The Great Altruist (25 page)

           
He nodded, but didn't say a word.

           
“Is something wrong?”

           
“Not at all, actually,” he said. "I'm sure you're right. It did go much better than I expected. I did get a kiss after all.”

           
“So that's a good thing, right?” She climbed from his pocked and sat in the well of his hand.

           
"I'm just second-guessing my reasons for doing this."

           
Her eyes widened. "You want her back, don't you?"

           
"I'm not sure. I mean, am I really in love with Katherine, or
was
I in love with her – three years ago?"

           
Genesis was confused by his answer, especially after witnessing the evening’s affairs. It seemed to her that the day turned out exactly as James wanted. "Why the sudden change?"

           
"Something happened tonight between us. The connection wasn't right. Maybe I'm here because I wanted it so bad."

           
"And you don't want her now?"

           
"I'm not sure what I want. I think I need to relive this day one more time and make sure. And if I still feel the same way tomorrow, I'll have my answer."

           
"Are you sure about this? I mean, not that it hurts me in the least, but I want to make sure you’re happy with this decision.”

           
"Trust me. I won’t go home until I’m sure I’m happy too."

           
He ran upstairs to his room to meet her at his bedroom window. After letting her in, they disappeared.

           
The following attempt was the most cavalier of the three, as James did little in the way of trying to impress Katherine. As Genesis remarked later, it appeared that James was behaving more like an interviewer with Katherine than a date. She wasn't far from the mark, since James was determined to find out, not whether he was right for her, but whether he should bother winning her back at all. He began to see why she left him in the first place: her gut told her they weren't right for each other. She didn't feel a connection, the same thing James felt now.

           
When Katherine drove off that night, and without a goodbye kiss, James let out a deep sigh as she disappeared from view. Years more of his life could be spent reliving this day a hundred ways to make this night perfect, and he would undoubtedly come to the same conclusion she did: they weren't meant to be together. She just didn't have the heart to break his.

           
"How do you feel?" Genesis asked, peeking out of her nook in his pocket.

           
"Never better," he said.

           
"Seriously?"

           
He nodded. "She did the right thing. Leaving me the first time, I mean."

           
"Are you sure about this? If you want to try again, we can. I'm in no rush to bring you home."

           
"I know," he said. "I know. But I wouldn't be honest with myself if I kept trying to make this work. I just wish it didn't have to take reliving all this to realize what took her a few hours to see." He walked up the stairs to the front door and sat
down on the porch steps.

           
He looked down at her out of the corner of his eye and felt her shivering. "I'm so sorry you had to endure all this three nights in a row. Why did I pick the coldest night in April, right?"

           
She giggled. "It's okay. I've been in far worse places."

           
James sat still and thought long about his decision. The more time went by, the more certain he was of his choice. It wasn't long before Genesis fell asleep.
She must be tired
, he thought. He picked her up gently and carried her upstairs to his room. Once there, he laid her down on his pillow. She never stirred as he moved her around.

           
As James lied on the floor and looked out the window at the moon, he pondered all that had happened to him over the past few days. Far removed from his mind were the troubles revolving his parents who he suddenly realized he had not seen at all while he was here. Thoughts of his past, present, and future raced through his mind as he fell asleep. With one notable exception: Katherine.

Chapter 4

           
The following morning, James awoke on the floor and sat up slowly, immediately looking around the room for Genesis. She sat comfortably on the windowsill and watched him with a smile.

           
"Good morning," she said.

           
"Where am I?"

           
"In your bedroom."

           
"What day is it?"

           
"April 14th."

           
"Oh," he thought aloud. "You didn't send me home?"

           
She looked at him curiously. "No. Was I supposed to?"

           
He looked around the room to find it was the same as when he fell asleep the night before. "No, I'm glad you didn't actually."

           
"Was there something else you wanted to fix?"

           
"Not exactly," he said. "I have a request."

           
She jumped down from the sill and sat back down on his pillow. "Go ahead."

           
"Last night, I thought about all that's happened to me over the last few days and – firstly – I wanted to thank you for helping me realize the truth about Katherine. I still don't know why you chose me to help, but I'm very happy he did."

           
Her smile stretched from ear to ear. "I'm glad I'm here to help. Even if you didn't get what you wanted."

           
"I got what I wanted. More to the truth, I got what I needed. But there was something else I thought about last night. I was hoping you would do me one last favor before we go home."

           
"Sure."

           
"Could we stay here one more day?"

           
She looked at him puzzled.

           
"I haven't seen my family while I've been here. And back home, things are kind of fouled up, especially with my parents. I'd like to hang around a bit, and spend some time with them, if that's alright? I hope I'm not taking advantage of you."

           
"Of course not," she said. "We can stay here as long as you'd like."

           
"Thanks. I just want to spend one last day with them when things were normal."

           
"No problem."

           
James and the time-traveller spent the bulk of the day talking about nothing in particular. Chit-chat mostly. Later in the day, he heard a car pull up in front of the house and ran to the bathroom window to see who it was. It was Becky, his mother, who just arrived home from work. Genesis agreed to stay in his room while he went downstairs to see her.

           
She entered the front door and immediately worked on dinner. He didn't care what she made to eat. He was just happy to have a home-cooked meal, something missing in his own time for years. He was looking forward to enjoying a family meal.

           
"Do you need any help with dinner, Mom?"

           
"Yeah, if you want to set the table, that would be great," she asked.

           
He set the table the way he remembered it was set when it was common for them to eat together. Now that he thought of it, he couldn't remember the last time they ate at the same table. Once Melissa began driving and found a job she was never home. The rest of the family followed suit. They all began eating their meals separately, and James couldn't help but wonder if never spending time
together
somehow led to the future he knew.

           
When it came time for dinner, everyone filed to his or her semi-assigned place at the table. James's father was late from work and sat at the head of the table where he began serving himself without saying a word. Becky and Melissa served themselves as well and everyone ate in silence.

           
James sat at the seat to his father's left as he normally had and heaped mountains of food on his plate. He ate quickly, shoveling unseemly portions into his mouth like he was facing his execution at midnight.

           
"Slow down, James," his mother said. "You're in no rush."

           
He relished her concern; it was a feature of her personality he seldom saw in his own time when problems overwhelmed her. He nodded and chewed a little slower, but not much. He happily watched everyone else eat dinner in silence. They seemed content, and the thought occurred to James that perhaps their future collapse was not set in stone.
Perhaps things didn't have to turn out the way they did.

           
"So what happened with that girl you were supposed to meet?" his father asked, spaghetti hanging out the side of his mouth. "The one from the Internet," he added with plenty of sarcasm.

           
"Yeah, that isn't going to work out," James said.

           
His casual tone surprised them. They stopped eating for a moment and looked at James for an explanation.

           
His mother was the first to speak. "What happened?" she asked with a tinge of genuine concern in her voice.

           
“Nothing
happened
. She came, we hung out, she left," he answered as he swallowed, trying to work on what Genesis told him about not talking with his mouth full.

           
"But why?" his sister wondered aloud. “I thought you were
in love
with her.”

           
"We just weren't a good match,” James said. “It's fine. I promise."

           
No one in the family knew what to think. On the one hand, if James was being honest, then they were witnessing a real change in him since little he did was sensible. The James they knew would have ignored clear signs of incompatibility and continued dating her. Their assumption wasn’t far from the truth as James had done that very thing the first time Katherine left him. Nevertheless, James had already learned a valuable lesson on his journey: what he believed and reality needed to align. His family had begun to see a change in him, one that James hoped would leave its mark on the younger version of himself after he returned home. He may not have been successful in winning Katherine back, but maybe he could take the first step in fixing another mistake: winning the respect of his family instead of constantly losing it.