Stepping into the Sky: Jump When Ready, Book 3 (9 page)

“Why would you go and do something like that?”

The doorbell rang again. “I thought it would be nice
getting to know them. After all, they’re our neighbors now.”

Olivia spoke softly, more to herself than Rose. “Not for
long.”

Rose stared at her. “Why would you say that?”

Olivia got to her feet. “I wonder if they’ll decide they
don’t really belong,” she said. “They’re not really from here, are they?”

Rose opened her mouth to speak but then spun on her heel.
It was beyond rude to keep Henry and Nikki waiting at the door. She left the
room and Olivia followed.

Rose kept her voice low as they walked down the hall.
“Why does it matter where they’re from? They seem like nice people.”

Olivia reached out and took hold of Rose’s hand. She kept
her voice low as they approached the door. “But you don’t really know what they
want, do you?  They’re very young to own a house like that. Has that occurred
to you?”

“Well, I assume they’re from money. They wouldn’t be here
otherwise.” Rose found herself growing annoyed at Olivia’s ongoing
protectiveness. “You don’t suppose they’re after mine, do you?”

Olivia tightened her hold on Rose’s hand, sending a pulse
of urgency before relaxing her grasp. “In fact, yes, that’s part of what I’m
worried about.”

For some reason, Olivia’s words echoed in Rose’s mind.
That’s
part of what I’m worried about
. Rose could swear she’d voiced that same
concern before about someone she cared for, suspecting motives Rose knew to be
above suspicion.

Just as Rose was about to open the door, Olivia started
climbing the stairs.

Rose lowered her voice to a whisper. “Where are you
going?”

Olivia didn’t stop or look back. “I’m tired, dear. I
suspect I got up too early this morning.”

Rose waited until Olivia was out of sight. She took a
deep breath, forced herself to smile and opened the door.

“I hope we’re not late,” Nikki said. “Henry kept going
through boxes trying to find things.”

“Not just things,” Henry said. “I still haven’t found my
record collection. The movers must not have marked the box.”

Nikki rolled her eyes. “I’m sure we’ll be okay for
another day or two.”

“Not totally in agreement on that point.” Henry
mock-rolled his eyes in return.

Rose laughed, already glad she’d invited them over. They
were exactly what she needed right now. “I have tons of records. I don’t mind
at all if you’d like to borrow some.”

Rose led them into the family room, where she kept her
records stacked next to the stereo. She chose some and brought them over to
coffee table. “Have a seat. How about these? They’re some of my favorites.”

Henry and Nikki sat next to each other and Rose sat
across from them. She watched their faces as they looked at the album covers.

“Wow, Elvis Presley,” Nikki said.

Henry read the next label. “The Dave Clark Five.”

Rose couldn’t tell from his expression if he’d heard of
them before but she didn’t think so.

Nikki flipped the next record over. “Herman’s Hermits,”
she said. “I remember them.”

Rose giggled. “What do you mean? They’re new.”

Both Henry and Nikki looked up simultaneously.

“I remember reading about them,” Nikki said. “I saw an
article in…I forget. Where was that Henry?”

He looked at her and shrugged.

“I bet it was in Tiger Beat,” Rose said. “At least,
that’s where I heard of them.”

Nikki’s eyes lit up. “Yes! I think that was it.”

“These are great,” Henry said. “Do you have any Beatles?”

“Oh, sure! Hang on. How did that happen?” Rose got the
records from where she’d left them on top of the stereo cabinet. The fact was,
she’d left them there on purpose. Now, she felt bad about it. Henry and Nikki
were welcome to borrow them, she reminded herself. After all, they were going
to be friends. She just knew it.

Rose sat down again and passed the records across the
table.

“Check these out,” Henry said, glancing at Nikki. “These
are awesome.”

Rose giggled again.
Awesome
. She liked the way
they talked. They seemed so different. She needed different right now.

Henry looked up from the album cover. “We couldn’t
possibly borrow these. I bet you’ve had them a long time.”

Rose cocked her head. “Their new one just came out last
month.”

“Oh, sure,” Henry said. “When did you get the first one?
I mean, was it recently?”

Rose thought back to when she’d gotten the first Beatles record.
She’s bought it at Woolworth’s. It had been raining that day, cold and windy.
She remembered it clearly. She’d been excited about it. At the same time, it
felt like so long ago. Like something that had happened when she’d been a
child.

“Don’t mind Henry,” Nikki said. “He can be really nosy
sometimes.” She nudged Henry with her elbow and turned to him. “What does it
matter when Rose got them?”

“Just curious.” Henry smiled at Rose. “Can we really
borrow one of these? That would be great.”

Suddenly, Rose wanted to say no. Now, the album felt like
something she’d had all her life—a precious possession linking her back to some
distant time.

“We’ll find yours by tomorrow, Henry,” Nikki said. “I’m
sure it’s in the box upstairs.”

Rose focused on the two of them. She forced herself to
smile. “No, please. I want you to. What’s a house without good music, right?”

“That’s really nice of you,” Nikki said. “You know, Henry
has some—”

“Well, hello.”

Joseph stood in the doorway. Rose’s pulse quickened and
her face grew warm. She’d forgotten to call him again. Suddenly, it also
occurred to her that she’d stopped thinking about the wedding. For just a short
time, she’d forgotten all about it.

Joseph looked into Rose’s eyes. “Didn’t we have plans?”

Rose stared back at him.

“We were going to the florist,” he said.

Rose’s face continued to heat up but then she remembered.
So, it wasn’t just her. Joseph was losing track of the details too. She felt
like laughing. Weren’t men always rolling their eyes at women and their wedding
plans? Always acting as if the whole thing took care of itself?

“We did that yesterday,” Rose said. “Remember?”

Joseph kept his eyes on hers. “Yesterday.”

“Yesterday, remember? Just after I almost drove Henry and
Nikki off the road.” She turned to face her guests again. “I still can’t
believe I did that.”

Nikki laughed. “We’re fine. Don’t worry about it.”

Henry turned to Joseph. “Weddings are insane. God, it
felt like it took weeks for us just to sign all the invitations. How long have
you guys been planning yours?”

Rose watched Joseph regard Henry, his eyes narrowing. He’d
reacted the same way yesterday, his guard going up for no reason she could
imagine. “I invited Nikki and Henry for lunch,” she said. She wasn’t about to
admit she’d then nearly forgotten and wandered off to the cemetery, never mind
acknowledge that she’d also forgotten to inform Joseph. She’d heard enough
about her being distracted lately. “I thought it would be nice to go out. We
could stop for sandwiches and take them down to the beach. We haven’t done that
in a while.”

Joseph shoved his hands into his pockets. He thought for
a moment, then nodded. “That sounds good. We should do that.”

Rose’s heart lifted at the thought of the four of them becoming
friends. She felt sure Joseph would warm up once he got to know them. For just
a moment, she thought about calling Linda. It seemed wrong, somehow, not to
include her best friend in this new relationship. At the same time, might Linda
feel like a third wheel around the two couples? Maybe it would be better to
leave things as they were for now.

Rose jumped up from the sofa. “Come on, you guys. Let’s
go.”

Nikki and Henry got up to follow. As they entered the
hall, Nikki turned to her. “This sounds like fun. We haven’t had a chance to
get to the beach yet.”

“We did catch a nice view of the water from the road
leading up here,” Henry said. “That’s quite the drop-off too.”

“That really is a sharp turn,” Nikki said. “It looked
like the guardrail has been repaired recently. Has anything bad ever happened
there?”

Rose stopped walking. For some reason, she suddenly
imagined a car crashing through that rail and launching into the sky. Not just
any car, Joseph’s car. She recalled those images from yesterday, images she’d
thankfully forgotten until now. Was she having some sort of premonition? No,
that was nonsense. No one truly had premonitions. People probably just imagined
things that way later, when they looked back.

“Rose?” Joseph stood watching her, his eyes meeting hers
with concern. “Everything okay?”

Nikki and Henry stood waiting too. She’d gotten so lost
in thought that they’d all come to a halt, waiting for her to start walking
again.

Rose glanced back toward the family room, trying to think
of a way to explain her actions. “I forgot my keys. I’ll be right back.”

“You don’t need them,” Joseph said. “We’re taking my
car.”

Rose wanted to tell him she didn’t think that was a good
idea but it made no sense. Joseph had always been a good driver. Much better
than herself, in fact. This ridiculous daydreaming had to stop, now.

Rose started walking again and turned to Nikki. “It is
kind of a sharp turn, you’re right. But nothing bad has ever happened there.
Not to the best of my knowledge, anyway.”

The
Rapids

Twice they’d almost gotten through. Both times, Henry had
watched Rose’s eyes as she’d questioned the reality she’d created for herself.
He’d wondered if it might have been too soon when he’d asked her about her
Beatles records, but it had seemed like an opening, a small way of making a
dent. So, he’d gone with it and didn’t doubt that Rose had stopped to wonder at
the nature of how time moved for her now compared to the way it had when she’d
been in the physical realm. Nikki’s attempt had been more effective,
definitely. Rose had completely shut down, literally remained frozen in the
hallway as she’d considered Nikki’s question about that spot where both
Joseph’s life and hers had ended. Henry had gotten his hopes up that it might
even be that easy, that Rose would suddenly realize the truth. But then Joseph
had woken her up again. No, not Joseph, Henry reminded himself—the entity
posing as Joseph. And he hadn’t really woken Rose up. In fact, just the
opposite. He’d seduced her back into the dream with just the sound of his
voice.

Outside, the sun remained shining, the sky nearly
cloudless, the same as it had been when he and Nikki walked over. After Henry
had found her outside this morning—standing in the garden as if she had no idea
where she was or even
who
she was—the sky had started to blacken, night
suddenly replacing day. There hadn’t been any way to know but they’d guessed
Rose had stopped thinking about them sometime after leaving the house again.
Wherever she’d gone—whatever had been on her mind—had caused them to be
forgotten. They’d been left again taking haven from the dark and withered world
they’d crossed through before. They hadn’t been sure what to do or how they’d
even be able to find Rose’s house again. It seemed like about an hour passed before
the sun returned to the sky. They’d opened the front door to see the
neighborhood they’d first found themselves in the day before.

“Just look at how beautiful this day is!” Rose stopped in
the driveway next to Joseph’s car. She spread her arms and raised her face to
the sky.

“It’s perfect,” Joseph said. “I sure hope this weather
holds out for the wedding.”

Rose beamed at him. “It will. I just know it will.”

She got into his car and Joseph swung the rear door open
for Nikki. Henry watched as her eyes met his but she gave nothing away. Nikki
played along, acting as if Joseph was just as he appeared in that moment. She
even offered him a smile before sliding into the back seat.

Joseph held the door for Henry too, their eyes meeting.
“Sure, let’s go to the beach. You like being around the water, right?” He
nodded toward the car. “Does that remind you of anything?”

Henry looked into the car and it took everything he had
not to rear back. His pulse escalating at the sight of it full of water, as if
submerged beneath a murky river even while sunlight beamed across its roof. Captured
in that space, Nikki’s bent body floated limp, her hair rising in tendrils to
the ceiling, lifeless eyes staring from a face suddenly gone bloodless.
It’s
just an illusion
, he told himself.
I don’t know how he’s doing it but
that’s all it is.

“Come on, guys! Let’s get going.” Rose’s voice came to
him muffled, as if from some distant place.

Then he heard Nikki. “Everything okay?”

“Go on, get in,” Joseph said, his voice close to Henry’s
ear. “You’re not scared of a little water, are you?”

Henry remained transfixed by the nightmare image he knew
couldn’t be real. He wanted to tell Joseph he wasn’t afraid but, instead,
stared in horror at Nikki’s dead eyes as she now floated up, her body bumping
to a stop as it hit the ceiling. A bubble of air escaped her lips.

“Those that sent you,” Joseph whispered, “they’re scared.
Our kind has been here since the beginning of time and we’re not going
anywhere. Believe me, this is where you’re staying.”

Nikki reached from the car and seized Henry’s wrist. The
illusion vanished and he saw Nikki now, her worried eyes looking up at him.
“Henry? I’m right here.”

Rose turned in the front seat. “That’s really sweet,
Nikki.”

Nikki kept her eyes on Henry’s. “It’s just something we
say. So we don’t forget how much we mean to each other. Right, Henry?”

“I’ll be right here too,” Joseph whispered. “And I’m not
alone.”

~~~

Henry kept looking over at Nikki as Joseph drove, her
expression silently communicating that she understood. Or, at least that she
understood enough. In coming here, they’d entered into more than just Rose’s
delusion. That dream itself had thick enough walls. But what had managed to
secure those walls for this many decades had way more power. These entities
surrounding Rose—these parasites—were conniving and sick. They fed off pain and
seemed somehow capable of prolonging it indefinitely even as the sufferer
remained anesthetized. This was no joke, what they’d volunteered for, and they
simply had no way of predicting what might happen next.

Henry wished they could talk openly and part of him
wondered why they didn’t do just that. Why shouldn’t they abandon the pretense?
Why should either he or Nikki care about the consequences of telling Rose who
they were and where she actually was? Couldn’t that possibly make her snap out
of it and return with them?

As if reading his mind, Nikki locked her eyes on his. She
shook her head almost imperceptibly.
We have to wait
, her eyes said and
Henry understood. She was right. They had to be patient. Whatever chance they
had of shattering the illusion was slim enough. Attempting it with Joseph here
would only weaken their chances that much more. The best they could hope for,
until the right time, was to do their best to keep making the dream erode.

For now, Henry did the only thing he could. He told
himself again that nothing around them was real. None of it. Not the car they
rode in. Not Rose, not as she was now. Not Joseph, obviously. Not the sky above
or the trees passing by in a blur at the side of the road. Only Nikki was real.
Just Nikki.

They parked alongside a few other cars in the beach
parking lot. The lot was small, designed just for those privileged with access
to this part of the coast. Rose had known a life where exclusivity was the norm,
with neighborhoods inhabited only by the wealthy, closed off from the rest of
the world. This beach must be one she remembered as being one of her favorite
places—obscured from the road by grassy dunes with discreet paths leading past
them to the sand and water.

Still, despite having known a privileged life, Rose
didn’t seem in any way snobbish or unkind. If, in her afterlife, she reflected
the person she’d been, Henry imagined she must have been a truly nice person.
Maybe the pain she’d suffered had brought out the best in her since she
appeared to be continually seeking happiness. Even now, she ran across the sand
carrying a rolled up blanket and a picnic basket, not once questioning where it
had come from or that it was weighted with sandwiches and drinks they hadn’t
stopped to buy. The gaps in her experience filled themselves as needed, and it
didn’t matter that those gaps were obvious to those around her, regardless of
their intentions. After all, this was her dream.

Rose spread the blanket and waited, hands on her hips.
She smiled back at them. “Come on, slowpokes! How long can it possibly take to
cross a beach?”

“You look gorgeous today,” Joseph said, walking toward
her. “Did you know that?”

Rose laughed and plunked herself down on the blanket, her
eyes never leaving his. She didn’t notice the silent exchange between Henry and
Nikki.

How could Joseph act so casually, as if Henry and Nikki
didn’t know what he was? But that was just it, Henry realized. They didn’t know
what he was, not truly. They only knew he wasn’t human, not in spirit, even
though clearly he could take human form. Still, Rose gazed back at him, her
eyes full of love and trust, reminding Henry why they were here.

He and Nikki joined them, sitting on the blanket across
from them as Rose lifted items from her picnic basket. She passed bottles of
Coke to Joseph, who used a bottle opener to pry off the caps before handing one
to Nikki and Henry. She unwrapped deli sandwiches.

“Ooh, these look yummy.” Rose passed them around.
“Greenfield’s make the best turkey sandwiches.”

Wherever Greenfield’s was, or had been, didn’t matter.
For Rose, it remained forever in existence, people from another era still
slicing meats and spreading mayonnaise across freshly baked bread. Henry
accepted the sandwich, wondering if it would fall to ash in his mouth when he
took a bite. That didn’t happen. Here in Rose’s dream, as in the realm he knew,
food remained real. Part of Henry questioned his own reality in a way he hadn’t
since first Transitioning. Since then, he’d come to accept things as being as
they were for now, not so different in many ways from the life he’d once known.
And he shared that experience with his friends, who all accepted the same
reality. In a way, though, he wondered if by trying to puncture Rose’s reality
he’d created a small crack in his own.

Joseph kept his eyes on the water as he ate his sandwich.
After a few moments, he said, “It’s always so beautiful here.” He looked over
at Rose. “Isn’t it, honey? I can’t imagine ever leaving.”

Rose pulled her hair back and gazed out at the water.
Henry wondered as she hesitated, but then she said, “This is our home. It
always will be.”

Joseph turned his attention Nikki. “So, what about you and
Henry? What made you two decide to live here of all the places in the world?”

Joseph offered a smile that, to Rose, probably looked
innocent enough. But to Henry, it was a gleaming grin suggesting he was having
fun at her expense.

Nikki considered for only a moment while she chewed a
bite of her sandwich. She took a sip of Coke, meeting Joseph’s eyes with
confidence saying that she got it and she could play this game. She turned to
Rose. “Henry’s family. They’re nearby. We thought it would be nice to live near
them.”

“I knew it had to be family!” Rose hunched forward, her
eyes gleaming with excitement. “That’s really nice. I think my grandmother said
something about knowing your grandparents.” Rose thought for a moment as she
added more to her fantasy. “Yes, I’m sure she said something about that the
other day. Didn’t your grandfather have something to do with movies?”

Joseph looked back and forth between them, waiting, that
smile never leaving his face.

Henry nodded, chewing, trying to come up with something.
“Nothing very exciting,” he said. “More just the business part of it. Financial
stuff.”

Rose nodded knowingly. “Well, I’m sure having been a
movie producer must have been very exciting.”

“What about you, Nikki?” Joseph said. “Do you have family
around here too?”

Henry noticed that this time Nikki couldn’t bring herself
to meet his eyes. “Not very close by.”

Joseph offered a pleasant smile contradicting the
coldness in his eyes. “When was the last time you saw them? Maybe recently?”

Again, Nikki hesitated and Henry felt his pulse quicken
as he stared at Joseph’s grinning profile. Joseph kept staring at Nikki, who’d
now dropped her gaze to study the nap of the blanket.

Nikki shook her head. “It’s been a little while.”

“I bet you have a sister,” Joseph said. “Call it a hunch.
Do you miss not seeing her?”

Rose put her sandwich down on its wrapper. “Honey, I
think you’re asking too many questions. Why don’t we just—”

Nikki got to her feet. “Excuse me. I thought I just saw
something wash up over there.” She looked back at Rose, then Henry, avoiding
eye contact with Joseph. “I have this little habit of collecting sea glass.
I’ll be right back.”

Henry wanted to do three things at the same time. He
wanted to run after Nikki. He wanted to smack that grin off Joseph’s face. He
wanted to protect Rose from the very thing that would save her—the shattering
of her dream and all the comfort she’d managed to wrap around herself. The last
thing he wanted to do was cause her pain but he also knew he had no choice.

“It’s okay to ask questions,” Henry said. “I mean, that’s
how people get to know each other.” He turned to Joseph. “I know you didn’t
mean any harm but Nikki has a couple of issues she has to work out with her
family. Nothing major. I’m sure it will all be okay very soon.” He waited a minute,
then turned to Rose. “So, when did you guys get engaged?”

Rose opened her mouth to speak but nothing came. She
lifted her eyes as if considering.

“Last November,” Joseph said.

Henry continued to face Rose. “Wow, not long ago. How
many months is that?”

Rose cocked her head. Again, she searched for an answer
but Joseph didn’t give her time.

“Seven months,” he said.

It had just been a hunch, but Henry knew firsthand how in
a timeless world you stopped thinking in terms of dates and months. All of it
started to blend together since those markers no longer mattered.

“For us, it felt like just a few days from when we
decided to get married to the actual wedding,” Henry said. “The time went by
really fast. And it felt like we had to invite everyone we’d ever known so no
one’s feelings got hurt.” Henry laughed. “Nikki’s mother invited a ton of
people I’d never even met. They were totally sizing me up the whole day, I
could tell.”

Henry watched as Rose’s expression clouded over. How long
had it been, he wondered, since she’d experienced a day talking to her
grandmother or Joseph’s mother about who should be invited? Or had certain
steps been forgotten entirely in Rose’s dream, her actual wedding plans made
almost seventy years ago?

Rose glanced to where Nikki still pretended to be
inspecting shells at the water’s edge. It seemed like Rose was thinking about
joining her.