CHAPTER 14:
Conversations and Change

On Sunday, Harry didn't see either one of Jessie or Umi. It was as if both women had disappeared from him. He hadn't stayed in the lounge after Steve took her away, though he had waited a few minutes for her to come back. When it seemed obvious to him that she wasn't, he went back to his room.

Monday afternoon Jessie made an appearance at the study area where Harry was with Will and Derrick.

"Do you think we could have a moment to talk?" she asked with a nod and look over her shoulder. "In private."

"Uh, sure," he answered and fumbled as he stood up to follow her.

Jessie walked outside over to the gazebo. From there they could see spring blooming and looking beautiful around them. She wasn't looking at him at all, but instead had her back turned to him.

"It's gorgeous here," he finally said tentatively. He didn't have a good feeling of what she wanted to discuss, but he still chose to be honest about his impressions of his surroundings.

"It is," she agreed with a solemn nod, "but not as gorgeous as Umi Ryuuzaki, is it?"

Harry blanched. "What?"

Jessie sighed and turned back to face him. "Look, I know you love her; it's written all over everything you do. And I just don't want to play second to anyone. I honestly liked you, but I'm not going to be part of some game you've devised."

He sat down hard on the gazebo bench, feeling as if someone had slapped him. He simply did not know how to react, which prodded Jessie to demand, "Well? Aren't you going to say anything?"

"I never meant to hurt you, Jessie," he said softly as he looked down at his suddenly interesting fingertips. "But I never meant to love her, either. Believe me."

"We can't help who we love, Harry," she said passionately. She knew this and part of her anger was that she knew she couldn't make him change what was in his heart.

"Well, I wish we could!" he said as he looked into her eyes. "Then I wouldn't care for the one person who can't be mine, and we wouldn't be here like this!"

"Yeah? Well, life sucks," she said as she sat down beside him.

He did a double-take and looked at her. Then he started chuckling because he couldn't help it. "Life sucks? That's your big nugget of wisdom? Couldn't you give me something better to go on?"

"Nope," she said with a shake of her head. "Remember, I'm the sap that's playing second fiddle to someone else. We're both schmucks."

He shook his head and narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. "I don't think I like being a schmuck."

"Me, neither," she agreed.

A few moments of silence passed between them before Jessie spoke again. "Look, let's just not do this dating thing. It's a bad idea. But I would still like to be friends. You're kinda cool," she teased lightly.

He gave a soft smile. "Thank you. You are, too."

"So, friend," she started as a change of subject, "do you know about the formal dance at the beginning of May?"

"I probably heard the boys talking about it," he said in a tone that indicated he wasn't completely certain.

"It's something we like to do for all the kids in seventh grade on up since we're such a small school. We'll need chaperones, and you will probably look good in a tux."

He frowned. "Are we trying another date? I thought you just said we weren't going to do that."

"It's not a date, but like I said. We need chaperones. Plan on being there," she advised as she stood up.

Before she could walk away, Jessie added, "By the way, there's a theme. It's 'Under the Sea' but without the interference from Disney. Have you ever seen the ocean?"

"Only in my dreams," he replied honestly. What he'd sent there had been breathtaking in its beauty and splendor, but like many other things in his life, he had no memory of having seen it for real.

She nodded at him and then walked away to leave him in the gazebo alone with his thoughts.

Umi stood in her office wearing impossibly high heels and an impeccable business suit. She always had a flair for fashion, and she hadn't lost it when she left Japan. It was the end of the day on Friday, and she was tired and just wanted to go to her little bungalow and be alone. When two arms snaked around her waist, she knew her wish might not come true.

"Are you coming up to the house this evening?" Scott asked her as he nuzzled her ear.

She grabbed his hands and wiggled out of his grip. "I don't think so, Scott. I just want to go home and relax. Alone. It's been a stressful week."

"Come on! When we're married, you won't always be able to be alone. You'll have to share some of the stuff that troubles you."

"We're not married yet," she blurted with a slight shrug. She blushed after she realized how her words might have sounded. "I… I'm sorry. Like I said, it's been stressful. Um… let me take a nice bath or something, and if I'm feeling better I'll come see you."

"Yeah, sure," he said disappointedly as he watched her scurry away from him.

He couldn't deny his feeling of disappointment, and he rubbed the furrow that had developed deep in his brow. Umi was changing, and he hoped it was only end of the school year stress from work and wedding jitters. Work-wise, they still had to get through the state standardized tests, the formal dance a camping trip for the older students and the end of year finals. Their planned wedding would come close on the heels of that. Even though it was still roughly eight weeks away, he knew the time would pass so quickly that it would be here before they knew it.

Scott trudged slowly up to his parents' house. Without Umi there to visit him, it would probably be another night of beer and pizza in front of the television.

While Scott was thinking about their immediate future, Umi had made it to her door and shut it tightly, locking it securely behind her. She leaned back against the door for a while, feeling like she was hiding from the world. Maybe she was. Her head was full of confusion, and she didn't want to be with Scott right now, and she didn't want to be with Harry, her other source of confusion, either.

She went into her room and changed out of her work clothes into a much more comfortable outfit. When she was walking back to her little kitchen, the cell phone in her purse rang. Though she had caller ID with her phone, the identity of her caller was unknown.

Cautiously she answered, "Hello?"

"Hello, Miss Umi."

The blue-haired woman almost dropped the phone from her fingers. She fumbled it like a football and struggled to get it back to her ear.

"Fuu? Is that really you?"

The answering laugh sounded like music to Umi's ears. "Of course, it is!"

"What is it?" Umi asked first in panic mode. "Is something wrong? Why are you calling?"

"Miss Umi," Fuu said again to try to put her at ease. "Nothing is wrong here, but I felt sadness in my heart, like you needed to talk to someone. How are you?"

That question always meant so little in English, but with her closest friend asking, Umi began to think about it. "I'm not good at all," she admitted after a pause. "Have you talked to Hikaru lately?"

"No," she sad sadly. "I miss her. I miss you. Sometimes I wish you would come home so we could be together again."

"Home," Umi sighed into her little phone. "Not Cephiro? Don't you ever miss Ferio?"

"Yes, but I've had to move on. We can't go back there any more. Do you miss," she paused, unsure whether or not to say his name, "someone?"

"Clef," she said. "It's okay for you to say his name. Yes, I do, but… He might be here, Fuu."

"What? Here on Earth?" she practically shouted.

The sound on the other end of the phone was an uneasy laugh. "Yes. I sent Hikaru his photo. The night of my birthday, Scott proposed to me, and when we were driving home we ran a man over. He looks exactly like the Master Mage except he grew up. He's not a little boy any more, Fuu, and he's here."

The green-eyed woman in Japan was silent on the other end of the phone. Finally, she asked, "Do you care for him?"

"Yes," Umi admitted, "but I'm confused. What if he's not really Clef? And, I'm engaged!" she cried out.

"Why doesn't he know if he's Clef or not?" Fuu asked with her own measure of confusion.

"When we ran him over, he got amnesia," Umi answered woefully.

"I see," she said, taking in the information slowly. "So, you might have feelings for him but you're engaged to someone else, which means you can't have feelings for him anyway. Would you even like him if he didn't look like Clef?"

"I," she paused, "guess. I've been trying not to think about Harry too much, but sometimes I can't help it."

"Harry? Is that his real name?"

"We don't know for sure. It's what he calls himself anyway, right after I told him that Clef was a magician."

Fuu was slightly alarmed. "You told someone about Cephiro?"

"No! At least, not really. If he was really Clef, he'd know what I was talking about, and if not he thinks my 'friend' was a stage magician like Houdini or something," Umi assured her.

"What about Scott?"

The question hung in the air like a black storm waiting to happen.

"Fuu, I don't know what to do," Umi confessed. "I love Scott, and we are to be married in a matter of weeks. I am confused by my memories and everything about this. It's not fair to him. Harry was right about that."

Silence filled the gap so long until the blue-eyed woman thought she might have lost her phone call.

"Miss Umi, do you love yourself?" Fuu asked wisely when she'd thought of the situation.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she questioned, her voice taking on the angry rise in pitch.

"Love is never wrong no matter which man you prefer, but maybe you don't need chose either one until you decide what it is you truly want," she said across the miles. "Just step away and love yourself until everything is clear."

Umi was quiet as she thought about it. Finally, in a tired voice she said, "Thank you, Fuu."

"I am here any time you need me, Miss Umi. Just call," she said sweetly before ending the call.

After the phone call from Fuu, Umi stayed huddled alone for the whole weekend and never did seek out Scott. She didn't try to find Harry or Clef or whoever he truly was, either. She just gave up.

On Monday morning she started her job going through the motions of work and finding ways to avoid talking to either man. Though it took her a while, by Wednesday afternoon she was in action. Umi found the two men and Steve talking to each other by the ranch van.

"Hi," she waved shyly at them all. She didn't look at any one of them in the eye at first. "I have to talk to you, Scott," she said nervously.

"Oh, well, we'll leave you two alone," Steve volunteered. "Mr. Magic and I were just about to go to town and pick up some supplies for the kids' dance. Then we can put them to work next week on the decorating."

"That's nice," Umi replied without enthusiasm. "Have a nice trip."

"Yeah, you, too," Steve said automatically back to her while he studied both Umi and Scott. To Harry he said, "Come on, hot stuff! Load up!"

The magician nodded politely to both of them. "Bye."

When the two men were well on their way down the dirt road, Scott spoke up. "You wanted to talk to me? I think this is a first since Friday, Umi. What's going on?"

"I… uh… I don't want to talk about it here," she said and slowly turned her head to indicate the wide open parking lot. "Could we go some place more private?"

"Barn's right there," Scott pointed and started walking toward it. Something in his gait showed Umi she would be in for a fight. She remembered the courage that had helped her in Cephiro and she followed him inside the red building.

"So what is it?" he demanded as he spun on his heel to face her.

Umi paced back and forth in front of him wringing her hands. Tears started misting her eyes. "There's no nice way to say this."

"Are you going to tell you why you've been avoiding me?" he demanded. "I thought I was mistaken, but you've been giving me the cold shoulder. We're going to be married in June!"

"No, we're not," she replied softly. Umi stopped pacing and slipped the ring off her finger. She held it out for him to take.