Tamara Stone - TIme After Time

I nod, even though he’s only part of it. “I don’t think this is right.”

“For you or for me?”

“For everyone.” I try to block out the vision of her in the driveway ten years from now, looking up at a guy who isn’t me but makes her smile the same way I do. “But, I guess, especially for you.”

She lets out a heavy sigh. “You seem to think you’re somehow responsible for my future.” I start to respond but she puts her finger to my lips. “Listen to me. Please, don’t say anything. You are not responsible for my future, Bennett.”

Sure I am. It would be totally different if I’d never come here.

“It’s mine.”

Yes, and you deserve a simpler one.

“And I want you in it.”

You shouldn’t even know me.

She looks over my shoulder, staring into the distance. “I don’t know what you saw when you went forward, and I have a feeling you’re never going to tell me. And that’s fine.” Now she looks right into my eyes. “Stop coming here if you think it’s wrong for you, or for, I don’t know, the space-time continuum or something, but don’t stop because of me. From the beginning, you’ve made this all about how you were affecting my future. But I’m affecting yours, too. This time it’s your choice. What do you want?”

I say the first thing that pops into my head. “You.”

Her eyes light up. “I’m glad to hear that.”

“But it’s not that simple.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s not.”

She brushes my hair off my forehead and plants a kiss there. “I want you to be part of my life. When you weren’t in it, I went to great lengths to get you back. So here we are.” She spreads her arms out to her sides and looks around the track. “But who’s to say what happens next? Maybe a year from now, we’ll both be off at college and we won’t want this anymore. Or after five years of this, we’ll get tired of all the distance or the uncertainty…you’ll get tired of zapping back and forth, or I’ll get tired of waiting for you, or maybe the whole thing will become too much to handle. But right now, we both want to be together. Don’t you think we should be?”

I stare at her. “I told you, it’s not that simple.”

“Sure it is.” She runs her thumb across my cheek. “In fact, let’s make it even simpler. I don’t need a calendar. I don’t care if you’re here for big events or how long you stay each time. I just need to know that you’re coming back.”

I reach up for one of her curls and wrap it around my finger, thinking about how easy this all seemed back at the beginning of the school year. I remember that day we sat on my bed, surrounded by my new posters in a room that was starting to feel a lot like home, and built a schedule. God, how cocky I was, thinking I had it all figured out and that nothing would stand in the way of us being together as long as that’s what both of us wanted.

“Will you think about it?” she asks.

I look away from her and nod.

“Don’t do that,” Anna says.

“What?”

“I can always tell when you’re lying. You don’t look at me.”

I lock my eyes on hers. “I’ll think about it,” I say. And I will.

But I know I won’t change my mind.

Physically, I’m here in San Francisco. But all morning I’ve been mentally absent, my thoughts constantly wandering to Christmas 1995. Ever since I saw Anna at the track, I’ve been trying to bring myself to go back there, but I just couldn’t. Now that it’s Christmas here, the whole thing feels unavoidable.

Dad reaches under the tree and makes a big production of reading the tag on the last gift. “To Brooke from Bennett,” he says, tossing it high in the air.

Brooke catches it with both hands and shakes it hard for clues. She’s already grinning as she rips off the paper, but a huge smile spreads across her face when she peeks inside. “No way.” She looks up at me and starts pulling out each of the ten “vintage” concert tees, one at a time. In case my parents are getting suspicious as they watch her, I describe how I found them online, but when Brooke looks at me, I shoot her a wink.

She hugs the Incubus 2007 World Tour T-shirt to her chest. “I love them,” she says. “Thank you.”

Mom tries to pass me this plate of sticky-looking pastries for the third time, and once again, I hold my hand up to block them. She tips her chin down and gives me her concerned parent look. I haven’t eaten much over the last few days and Mom’s starting to notice, so I grab the plainest-looking thing on the plate.

“Well, I think that’s everything,” Dad says, taking one last look around the base of the tree. He stands up, straightens his back, and transfers the fluffy ball on his Santa hat from one shoulder to the other like it’s a mortarboard tassel. “Christmas gift exchange 2012, officially complete,” he says with his hands on his hips. Brooke tosses a wrapping paper ball at him and it bounces off his forehead.

“I’m going to go buy some music,” I say, holding up my new iTunes gift card as evidence, and Brooke gives me a knowing look. She’s already agreed to cover for me if she needs to, but that doesn’t mean she’s happy about it.

I start gathering up my gifts as Mom heads for the kitchen with a handful of plates and Dad follows her carrying a trash bag filled with used wrapping paper. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Brooke staring at me from the other side of the couch. As soon as I have everything, I head for the staircase. I’m at the first step when I hear her say my name, but I shake my head and keep climbing without turning around. What’s the point? She’ll just try to talk me out of this again.

When I’m showered and dressed, I dig around in the back of my closet, feeling for my backpack, and do one last round of inventory. There are water bottles, coffee shots, and Red Bulls; Kleenex and a spare T-shirt, just in case; and down on the bottom, Anna’s photo album. I pull it out and thumb through it, feeling sick when I think about giving it back to her. But I can’t keep it here.

I stuff the album back inside and toss the pack over my shoulders. There’s no reason to stall any longer, so I picture the side of Anna’s house, where the yellow paint is peeling and flaking off, and I close my eyes. But before I can leave, they spring open again.

And there it is, this ridiculously stupid thought. Not only is it stupid, it’s also risky and more than a little bit pathetic. But this is my last trip for who knows how long, and I haven’t been able to stop wondering about the guy she was with that night. And knowing who he is might give me some peace. I could use a little peace.

I squeeze my lids tight and before I can talk myself out of it, I open them to a view of a house painted gray with white trim.

After a quick look around to be sure I’m alone, I peer through the kitchen window. Inside, Mrs. Greene is in the exact spot, wearing the exact same thing, making the same meal she was making last time I showed up here in 2005 and shouldn’t have.

I’ll stay five minutes. Ten tops. Just long enough to catch a glimpse of him.

I check the driveway and find it covered in a layer of snow but otherwise empty. When I return to the window, Anna’s mom is still standing at the stove, and I watch as Mr. Greene sneaks up behind her and wraps his arms around her waist. He gives her a quick kiss on the cheek, and she smiles and squirms away, swatting his hand with her wooden spoon. He laughs and kisses her again. Then he walks over to the sink and looks out the window that faces the street, like he’s waiting for someone to arrive.

She should be here any second now. I listen to the sounds of the neighborhood, but there’s nothing. It’s totally silent.