Ch. 17
I woke up the next day, and looked around my room. I knew Danny wasn't there, but I was just looking at all the things I had. Ugh, I had a lot of packing to do. Not only was my room full of stuff, but so was the living room, kitchen, and bathroom. I had a feeling that this was going to take more than a week. I hated packing. I always had. I knew, even before Danny, that I would have to move at least one more time in my life. I just didn't think it'd be so soon. I got out of the bed. I was dreading for the day ahead of me. I put on my grey work shirt. It had the store logo on it. And, I put on a pair of jeans and tennis shoes. I threw my hair up, and went to make a pot of coffee.
I got on my laptop, and pulled up the news page for my town. Apparently, the town was holding some kind of memorial event for WWII veterans. I never thought anything of it before, but with everyone here, this would make for something interesting. I was a little worried of how everyone would react. I was worried we would see some people from the past. I didn't know what was going to happen.
When I got to work, I didn't think anything of the recent visit with Ms. Leslie. I had no reason to. With Danny, and everyone else, here, I was happy. I was happier than I had ever been in my life. I wasn't angry at her for putting me through everything she had. If anything, I was grateful.
I walked through the door with a cup of coffee in my hand. I was still half asleep, but the day was starting. I had to work. I had to keep this store up. It was my passion, and I loved it. ALMOST more than I loved Danny. Almost.
When I went to clock in, Ms. Leslie was standing there waiting on me. I jumped about five feet in the air. I held my hand to my chest, and I was panting.
"Ms. Leslie! You scared the daylights out of me. I'm not used to seeing you in here."
She laughed at me some before bringing me in for a hug.
"Well, dear. I wanted to talk to you in private before we opened for the day. How is everything going?"
I knew what she meant immediately. She was wondering if everyone was settling in ok, and if we were all happy. I smiled politely at her as I punched my time card. I blushed furiously. I talked with almost an annoyance in my voice, though.
"We're all fine, Ms. Leslie. Danny just bought us a house, Rafe and Evelyn are getting married next month, and Red and Emily seem to be hitting it off."
She nodded and gave a warm smile.
"That's great to hear. The baby's ok?"
How did she know about the baby? Well, of course she knew. She was one of the people who helped all of us get here after all.
"It's fine. I took Evelyn to the doctor the other day. It's perfectly healthy."
She gave a sigh of relief. She must have known there may have been a problem. Why wouldn't there be? Evelyn did just time travel with a baby in her belly.
"That's great to hear. Now, have you warned everyone about the memorial? What if someone recognizes them?"
By this time, I had started walking to the front of the store. I was ready to be done with this conversation. Yes, in a way, she had a right to know what was going on. After all, she was one of the people who had a hand in bringing us all together. In another way though, it was our own personal business. If we wanted her to know, we would tell her. She meant well, though. When she asked that question, on the other hand, I stopped right in my tracks.
"I just found out about it this morning. We've all been so busy this past weekend. We had no idea. There's no time to warn them. What are we going to do?"
I was in hysterics. Ms. Leslie had a point. We should have tried to keep them away from the memorial. We should have done everything we could. I was freaking out. She put a comforting hand on my shoulder.
"Well, if anyone recognizes them, we'll just pass it off as old age. Most of them are as old as the hills, anyway."
I burst out laughing. Now, Ms. Leslie was 75. Emily and I had tried convincing her a couple years ago to retire. She would always tell us that since she wasn't in a wheel chair, and didn't need any assistance, that she was going to work for as long as she could. I couldn't blame her. To her, anyone older than she was, was as old as the hills.
"Okay. I like that idea."
I set to work. There was a stack of books that needed to be put away for all over the store. When it was just Ms. Leslie and me, I did all the heavy lifting. She just watched the front counter, and did most of the paperwork. I was fine with that. I hated doing the paperwork.
When I had to make my second trip to the counter, Ms. Leslie was in the office talking with someone. Well, two someone's actually. There was a woman and a man. They were old and crippled. The man was in a wheelchair, and the woman had a cane. He was wearing a WWII pilot's uniform. She was wearing an old, navy nurse's hat. I just shrugged my shoulders. Probably someone she may have known growing up.
I went about my day as normal. The couple was still there. I wanted to get a better look at them. I would have sworn they looked like a couple people I knew. I just didn't want to push it.
I was about to leave for the day. All my work duties were done, and I had a lot of packing to do. I still had to go pick Evelyn up, and I was wanting to call Emily to see if she would help as well. I knew she would, but I didn't want to push it on her. Before I left, I went to say bye to Ms. Leslie. I knocked on the office door. I didn't want to be rude by abruptly walking in, and interrupting their conversation. Ms. Leslie motioned me in anxiously. She really wanted me to meet her friends.
"Alyssa, dear, this is Barbara and Gooze. They were stationed in Pearl Harbor. They are old family friends. They knew my dad very well. Gooze here says he and my father were very close."
I had a small purse in my hand. I dropped it immediately. My eyes grew wide, and I probably looked like I had seen a ghost. Ms. Leslie knew what she was doing. She knew I knew them, but she didn't want to let them know who I was. She wanted them to figure it out on their own. I knew I recognized these people. I covered my mouth in shock. More like horror. I didn't want them having heart attacks right in front of me. I was terrified. I was hoping they didn't recognize me. I was praying they didn't recognize me.
Barbara took a long look at me. She was studying every feature of me. She looked at my hair, my clothes, and she paid special attention to my eyes. She just shook her head, and held out her hand.
"It's very nice to meet you. Leslie here, has told us a lot about you. It was very kind of her to raise you."
I gave a small sigh of relief. I took her hand in mine and shook it. I was so glad she didn't recognize me. She probably had dementia. Or, so I thought.
"Yes it was very kind of her to do that. Thank you. I hope she's talking all good things?"
Barbara just nodded. I didn't realize it, but Gooze was looking me up and down as well. He rolled his chair over to me and took a hold of my left hand. I was a little taken aback by his sudden touch. I immediately withdrew my hand, not before he got a good look at the ring on my finger. That's when I noticed the look of shock on his face. I was in a panic. He spoke.
"Alyssa Banks? Danny's Alyssa? How?"
He sighed. His thought process was exhausting him. I could tell. I was worried for him. I had tears in my eyes. I looked over at Barbara. She was in shock. Her hands covered her mouth. She immediately stood up from her chair to get a better look at me. She held my hands in hers and was studying my face. I saw the look of recognition in her eyes. She drew me in for a hug.
"We thought we lost you. How did this happen? How are you here?"
I looked to Ms. Leslie for help. She knew this was going to happen. She knew they were going to ask a lot of questions. I was furious. How could she put two of my friends through this kind of hell? Why would she do this? This could only mean one thing: They were meant to know the truth. They weren't meant to be in our lives for a long period of time, but they were meant to know the complete truth. I was devastated. I finally found my voice.
"How about we all just sit down and talk about this."
After a couple hours, they knew everything. They knew that when I was in their time, I was actually from the future. Now. They knew Danny, Evelyn, Rafe, and Red were all here. They knew how they got here. They knew it all. I wanted everyone to see them one last time. They deserved it. Screw packing tonight. This was way more important. I walked out of the room for a minute. I had to call Emily to tell her to meet me at Rafe's house. She needed to be the one to give everyone the heads up that I was bringing some guests. I had to get them there immediately. When I called Emily, I was in a panic.
"Okay, wait, slow down. What's happening now?"
I could hear her voice on the other end of the line. She knew something was wrong.
"I need you to get to Rafe's immediately. Tell them that I'm on my way with a few guests. That I have some people I want them all to meet. Please, Emily."
I was begging her. I didn't know why I was in such a rush. I knew Barbara and Gooze lived out of town. I think they were living in New York. They just wanted to come to see if Rafe and Evelyn were here. They wanted to see their long lost friends one last time. When I was done on the phone, I went back in the office to fetch them.
"Okay guys, let's go. We have some people waiting on us."
When we got to Rafe's and Evelyn's, I called Emily again to help me get them out of the car. Barbara could get out on her own. It was Gooze I needed help with. Emily walked out to the car and was in complete shock. She recognized them. They looked exactly like the actors from the movie. They were just older.
She helped pick Gooze up and put him in his wheel chair. Barbara was being impatient, as always.
"Would you guys hurry up? I'm not getting any younger."
Emily just rolled her eyes. If it was anyone else, she would have said something. But, since these were old friends of all of ours, she didn't say a word. I made some quick introductions.
"Barbara, Gooze, this is my friend, Emily. Emily, this is Barbara and Gooze."
Emily gave a polite smile.
"Hello. It's very nice to meet both of you. I've heard a lot about you both from everyone. Even though, I think I got to know you a little too well, Gooze."
He chuckled and shook her hand. Barbara couldn't help but laugh, too. She also shook Emily's hand.
"It's nice to meet you, too, dear. Now, why don't we get in the house so we can have this reunion?"
I walked in the house first. Danny immediately came over to me and gave me a hug. I didn't want to bombard them right away. He looked concerned.
"Why the big emergency to meet here? I thought you were packing with Evelyn tonight? What's going on?"
I was biting my lip. I was nervous.
"Um, I have a surprise for all of you. Just take a minute and compose yourselves. It's one hell of a surprise."
Everyone looked at me confused. I motioned out the door for everyone to come in. Now, Evelyn was sitting on the couch with Rafe sitting beside her. He had a comforting hand on her shoulder. Everyone was worried. Nobody knew what was going on. Right before the first guest came through the door, Evelyn had picked up a drink.
Barbara was the first to walk through the door. As soon as Evelyn saw her, she dropped the glass she was holding and ran over to her. Evelyn gave her the biggest hug. They both had tears streaming down their faces. Shortly following, Emily pushed Gooze through the door. All the boy's faces were wide with shock. They all went pale. Nobody knew what to say. Red was the first to get up.
"Well, look at you. You got…"
Gooze shot him a glare. He didn't want him saying it. I think part of him felt it wasn't fair that all this happened to them, and not to him and Barbara. Red smiled at him, and bent down to give him a hug.
"It's good to see you, man."
Gooze smiled at him, and then looked at Danny and Red.
"Well, well, well. The cavalry has finally arrived."
It was Rafe. Rafe walked over to Gooze and gave a big hug. He was ecstatic to see him.
"Well, I would have been here sooner, but there was a war and all."
We all laughed. Red and Rafe had walked over to Barbara and given her a hug as well. Barbara gave Danny a hug as well before he even got a chance to speak to Gooze. Danny walked up to Gooze slowly.
"It's good to see you again. How have you been?"
Danny, Red, Rafe, and Gooze all went to the kitchen to talk. They talked about old times, they talked about how life was treating them, and whatever else men talked about. All of us girls stayed in the living room and talked about the same things. Barbara was getting to know Emily a little.
After a while, it was getting late. We had called a taxi for Barbara and Gooze. They said they had a big day ahead of them. That they needed to go. They said they would try to make it for the wedding, depending on circumstances. We all could tell neither one of them had much time left. We enjoyed the day we had with them. We said our good-byes. Once they had left, and everyone was back inside it was quiet. Nobody wanted to say what everyone was thinking. We all knew that that would be the last time we would see them. Evelyn was on the couch crying on Rafe's shoulder. He decided to take her up to their room. Emily and Red were talking quietly on the loveseat, and Danny and I were in the kitchen.
"It's not fair, Alyssa. Why couldn't they have come with us when we all traveled? Why would fate be so cruel as to rub our youth in this time in their faces? How is that fair?"
He had a point, but I knew. Even Barbara and Gooze knew. I had to comfort him. I moved closer to him, and wrapped my arms around his waist. He put his around mine.
"They didn't come with us, because they weren't meant to. They were only meant to be in our lives a short amount of time. They came back to know the truth, and say their final good-byes. This must have been something that had been weighing on their minds for all their life. They thought you were dead, but not hearing from Rafe, Red, or Evelyn for so long probably took a toll. This was how things were meant to be. All of us, we all were meant to be in each other's lives. They were only meant to be teachers."
Danny nodded. He understood perfectly. He knew I was right, but that didn't stop him from crying on my shoulder. I cried with him. After a few minutes, I finally spoke.
"Danny, let's go back to my place."
He nodded. I took his hand, and led him to my car. He was still devastated. Before we left, he told Red where he was going, and to pick him up in the morning at my place. Red nodded, and went back to talking to Emily. She smiled weakly at both of us before we headed out the door.
When we got back to my place, Danny and I both went to lay in the bed. We laid there, in each other's arms, and fell asleep like that. Memories of the past came back to haunt me that night.