Page 14 of Just in Time
He nodded in reply. Panic flared up inside me like a balloon of fear.
“You’ll disappear,” I stated bluntly. “You’ll be gone.”
“But maybe… if I can keep my mother from… you know. Ending up with my dad…”
My heart broke for him, but I shook my head. “Things happen for a reason, Brody. It would be irresponsible of me not to try and fix this… not to mention… I couldn’t live in a world where you didn’t exist.”
“But if I never existed, then…”
“Then there would be a hole where you once were. It would negatively affect everything in a ripple…” I squeezed his non-hands. “You can’t just remove a pebble after the ripples have been made. You can’t undo a splash. This is why time witches are advised against interfering in time… if it’s not broke, don’t fix it, you know?”
My face heated up at that. It was a lesson I’d learned the hard way.
He pressed his lips together. “I just thought… to spare my mom from having to be with my dad through all of the bullshit, the pack politics. The crimes.”
“You aren’t responsible for the decisions your parents made,” I reminded him, tugging him down to my lips for a kiss. I rested my forehead against his and breathed in his scent. Felt his warmth. “You definitely aren’t responsible for the things your shitty father did. Youdeserveto live.”
He nodded once and kissed me back. “Okay… this means we might not get to have our lunch date today, though… just so you know.”
I huffed out a laugh and shook my head. “Technically, we’re going to see a movie in the 80s. Plus, if I time it right, we’ll be back in five minutes. With your hands. No way you’re getting out of that date now.”
“I was socloseto freedom,” he teased.
“Quick question.” I said, pausing once more on my trek to the living room for my laptop. “Did your parents ever tell you when they met?”
“They were watching a movie at the cinema in Abernathy,” he said slowly. “Dirty Dancing, I think it was?”
“Do you know the date?”
He shook his head, grimacing. “They weren’t so good with exact dates…”
Sighing, I left the room, grabbing my laptop from the coffee table and flopping down on the couch to do a quick search.
“Problems?” he asked, his voice nervous and wavering as he joined me, peering over my shoulder.
“Not really… just need to see if Abernathy keeps sufficient records of the movies the theater showed…”
The search was a relatively quick one once I figured out just how to look for it. I just needed to know when both the Princess Bride and Dirty Dancing were playing at the Abernathy cinema.
Turns out, there was one weekend only. And it was the opening weekend of the Princess Bride.
“September 25 -27,” I said slowly. “We’ll shoot for the 25th in the morning sometime. And hopefully, I’ll be able to figure out exactly which day it happened when we get there…” The question of where we were going to overnight occurred to me, but I didn’t really have time to overthink this.
“Cool…” he said slowly. “Any rules for time travel?”
“Don’t touch anything,” I quipped, standing up to go grab the biggest bag I owned from the closet. If he was going to come with me, I’d have to have somewhere to stash his clothes when he inevitably shifted.
He laughed, wiggling his invisible fingers. “No problem, Lil. You’re the boss.” He followed me from the linen closet to the kitchen, where I stuffed granola bars and non-perishable snacks into the bag.
“Good. I’m gonna hold you to that when we get there. No fighting. No killing. No nothing.”
“No nothing is confusing…” he quipped.
“Stop it. You know what I mean. Now hold tight, because I’ve gotta… you know.”
“I know…” he nodded, bringing his hand up to cup the back of my head. “Do your thing, sugar.”
I closed my eyes and nodded, letting myself find the planes like I always did. I found the edges and gripped hard. Hard enough to make it stop.
