Once Again (18 page)

After I recorded the dreams and visions, I
started a timeline. It began on July fourth, noting that it was my
first visit to Sky Cove, as well as the first time Luke saw my
face, or any discernible face for that matter, in one of his
visions. I continued on through last night’s dream, the pictures
scattered around school, and the tampering with my car.

A garlicky, tomato-ey scent wafted up from
the kitchen at the same time I heard the crunch of tires in the
driveway. His meet had been in the next town, only about 15 miles
away, so he was back in town quicker than usual. I flew down the
stairs, throwing my backpack into the home office on the way,
wanting to catch him outside.

This was not a conversation we needed to have
inside within earshot of my parents.

I
thanked my lucky stars the rain had stopped, as I pulled the door
shut behind me and stepped onto the porch. Luke leaned against his
truck – still in his running shorts with a Sky Cove hoodie on top –
looking at the ground.

And wow. Didn’t his legs look great? Yum.

“Don’t keep things from me.” He didn’t look
up as I walked toward him.

“Luke, I wasn’t keeping it from you,” I said,
avoiding a puddle as I stepped to lean beside him against the
Bronco. “You know that.”

“You told Corey not to tell me.”

“Until after you ran,” I corrected. I touched
his arm and he turned his head to look at me. “I was safe at home,
and there wasn’t anything you could do other than worry. I didn’t
want that on your mind when you were running.”

He shoved his hands through his hair and let
out a heavy breath. For a moment he said nothing, and I knew it was
best to let him have a minute to process it all. No doubt he’d
worried and stewed the whole way home from the meet.

I knew I’d been forgiven when his hand
reached for mine, the comforting warmth of his skin seeping into
mine.

“I know, Layla,” he whispered. “But, I keep
thinking about it. Someone was in your car.”

“Yes.” No point sugar-coating it.

“And when I think what could’ve happened when
your windshield clouded over with Vaseline.” He squeezed my hand,
locked his eyes with mine. “I’m glad Corey was driving.”

“Me too.”

“I mean, not that you couldn’t have handled
it,” he amended. “I’m just glad you didn’t have to.”

“Thanks for your confidence, but I’m not so
sure I could’ve handled it. I was shaken enough after the radio
being messed with in my car.”

“Kara must’ve been behind this too,” he
said.

“It’s possible.”

“I think I need to hear from you exactly what
happened with her in the hallway the other day. And what happened
in your car this afternoon.”

“Can you stay for dinner?”

“Your parents cool with that?”

“I already asked.”

“Let me call my mom,” he replied. “I’m sure
she’ll be fine with it.”

“Dinner,” Mom called from the kitchen door,
just as Luke finished his call to Gwen.

“Thanks for inviting me to stay, Mrs.
Bradford,” Luke said, pulling my chair back from the table and
gesturing for me to have a seat.

Mom smiled as she watched me sit down, and I
knew she’d noticed Luke’s considerate act. And I wasn’t unaffected
myself. Despite the fact he’d already proven that chivalry wasn’t
dead, his sweetness never failed to surprise me.

We enjoyed Mom’s baked spaghetti and garlic
bread, letting the hearty Italian flavors rule our senses, not
really in a hurry to get to the conversation we both knew was
coming. The uncluttered moments with family and good food were a
refreshing change of pace.

And, of course, there was blueberry pie after
dinner.

We helped clear the table and load the
dishwasher, and Lucas impressed my mother once again with his
domestic skills.

“Is it okay if Lucas and I use the office?” I
asked Dad once the dishwasher was running. “He’s been doing some
genealogy research, and I’m helping him keep notes on it all.”

The third bedroom in our three-bedroom house
served as a home office, not just for Dad’s business, but for all
of us. I had a laptop I could use anywhere, but if I needed to plug
up to the printer or spread out on a desk, the office was the place
to work.

And since the office was somewhat private, it
was really the only choice we had. Upstairs was only my bedroom and
bathroom, and I wasn’t going to ask about the two of us hiding out
up there. But no way were we having this discussion at the kitchen
table.

“Sure,” Dad answered. “I’m not doing payroll
until Monday.”

“Thanks.”

“That’s very interesting, Lucas,” Mom said.
“Have you come across any surprises?”

“Actually, yes.” Lucas seemed a hundred
percent comfortable talking with my mom about this, although I knew
for certain he’d leave out particular details. “Layla helped me at
the courthouse yesterday, and we came across a name in a will that
made some surprising connections for me.

“We compared what we found at the courthouse
with my mom’s records, and it seems we may be related to the
Emerson’s who own the antique store on Old Birch.”

“Well, you keep us posted on how it’s
going.”

“Sure thing, Mrs. Bradford.”

And with that we made our way to the office.
We took the two desk chairs and rolled them close together.

I told him everything about Kara’s words to
me in the hallway earlier in the week and today’s events, starting
with the picture on my lunch table up through the Vaseline on my
windshield wipers. He listened without interrupting, just letting
me tell the story from my point of view.

“I know Kara’s involved in this,” he said
when I finished.

“Probably,” I agreed.

“I’ve heard she’s told people we’re talking
again. As in talking about reconciling. It’s a lie, Layla. A total
lie. We barely speak, other than I’m polite enough to say hello to
her when we’re in the same class.”

“I know that,” I assured him. “I didn’t think
twice about it when Miller said that this morning.”

“Miller talked to you?” Lucas sat up
straighter. “About Kara and me?”

“Well, kind of,” I said. “He kind of warned
me about her, and – ”

I stopped there, stunned at the possibility.
I hadn’t thought about Miller again until this moment.

“What, Layla?”

“He... asked me out.”

“Miller asked you out?” he whispered, but it
was a furious whisper. If we’d been alone in the house he probably
would’ve shouted. “After what he did to you the first day of
school?”

His knuckles turned white and the muscles in
his jaw tensed.

“Yeah. Well, first he apologized for that
incident again. Then he said something about not being sure what
the situation between you and me was. I asked him what difference
it made to him, and that’s when he said Kara could be pretty mean
sometimes, and also he thought maybe if you and I weren’t together
I might consider going out with him. I turned him down, gently, of
course.”

“You should’ve slapped him.”

The image of that made me laugh. Luke’s
expression told me he was serious and that made me laugh even
harder.

“Can you really see me doing that?” I asked,
pleased when he finally smiled. “And anyway, what if you’re right
about the evil people from our dreams being reincarnated? I didn’t
want to set Miller off.”

“This is probably how it began for them,” he
said. “For the people we used to be. Little things, that didn’t
seem to matter much. Then it escalates into direct attacks, like
what happened with your car. Or worse.”

I didn’t like the implications of that. I had
a pretty good idea how it had ended for the two of us in our past
lives, and if Luke was right, I shuddered to think what we might
have to face.

But we had to deal with it.

“That’s why I started this.” I pulled my
journal from my backpack and handed it to him.

He flipped through it, stopping every now and
then to take a closer look at something. I said nothing, just let
him look in silence, and I could tell he was as surprised as I’d
been at the amount of information I’d recorded.

“This will be helpful,” he said when he
reached the end. “To keep track of everything that’s happened.”

“I thought so.”

“But, you left something out.” He turned back
to the page that contained today’s events. “The incident with
Miller.”

I took a blank sheet of paper from the back
of the notebook, detailed my conversation with Miller, and stapled
it to the already full page of stuff about the pictures, the loud
music in my car, and the Vaseline on my wiper blades.

“Layla,” Luke said, taking the now closed
book from my hands. “This shouldn’t leave your house. Unless you’re
coming to my house. I don’t think you should carry it with you to
school.”

He was right. Not that I’d been thinking of
sharing it with anyone else, but the implications of someone
accidentally – or on purpose – reading my private stuff were huge.
The average person would think I was either crazy or writing some
sort of fictional novel. But if Lucas was right and we weren’t the
only ones reincarnated from the past, my journal falling into the
wrong hands could be disastrous.

“I agree.” I slid the journal back into my
book bag. “It won’t leave this house, except to go to your
house.”

“Let’s forget about this for a while,” he
said, leaning toward me with a smile. “We have a date tomorrow
night, and I want it to be special and normal. So no more talk
about any of this. Not until after our night out.”

I could do nothing but smile as he closed the
distance between us and put his lips on mine, soft and sweet.
Though his kiss was brief, he pressed his forehead to mine, and I
closed my eyes, drinking in the feel of his skin and the warmth of
his breath on my face.

My heart slid and skidded and rolled over in
my chest, and I knew keeping my emotions safely locked inside was a
losing battle. Luke had captured my heart, and whatever the
consequences, there was no going back.

Of
course, on the day of my date with Lucas, String City bustled with
more activity than ever. A steady stream of people came in, and the
phone rang off the hook.

Dad even called in Charlie, his assistant
manager, who normally had Saturdays off.

The two of them handled the big things –
instrument and equipment sales, guitar repairs, and so on. I manned
the phones and took care of the smaller sales, like guitar strings,
picks, and cables.

Constant guitar riffs and chords filled the
store, both acoustic and electric, as customers tried out
instruments and amps they wanted to purchase. I figured as far as
part time work went, I had it better than most high school kids,
because I got to listen to live music.

Every so often, Dad would look over at me and
roll his eyes, all the while smiling like a big kid. He loved this
business. Somehow, since coming here, he looked younger and the
gray in his hair seemed less prominent.

My parents were so happy here, and I had to
admit, I was too. My happiness existed despite the crazy
circumstances I’d found myself in, and because I was in them with
Luke. I wondered how my parents would react if they knew. Would
their happiness be diminished?

I so didn’t want that to happen.

So I’d do whatever I had to to make sure they
didn’t find out something supernatural was afoot in Sky Cove.

Because I loved them. Which made the fact I
needed to press for information about my adoption most
unpleasant.

***

The hectic business made the hours pass
faster, which was a plus. Another plus was Dad letting me off
thirty minutes early so I could have a little extra time to get
ready.

I thought again how cool my parents could
be.

I loved my brown cowl-necked sweater. It was
the color of milk chocolate – anything chocolate was okay in my
book – and soft and warm like a blanket. The way the neck draped
across my collar bones made me feel elegant and grown up.

So it was no surprise I found myself reaching
for the sweater as I got ready for my date.

I had no idea where we were going, other than
Camden, but when I’d pressed Lucas for more information on the
basis of needing to choose an outfit, he’d admitted that dressing
up was not required.

So my dark blue jeans accompanied the
sweater, the denim a dense navy and the bottoms cut to fit over the
boots I’d worn to the first football game. My hair was down, both
for looks and to keep the cold late-October wind off my neck, but
thanks to a few minutes with a flat-iron, it was straight and
sleek.

Small turquoise stones, set in silver,
dangled from my ears, and as I put the finishing touches on my
make-up, I was satisfied I looked pretty but not like I’d gone to a
lot of trouble.

I wanted Luke to know I cared enough to look
nice for him, but not to think I cared more about my appearance
than things that really mattered.

Being a girl was a delicate balancing
act.

As I made my way downstairs, I heard my mom
in the office, probably checking her email and printing
coupons.

I had a few minutes before Luke was due to
arrive, so I decided now was as good a time as any to broach the
subject of my adoption.

“Hey Mom,” I said, poking my head in the
office.

“Don’t you look pretty?” She stood up from
the desk and came across the room to hug me. “Lucas won’t be able
to take his eyes off you.”

I smiled. Moms were really great for your
self-esteem. At least mine was. Part of me hated to even bring up
my adoption, because I didn’t want to upset her. But another part
of me knew she’d be cool with my questions.

“Mom I’ve been wanting to ask you
something.”