A Loop in Time (12 page)

It was hard for Emily to get out of bed that early having been working the night shift for so long so she opened the door in her pajamas yet again. “Hi, John, come in and I will get changed.”

“Good to see you too,” he said.

She went back to her bedroom and closed the door. A few minutes later she emerged in a blue dress. She then kissed him and said, “Good morning, it’s great to see you.”

“That’s better. Are you ready?”

“Yes. Did you get your car back yet?”

“I got it an hour ago. I thought that you might need another hour’s sleep.”

She smiled, “That was thoughtful. So who are we meeting today? Besides your son, I mean.”

“My grandmother, Susan, and her husband, Tim.”

She laughed. “That has to be a weird family tree where some of the branches grow upward and then start down again.”

John had to laugh at that too. “It’s so convoluted that I can’t even imagine it.”

“Today, however, I am not going to let you starve me. We need to get a bite to eat first before I meet the family.”

“Okay, do you know of somewhere quick? We need to get there soon.”

“Right here, actually. I will whip up some eggs and bacon for you. I do a special kind of toast that I am sure you’re going to love.”

John smiled, “I do love your cinnamon and honey crusted toast. It’s the best.”

She just stared at him for a few minutes and then said, “This is going to take some getting used to. I’m never going to surprise you, am I?”

“I didn’t live with my Uncle John, but I do know a lot about you. Not everything.”

She pretended wiping sweat from her forehead, “good, I do have some secrets that are safe then.”

“I didn’t say that.” They both laughed at that.

After she went into the kitchen to cook, he sat out in the living room. He had tried to help Susan cook when he first arrived and she took it as a personal insult. He didn’t want to do that again. When she was done, she called him in. They both sat at the small table.

“So what do I become in the future besides your wife?”

John fidgeted nervously. “I really don’t want to talk too much about the future. It makes me nervous and it might cause you to act differently.”

“Okay, okay, so tell me what else you know about me.”

“Let’s see. You were raised in Oklahoma, which is strange, because you didn’t have an accent from there. That was mainly because both of your parents are from the east coast. You like dogs, but you don’t have one because you are highly allergic to them. Your meat loaf is to die for and so is the way you make hamburgers. Should I go on?”

She looked very surprised he knew so much. “Yes, go on.”

“You always wanted to go to Paris, but…” John stopped abruptly. “I’m sorry, I am saying too much. It has been a wonderful breakfast.”

She looked at him, “but what? Please tell me.”

John got a sad look on his face. “But you never got there, at least before I came back in time.”

“Hmmm, maybe we can change that this time around?”

“I don’t think changing things is a good idea. You were still alive and kicking when I disappeared, so maybe you did get there. I don’t know.”

“I hope so,” she smiled a weak smile. She was not holding out much hope. “I don’t think I want to hear about my future anymore. That one makes me sad.”

John put his hand on hers. “I think you’re right. Not everything we face is going to be fun. I know that for sure.”

 After breakfast the two of them drove over to Tim and Susan’s home. It was a rambler in the middle of the nice area of town. It had white stucco outside that had an archway you crossed under to get to the front door. When John rang the doorbell, Tim answered. “Good morning, come on in. I see you brought a friend with you. Hi, I’m Tim.”

“I’m Emily, and it’s good to meet you. I hope you don’t mind, John and I are supposed to get engaged and married someday. Well, as soon as he asks, that is.”

John turned red. Susan came around the corner with the newborn in her arms. “Hello, come in. I’m Susan.”

John introduced Emily to Susan before she could introduce herself again.

They went into the living room where they all sat down. The room had wooden floors covered with ornate rugs. The furniture was all leather. As they sat down Susan asked Emily. “How do you come to know John?”

John turned red again, he knew that this wasn’t going to end well and he was questioning his sanity for bringing her along.

“We met at the diner I worked at. He seemed different, so I sat down and talked to him. Boy, is he ever different. He came up with this story of how we met in his past and we were going to marry in his future. I thought it was interesting, so I played along. Only we met a guy yesterday that believed it.”

Susan looked at John and John said simply, “Granger.”

“Oh,” Susan said and then turned back to Emily.

Emily looked at the group. Nobody seemed upset at her revelations so she went on. “He tells me that this is his child and that the child will also be his father. That seemed so interesting to me.”

“You talked to her a lot, John. I thought you were not supposed to tell this part of the story? What happened to keeping it between the three of us?” Susan asked. She seemed a little upset.

“It just all came spilling out. It will never happen again. Besides, I knew this woman from before. She is the younger version of Aunt Emily who was married to my Uncle John.”

“Oh, so it’s all in the family,” Susan replied. “This is your future wife then?”

“I haven’t said yes yet.” Emily replied.

“I haven’t asked yet,” John corrected.

“Coffee anyone?” It was Tim’s feeble attempt to change the subject. Surprisingly it worked.

Tim went to get the coffee, while Susan let John and Emily admire the baby.

After Tim came back and they were all enjoying their coffee, Susan asked. “So when do you go back to Idaho, John?”

“I will start driving early tomorrow morning.”

Emily looked shocked, “you’re leaving?”

“Yes, I don’t live here. I live in Idaho. I only came down to see Susan and the baby.”

“Oh, sorry, I was just under the impression that you were going to be here awhile.” Emily could not help but show that she was upset by the revelation.

“I’ll be back. I have a lot of people to see here; my son, Susan and Tim, and yes; you too, frankly.”

“When will you be back?” she asked.

“A couple of months. I want to get back one more time before crop duster season gets started.”

“And after that?”

“It’s going to be seven to eight months. Depending on how long the season lasts.”

“Oh, I see,” Emily replied. She got real quiet after that and just sipped on her coffee.

The rest of the group had a nice chat and then John excused himself and Emily and he went to drive her home.

Out in the driveway she said, “I don’t want to go home yet. Take me to dinner. I thought that I had more time with you.”

“Sure,” John replied.

When they got to the restaurant and ordered, Emily opened up. “I have been in a whirlwind relationship for the last two days. I thought that everything was happening way too fast, but I still wanted to see where all of this was headed. Now the brakes just got slammed on to this relationship and I’m not okay with that either.”

“I’m so sorry. I had not intended on meeting you yet. It was not part of the plan. My Uncle John and Aunt Emily were always so secretive about how they came to meet. It is all a lot to take in.”

“You have no idea, I went from believing that time didn’t change and now everyone around me not only believes in time travel, one of them claims to have done it.”

“I do have an idea. I was sitting in the middle of my base when I went on a mission to test a new jet engine. I woke up forty five years in the past. I now find my ‘Uncle John,’ was my grandfather and myself. It has all happened before. It’s like time is this giant loop that we live through time and time again. We just live the lives that time has in store for us.”

“What now, John?” Emily asked.

“What now? I will be back in two months. We will correspond and hopefully we can figure out the what- now part by then.”

The answer was unsatisfactory to her, but she went along with it. He had packing to do so he dropped her off at her apartment after dinner. She kissed him goodnight and then went inside. John thought the kiss was a little cold, compared to the hot ones just a day earlier. He drove home contemplating it. He may have just blown it. He could have just altered the time line. Should he have done anything different? He would mull this over all the way to Idaho the next day.

Emily walked into work that afternoon and the first thing she said to her boss was, “I quit.”

“What?”

“I don’t want to work nights anymore. I don’t want to be in Arizona anymore. I am moving to Idaho.”

“It’s cold in Idaho. Are you crazy?”

“Yes, I am crazy.”

Dave looked at her for a minute. “Idaho; that is really random. Did you meet a guy? Was it that guy that you sat down with the other day? I knew he was trouble the moment he walked in and I saw how you looked at him. You were like a comet being pulled in by the gravitational force of the planet.”

“A comet being pulled in by gravitational forces? Where do you get these things?”

“I’ve been watching that new show on television called Star Trek,” Dave admitted.

“I’ve never heard of it.”

“Nevertheless, don’t quit over some guy you just met the other day. At least think about it for a week or two.”

Emily sighed, “If I think about it, I won’t do it. I’m quitting. You can get Tina to cover my shifts; she is always begging for more hours.”

Dave had seen this look in her eyes before and he knew he was in a losing battle. “Is there anything that I can do?”

“Sorry, I have to do this. I will work tonight but then I’m done.”

Dave let out a large sigh and went back into the kitchen. It was going to be bad without her. Half of his overnight customers came in just because of Emily.

The rest of the night, she could think of nothing but John. She loved his smile, his crazy story that everyone around him seemed to believe. She didn’t know anything about Idaho except that it was cold. All she knew was that she was swept off her feet by the man and she was going to follow her heart.

After saying goodbye to Dave, she went home to bed. When she woke up she started packing. She hoped her old beat up car would make it the whole way. She had a small nest egg that she could live on until she found work.

Emily didn’t have many friends in town. She called the ones she did have and they all got together for a drink that night. Her car was already packed and since she was used to being up at night anyway, after the drinks she hopped in the car and started driving.

It was cold when John arrived back at his house. There was snow on the ground, but at least the roads had been clear. He turned up the thermostat. He thought about Emily and wondered if he should have stayed a few more days. His heart was all mixed up and twisted. It had been unfair of him to tell her all that he had. He didn’t want her feeling obligated.

John settled back into his life and after a couple of weeks home, he got together with Fred and a group of his pilot friends for drinks.

When they all got sat down, Henry, the guy that had been a pilot the longest, raised his glass in a toast, “Here is to time off.”

The rest joined him.

“So what have you guys been doing?” Fred asked the group.

“I headed down to Arizona for a few days; other than that, not much.”

“Oh, what did you do in Arizona?” Fred asked.

“Just visited some friends.”

“I went fishing off Baja Mexico.” Henry chimed in. He loved deep sea fishing.

“Catch anything?” John asked. It wasn’t that he cared; just being polite.

“Not much, just a few barracudas.”

“What about you, Tom?” Fred asked.

“Not much, just making googly eyes at that new waitress they have at the Cornerstone Café.”

“Ah, Tom has a new love interest. How’s that going?” Fred was always interested in his pilots getting into relationships, even though it usually meant that he would lose them as soon as the women realized how long the hours were and how dangerous the mens’ job was.

“Not well. I think she has a boyfriend somewhere. Even though she says she isn’t dating anyone, there is a guy she has her eyes on.”

“Keep trying; this other guy doesn’t even know she’s alive probably. She is bound to give up on the guy eventually.” Fred reassured him.

“I think you’re right. If the guy liked her, he would be at the restaurant as often as I am.”

“Is she working tonight? I would like to meet this girl.” Fred said.

“Yep, she’s working tonight. She has Tuesdays and Thursdays off; she works the rest of the week.”

“Well, let’s all go, then,” Fred said as he stood up from the table and paid the bar tab for the group.

They all went marching down the two blocks to the restaurant. When they all sat down, Fred asked, “Where is she?”

The café took up the corner of Main and Third streets in the small Idaho town. It was a white flat roofed diner with windows on two sides. It had a bar where patrons could watch the cooks prepare food, or you could sit at one of the tables. It was brightly lit with a mostly white décor. It lacked other colors except for a few exceptions.

When the waitress came out from the back, Tom whispered, “there she is.”

John had his back to her and didn’t want to seem obvious by turning around. The next thing he knew, the waitress put her arms around him and gave him a great big kiss. 

Tom went florescent red with anger. John did too, but it was embarrassment for him.

“Hi, John, long time no see,” Emily said and then she kissed him again.

“Hi, Emily, you live here now?”

“I followed you. Then I lost your number in the move. I was hoping you would show up here sooner or later.”

“Here I am. It’s good to see you.”

She then handed out menus and asked, “can I bring you guys something to drink?”

Tom was still red, “nothing for me.”

The rest of them put in their drink order and Emily walked away.

“You stole my girl,” Tom raged.

“No, I didn’t. I met her in Arizona. You heard her, she followed me up here.”

“What’s so special about you?”

“I’m going to marry her.”

Tom just shook his head. “Is she your fiancée? Have you asked her to marry you yet?”

“I will, when she comes back.”

Fred was shocked. “You mean, right here in the restaurant?”

“Sure, why not?”

When Emily came back with the drinks, John got down on one knee in front of her and asked, “Will you marry me?”

“Yes, yes, a million times yes,” she said and then pulled him up and kissed him. The men around the table started clapping. Even Tom reluctantly clapped.

“Hey,” the owner said from the back. ”this is a family friendly joint. We will have none of that.”

“But we just got engaged,” Emily replied.

“Fine, give him one kiss and then get back to work.”

She did as she was told and then started taking the group’s food orders.

After she went back in the kitchen, Fred said, “I have never seen anything of the like. You are one gutsy kid.”

Even Tom had settled down by this point. “Okay, you got me there. I guess I will have to find someone else.”

John just laughed.