“No, that’s not what I…You just told me you need to fix this.”
“Yes.”
“The word fix suggests there is something ‘to’ fix.”
Derrick just stared.
“You’re telling me you liked her better the way she was before?”
“I love Annie. That fact will never change.” Leaning forward he put his head in his hands. Dragging them down his face, he let his arms fall limp across his legs. “You don’t understand. When I met her she was working in a health food store. She wore jeans and sweaters, and her hair was always loose around her shoulders. She was this…this free spirit.”
“Careful, you’re starting to sound like a commercial about…” But then he shook his head. “Forget I just said that.”
“She was happy just the way she was. Why would she change like that?”
“Did it ever occur to you that she did it because she loves you? That she wants to please you, do something you can relate to, something you can have in common, that you can share?”
Turning his head, Derrick stared right at him.
“She wants to be a part of this…life you have. To be more like you, more…What I am trying to say is that she loves you so much she is willing to do anything and everything to make you happy. To please you. To be closer to you. To be more like you.”
“That’s crazy.”
“What can I say? I’ll be damned if I can figure out why a woman does the things she does.” He shrugged his shoulders. “She loves you. That much I know.” He turned toward Derrick, bringing his knee up onto the couch he stretched his arm along its back. “Is this new Annie really so bad?”
“I’d like it better if she was here, with me now. Instead of off on some business trip. Just what corporation does she work for anyway?”
Brian’s eyebrows arched. “You don’t know what…?” He set his cup on the glass end table. “You don’t want to know.”
“What?”
“Let’s just say…it’s best if I not say.”
“Okay, now you’re really freaking me out.”
Brian laughed. “Gotcha!” Shaking his head, he continued to laugh. “Man this is too easy.”
“Don’t you mean to say, beneath you?”
Brian thought on it for a second. “No.”
“Jeez, you are an as — ”
“Hey, let’s not start that again. Besides, I wouldn’t want you to do anything you’ll regret.”
“What makes you possibly think I would regret calling you an — ”
“Because you promised Annie you wouldn’t.”
Derrick drew back. “I what?”
“Don’t you remember? Oh, that’s right, all this alternate timeline sh — ”
“Hey!”
“What? I didn’t promise her.”
Derrick fell back against the couch. “I have to fix this. I never wanted her to do something like this for my sake. Never for my sake. If she wants to do it for herself, I’d be at the front of the line cheering her on. But…not for me.” He shook his head. “Not for me.” He sighed deeply, once more dragging his hands over his face.
“I tell you what, I’m going to take you out and get your mind off it. How does that sound?”
“You, taking me out?” A laugh escaped Derrick’s lips, and he stared. “Who are you, and what have you done with Brian?”
“All right, all right. Very funny. Ha ha ha ha. I am laughing so hard.”
“You know, if you said that with a little more conviction I might actually believe you.”
Brian punched Derrick in the arm.
“Ow! Hey, this is supposed to be helping?”
“Yes, actually it is. You haven’t heard of diversion techniques?”
“What? Like stomping on someone’s foot so they don’t think about their thumb they just hit with a hammer?”
“Well I wouldn’t use that example.”
“You do realize just how stupid that sounds? Don’t you?” He made a noise through his nose. “And just who says I’m in pain.”
“Okay, now I know you’re in denial.” Turning to Derrick, he opened his mouth, forming his words carefully. “Listen to the doctor, I know of which I speak.”
“Oh, here we go again.”
“What?”
“Okay, that’s it. That’s enough.”
Brian held his hands up. “I’m stopping. I’m stopping.”
Derrick looked at him as if some demon were about to come bursting out of his chest at any moment.
“Honest.” He started to cross his chest, and Derrick reached over hitting his hand away.
“Stop it!
“Hey. You’re messing with the code here.”
“This isn’t some back yard fort. And you are not ten. Although there are a few women that would argue that statement.”
Brian laughed.
Derrick shook his head. “You would find that funny.”
“Hell, yeah! Now get off that couch and get dressed. You and I are going out. And I am paying for it.”
“This, I would do just to see what it looks like to watch you actually pay for something.”
Derrick blocked Brian as he went to punch him in the arm again, and reaching up he pushed Brian’s face away.
“Oooo, buddy, you’re askin’ for it. Just you wait.”
The television was playing in the background of the bar, some commercial for feminine protection talking about being carefree, and Brian laughed.
“What?”
“Oh, nothin’.”
“No, with you it’s never nothin’.”
“Actually, pretty much most of the time my head’s filled with nothin’.”
“You tell your patients this?”
“Nah, then, I usually keep it to myself.”
Shaking his head, Derrick tipped the beer bottle back as he took a drink.
“How long has it been since we just went out to a bar and had a couple of beers?”
“Let’s see now? Oh yeah, now I remember, since you stopped paying for your drinks.”
Brian paused. “Yeah, that would be it.”
Without looking up, Derrick put up a finger. “If you’re thinking about punching me in the arm again, don’t.”
“Oh? Or what?”
The bartender reached up turning up the volume of the television. “Again, Calaire flight two one nine to Toronto has gone down. Rescue crews are on the scene now.” The images on the screen showed a massive fire around mangled wreckage, twisted and charred metal jutting out from its midst.
Derrick’s heart was pounding so hard in his chest he could hear the blood rushing in his ears. “I’m sorry. What was the number of that flight?”
The bartender turned to Derrick. “Buddy, you all right? You look as white as a sheet.”
Gripping his beer tight in his grasp his hand started to shake violently. “The number?” he whispered.
“Oh, two one nine.”
Derrick’s head started to spin, and he felt himself falling.
Chapter Eighteen
“Annie!” Derrick sat up. He was at home in bed, and he sighed in relief. “It was just a dream. It was just a dream. Oh, God. Ahh.” The smell of bacon made him sit forward, and looking around the room he saw the clothes tossed on the chair by the bed, the lamps on the bedside tables now different. “Annie?” Jumping out of bed, he threw on his robe and ran out to the kitchen. He saw a blonde standing before the stove. “Annie?” he said loudly. The woman turned and looked at him.
“Yes?”
Derrick jumped as Annie came up behind him, the woman at the stove watching him curiously.
“You’re up. I thought you decided you were going to sleep in.” Bringing her arms up around his neck, she kissed him tenderly on the lips. “Hey, why don’t you give Brian a call? You two can spend the weekend together.” She patted him affectionately on the chest.
“The weekend?”
“Ah, sweetie, I know you hate me being gone for that long, but i
t’s only two days. It’ll be over before you know it. Just you see. And then we can go out for that dinner you’ve wanted to take me to.” She smiled up at him and kissed his chest.
“Yeah, that sounds great.” He watched as she sat at the table. Sharon set the plate of food before her, just as before.
“Uh, I forget, what was that flight number again?”
“Why do you want to know the flight number?”
“Oh, I was just going to check for you to see that it’s leaving on time.”
“Oh, you are just so thoughtful.” She smiled, and jumping from her chair, she came over to him and hugged him. “Have I ever told you how much I love you?”
Derrick looked to the ceiling, shaking his head. “I think you might have mentioned it in passing oh, once, maybe twice.” She caressed his face, and for a second he thought he saw a tear forming in her eye. “Hey, you’re not gunna cry now, are ya?”
“Me? Cry? You know me. Of course I’m gunna cry.”
He laughed, and brought his hand to hers as she held it to his face. “I tell you what, I am going to take you to the airport.” She leaned back looking up into his face. “I’ll just go throw on some clothes, while you finish eating, and I’ll call Lawrence to tell him we’ll be down in a few minutes. How does that sound?”
“You’re coming with me to the airport?”
He smiled down at her.
“I’d like that. I’d like that very much.”
“You do know you’re going to have to give me back my face if I’m going to get dressed?”
“Do I have to?”
He smacked her playfully on the butt. “Go eat!”
“Yes, sir.”
“Oh, I like the sound of that.”
“Well don’t get too used to it.” Walking back to the table she glanced over her shoulder. “That one was a freebee.”
Walking back toward the bedroom, he turned his head slightly in her direction. “Oh, that flight number?”
“Oh, Calaire flight two one nine.”
He hesitated, but forced himself to continue walking so that she wouldn’t know anything was wrong. I could tell her. I could tell her not to get on that flight. That it’s going to crash. Yeah, like she’s going to believe that one. Hell, I wouldn’t believe it! Dressing in his best suit, he flipped on the television seeing the time and date on the weather channel. It was five months into the future. But what had happened to the last five months? Why did he have no memory of them? What had happened to him and to Annie in all that time? What was going on? The only thing he was sure of was that this was the day Annie would take Calaire flight two one nine to Toronto and would be killed when the plane crashed. Stepping out of the bedroom, he stood before her with his arms out.
“Hey, what’s this?”
“Just showing you what you’re going to be missing.”
“Now that’s playing dirty, I’ll have you know.”
“Hey, you work with what you’ve got. What can I say?”
“Oh, you’re not full of yourself at all. No, you’re just too perfect for that.”
“Exactly! Oh, you know me so well.”
“Yes.” She came over slipping her arms around his waist under his coat, her expression becoming serious. “Yes, I do.”
“Oh, and I like the sound of that.”
“What?”
“I do.”
She leaned back, her eyes meeting his, and he smiled, smacking her playfully on the butt. “You know, you keep doing that and people are going to talk.”
“Oh, and what are they going to say?”
“Look at that dirty old man taking advantage of that beautiful young girl.”
Derrick threw his head back with laughter. “Well they’d be partly right.”
“Oh, and which part?”
“Hey.”
She laughed, and he smiled down at her.
“The beautiful young woman, and she’s all mine.”
“Oh really, why you make that sound as if I am a possession, sir?”
“That’s because you are. As far as I’m concerned, you’re mine.” He grinned. “Any objections to that?”
She returned the grin. “None.” And she smacked his butt playfully.
“Oh now what’s this? Are you taking advantage me, Miss Maddock? Why, that’s just not done I’ll have you know.”
“Oh, stop it! And we have to get going, or I’ll miss my flight.” She pressed her hand to his chest, rubbing it gently. “Did you get a chance to check to see if it’s leaving on time?”
“Yeah, it’s…yeah, you’re good to go.”
“Wonderful. A great start to a great weekend.”
“You say that like you’re going to be glad to get away.”
But she just smiled.
“Hey, I saw that!”
“What?”
He grinned, helping her with her suitcase. Sitting next to her in the limousine, he drew her hand into his, holding it in his lap.
“You’re in a funny mood.”
“Am I?”
“It’s only going to be the weekend, and then you’ll have me all to yourself again.”
“You’re right.”
The limousine pulled up at the unloading zone, and Lawrence jumped out to retrieve her suitcase from the trunk.
“Thanks, Lawrence, you’re a dear.” Annie smiled taking the suitcase from him, and taking a step back she bumped straight into Derrick. “Oh, I didn’t know you were right there.”
“Annie, you can’t go!”
“What?” She turned at his words, her gaze looking to his.
He looked down into those brown eyes. “You can’t go, without giving me a kiss goodbye.” He slipped his arms around her and pulling her to him, he kissed her. He drew back, and she looked up at him adoringly.
“No one can say you’re not a romantic.”
“Who says I’m not a romantic? Why, I’ll challenge them to a duel at dawn. My honor cannot be questioned like that.”
“Shhh. People will hear you.”
“Let them. Let them hear me.”
She pressed her hand to his mouth, giggling as he continued to try to talk beneath it.
“Then I shall take my leave, my lady.” He bowed, bringing his arm down in a sweeping gesture.
“I’ll say it again, you’re in a funny mood. And I have to say, I like it.”
“Oh really?” He glanced around. “Shall I be dressed like Mr. Darcy when you get back?”
“Okay, now I’m impressed.” But then she stepped back. “Who was she?”
“Who was who?”
“The woman that made you sit through Pride and Prejudice.” She pouted. “Oh, you poor darling.” But then he looked away. “You didn’t? You watched it? And no one made you? Were you on drugs at the time? Or had you fallen on your head and thought yourself a woman?”
“I’ll have you know I am not totally without…”
“Without what?”
“You are going to miss your check in.”
“Nice try. We are going to pick up this conversation when I get back.”
“I look forward to it.” Taking a step back, he nodded his head. “Till we meet again.” Annie chuckled, shaking her head, and he watched as she stepped away, walking through the door into the airport. He pulled out his cell phone. “Hey, Brian, how about we go for a beer? Oh, are we talking?”
“Yes. Why wouldn’t we be?”
“Have I told you anything lately that you would consider odd?”
“When are you not saying something odd? You’re Derrick Sloane.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Brian just laughed. “Yes, I can definitely say we are talking, if you can call it that. Wait, when were we not talking?”
“Are you telling me you didn’t get ticked at me for meeting Annie instead of you that day?”
“Well, I wasn’t thrilled at the idea but I got over it.”
“So we never had a fight then?”
“Okay, you know when you asked me if you ever said anything of an odd nature? Well, you’re doing it now. What’s going on?”
“Did I tell you about a dream the day I met Annie?”
“I recall something about a dream. What about it?”
“I should have cards printed up so then I can just hand them out to you each time I see you.” He sighed. “So, how about that beer?”
“Don’t you think it’s a bit early for that?”
“This from the guy that did JELL-O shots off of that girl’s — ”
“Okay, okay. God, don’t remind me.”
“Come on, I’ll pick you up. Um, another really stupid question, so bear with me here. Where do you live?”
“You and Annie had a fight, didn’t you?”
“No, Annie and I didn’t have a fight. Why would you say that?”
“Oh, something about not having any idea where I live. So what’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong Brian. No, I’d have to say, for once, everything is very right. Oh, and you’re buying.” Before Brian had a chance to answer, he turned off his cell phone. “Oh, and look, I’ve gone and turned my cell phone off.” He shook his head. “How irresponsible of me.” He stepped into the limousine, allowing Lawrence to close the door for him. “Take me to Dr. Taylor’s, Lawrence, if you would.”
“Yes, sir.”
Why didn’t I just think of that before?
They pulled up in front of Brian’s building, and Lawrence informed the doorman that a Mr. Sloane had arrived for a Dr. Taylor. A few minutes later Brian appeared wearing sunglasses and got in the limousine.
“So, let me get this straight. You call me up early on a Saturday morning, drag me out of bed, for drinks, no less, and then insist that I pay for them? Is that about right?”
Derrick thought on it for a moment before answering. “That sounds about right.”
“That’s what I figured.”
“Before I start, I need you to give me your cell phone.”
“My cell phone?”
“Yes, your cell phone.”
“Why do you need my cell phone?”
“Because I’d like to turn it off. This is a conversation I do not want interrupted.”
Brian hesitated. “All right. I can do that.” He reached in taking out his cell, and turning it off he put it back into his coat pocket.
The Coffee Shop Page 20
