Influence

Chapter 42

A few days before the trip to the Maldives, Tam was preparing to leave work for the evening when Goldie stopped her. "I need a mani-pedi." She waved her perfect nails in front of Tam. "I would ask you to come with me, but I already know you'll say no."

"Sorry, but I'm going to meet up with my sister tonight. We don't see each other that often."

"Family is important," Goldie said. "Aren't you curious how I knew you would say no though?"

"Because you guessed?"

"I didn't need to guess. I remembered this conversation before it took place. I know how it will end and it won't be you going with me, which is a real shame because I would have paid."

"What do you mean you remembered? Like, déjà vu?"

Goldie scrunched up her nose. "I don't like that term. It's dismissive. Everyone gets déjà vu and it's regarded as this vague feeling—practically imaginary. What I experience—how I see the end of things and work my way back—it's because I'm a time traveler."

"Okay, sure. You're a time traveler."

"I'm serious. You don't know what version of me you're talking to right now. I could be the Goldie from this afternoon or from tomorrow. Time doesn't always work how you expect it to."

"So, if you're Goldie from tomorrow, what's going to happen tonight? Who will win the baseball game? What topics will trend?"

"Be careful, Tamara. Tonight. Every night. I would tell you to trust no one, but that wouldn't be good advice. We all need to trust someone; the challenge is figuring out who that someone should be. So, consider who to trust with caution. Sometimes the most reliable people are the ones you don't realize are on your side."

"Are you on my side? Whatever that means." She laughed. The entire conversation was so absurd. How Goldie managed to keep a straight face, she had no idea.

"That's enough advice from future Goldie for you, so off you go." She shoed Tam out the door. "See you in the morning. I ordered something special for you. I hope you'll like it."

#

Tam taped closed another box and set it in the corner. Amazing that for such a small space, she'd accumulated so much stuff. She'd begun unloading books from her bookshelf when her buzzer rang.

After a moment of deliberation, she let Jasper in.

He glanced at her collection of cardboard boxes. "Are you moving?"

She nodded. "People have begun to figure out I live here. Everyone's been nice, so far. Most are apologetic, or they're hoping I'll tell them some juicy detail not known publicly. Several asked specifically about you and how the sex was. It's... it's a bit much."

"The sex or the people harassing you?"

"You know what I'm talking about. I need to move, to start over. Besides, I wanted a space a bit bigger, so I found a one bedroom. For my sister. I'll still be sleeping in my living room so not everything will be different."

"Your sister?"

"I'm working on getting legal custody."

He nodded. "I could help you. With all the boxes, I mean."

She tossed one of her old textbooks into her give-away pile. "Why are you here, Jasper? It's been over a month. I've texted, I've called. Nothing."

"I wasn't..." He looked up towards the ceiling, then brought his gaze back to her. "I couldn't deal with it all. My own father murdered one of the people I love most."