, I gazed at the vivid blue sky and thick fluffy clouds. I closed my eyes, imagining that I was in 1984 and nothing had changed. I smiled when Caroline’s sweet voice called out a duck and a horse. This was home.
I reached out to the empty space beside me. My heart ached when I touched cool grass instead of Jax. No amount of pretending could take away the fact that time had passed and everything had changed. I wasn’t holding onto a little girl’s hand anymore. Now her hand was the same size as mine. And this time it was Caroline’s hand that squeezed mine, giving me strength.
After leaving campus, we drove to Club Vortex and parked in the back lot. Walking hand-in-hand, we pointed out where the monkey bars and swings used to be. As we walked farther away from the club, Caroline had spotted a small path that was barely visible beneath weeds, empty beer bottles, and soda cans. We worked our way through overgrown shrubs and piles of garbage bags. When we caught sight of the river, we ran alongside of it until we found the familiar grassy slope. It was still there, untouched by time, as if waiting for our return.
We laid there for most of the day. Caroline told me she’d lied about being a lawyer. She was actually in her last year of law school at Boston University. Her face brightened when she mentioned that she was in the top of her class.
As we talked, her face shifted from the beautiful young woman to the little girl with freckles and pigtails as she reminisced. She told me how hard it was to leave Texas and make new friends in a strange city. We laughed as she recalled her first date with some high school guy named Diesel and how Jax had snuck into the movie theater to watch over them. I laughed so hard my stomach had ached when she described the shocked look on her date's face when Jax launched himself over five rows of seats and tackled him to the ground when his hand had roamed into forbidden territory.
Caroline pretended she was annoyed when she described the huge blowout she and Jax had in the middle of a department store because he wouldn’t pay for a low cut gown she’d wanted for prom. He’d even threatened to be a chaperone at the dance if she didn’t agree to wear the dress he’d picked out. And then, even after she’d given in and wore what she referred to as “the granny dress,” he still ended up chaperoning the prom and didn’t let her out of his sight the entire time.
My chest grew heavy as she talked about all the important events in her life, high school graduation, college graduation, her first period, first kiss, first heartbreak, all the firsts that Jax was there for and I wasn’t.
“Don’t get me wrong, Nicole. I love Jax, but I wanted my mom there with us. There were so many things I wished I could’ve talked to her about.”
“What do you mean? Where was she?” I’d assumed that their mother, Julie, had been with them.
There was a tense silence. She bit down on her lip as she gazed intently at the sky.
“Caroline?”
She titled her head to the side. Innocent eyes filled with grief looked back at me. She squeezed my hand as if she were gathering strength for what was obviously painful for her before the words slowly tumbled out.
“She died. Five months after you disappeared.”
I jolted upright.
“No! What happened?”
“She was diagnosed with stomach cancer a few days after you left.”
“Oh, Caroline. I’m so sorry.”
A memory of Julie’s incredibly thin arms holding a sleeping Caroline against her tiny chest flashed through my mind. Jax had mentioned her being sick and refusing to go to the doctor. Had Julie known all along? And she’d just gotten away from her abusive husband. She had been starting a new life for herself and her family. Why did that have to happen to her?
“She went fast. Jax burned himself to the ground looking for you and taking care of Mom and me, and then working whatever jobs he could get. I don’t think he slept more than two hours a night. He dropped out of school for a while. The only reason he went back was because Mom made him promise he’d finish.”
“If only I’d been there to help. I could’ve done something to—”
Cold washed over me as Jax’s words haunted my mind. Words that I hadn’t understood the meaning of—until now.
So she abandoned you too?
A sledgehammer slammed against my chest and smashed my heart into a pulp as his voice whispered in my mind. While his mother was slipping away from his fingers, he’d been looking for me, needing me, and I hadn’t been there. In his mind, I’d abandoned him.
My eyes flicked down to Caroline, wondering if she felt the same way. Kind eyes gazed back at me. Despite all the tragedies she’d endured, she was still the same feisty and sweet girl. She’d had Jax to lean on all these years, and Jax’d had no one.
I swallowed thickly, holding back the deluge of grief slowly building inside my chest.
“Is that why he’s so . . . different?”
Silently, she studied me for a moment. The expression on her face said it all.
Sobbing, my breathing came out in spurts as I fought for air.
“Nicole, please don’t take this the wrong way.” She sat up quickly and hugged me to her. “His heart was broken. He lost you and then Mom. And at the same time, he had to grow up overnight and be a father to me. It was too much for him, for any one. He closed himself off to everyone except me.”
“I left him. I didn’t want to.”
“I know, and Jax will too when we explain it to him. I know you love us, and by some miracle, we found each other. I don’t know how you came to us or how or why you were taken away. All I know is that there has to be some purpose for all of it.”
“What purpose? To make us all miserable? Why bring me to a place to meet someone as wonderful as you and Jax and have me fall in love with both of you and then take it away when you two needed me the most? And even if he believes who I am, too much time has passed. I mean, for me it was just a few days ago, but for you . . . for you it
was years.” I sobbed harder when it sank in that they’d moved on without me.
She let out breath and reached into her purse.
“You’re here, and that’s all that matters. You can bring back Jax to both of us. I know you can. So here,” she said sharply as she slapped a tissue into my hand.
I blinked, surprised by her businesslike tone. When I looked at the familiar stubborn expression on her face, my heart fluttered with hope. It was the exact same look she gave me the first time she’d asked me to go out with her brother.
“It’s time to pull it together, Nicole. No more crying. I’ve waited too long to be an aunt,” she continued as she took out a cosmetics bag and proceeded to apply makeup to my face.
“Now I know why none of the blind dates I’ve set him up with never worked out. Tilt your head back a bit so I can put on this mascara. Thank god it’s waterproof. It’s like he knew you were coming back. The man kept himself locked up in his lab for years. You’re the only one who can drag him out. Okay, open your lips slightly. And it’s getting worse. I’m not going to lie. He’s bad off. He’s locked himself in his house and won’t come out.” She popped the makeup back into her purse and snapped it shut. “There. You’re beautiful. Now go get my brother.”
I sat there shocked. Did she just say she expected me and Jax to have babies?
A memory of Jax sitting at Jitters and holding a chubby baby against his chest flashed through my mind. Yes. I wanted that. I wanted to give Jax a family. I wanted Jax.
I blew into the tissue and squared my shoulders. With Caroline on my side, I knew I could get Jax back. There was still an attraction there. I knew it. He knew it.
“Okay. So what’s the plan because the moment I say ‘time travel’ I have a feeling he’s going to call the cops on me,” I said.
“I’ll call him and explain everything. But I think deep down inside he knows who you are. He’s fighting it. He even started . . .” She paused as if unsure whether to tell me the rest.
Your Gravity: Part Three Page 3
