The Dream Jumper's Pursuit Read online

  As she passed out she thought of Jamey and how devastated he’d be if she died. She lifted the rock to hit the same spot on Noble’s head for the fourth time. That did it. She heard a crack, his hands loosened, and blood leaked from Noble’s head into the water in front of her face. Noble’s eyes rolled into the back of his head.

  When Jamey arrived, Tina stood on the beach, wondering what to do.

  “I couldn’t find you.” Jamey ran towards her. “This park didn’t exist for me until just now.”

  “Noble thought we were killing ourselves together.” Tina was numb. “I held my breath but he didn’t die down there. He chased me and I bashed his head with a rock.”

  Jamey took off his shirt and draped it across Tina’s shoulders. “You needed to kill him. Remember? Don’t feel badly, he was already dead. Where is he?”

  She pointed to Noble’s body floating, face down, less than sixty feet along the shore in a group of reeds.

  He kissed her wet hair. “Probably a good sign that his body hasn’t just disappeared to wherever Hank is.” He pulled her to her feet. “Are you ready to jump out?”

  “Should we bury him?”

  “Always the compassionate. It’s a dream. Remember? ”

  She did.

  Chapter 23

  Tina and Jamey had a four p.m. flight booked for Houston, then Los Angeles, and on to Maui. Tina just wanted to get home, and Jamey couldn’t blame her. Going to Carnation to celebrate Wyatt’s return had lost the vote when he and Tina talked that morning at dawn. Jamey would go to Seattle in a few weeks, hash it all out with Pops eventually. Chew the fat, see the twins, answer all Carrie’s questions, and have that talk with Pops about Annie. Tina needed to go home, see Obi, the shop, the house, everything that Jamey thought weeks ago wasn’t really his life, but his wife’s life. Turned out, he’d missed Obi with a fierceness that had compelled him to stop and pet everyone’s dog in Nicaragua and Mexico. And he couldn’t wait to drive around in his truck with that dog again, get back to the business. Go diving with Tina. His expertise and personality was needed at that shop in Lahaina, he knew that with certainty. Reporting to a funky little store on Maui every day sounded like a pretty good career choice for him if he wasn’t going back to Afghanistan. Yup, they were headed home.

  As they waited for Diego and Annie to join them for breakfast in the terrace restaurant, Kai flapped his arms at the sight of the horse carriages in front of them. Balloons remained tied to the carriages from yesterday’s celebration and the streets were littered with confetti, snow cone cups, fireworks garbage, and everything else you could imagine after a celebration has taken over a town. Kai squealed at the sight of a carriage passing close to them, one with Mylar balloons that crackled in the breeze.

  They’d made several phone calls after they woke up, one of them to the twins who were anxious about Wyatt’s return.

  Tina sipped her herbal tea. “What did you say to make the twins cry on the phone this morning?”

  “I told them his curls were cut off and Jade sounded like she might cry.”

  Tina looked at her husband sympathetically. “Maybe all that babying Wyatt held him back socially. He sure seems to have come out of his shell this last month.”

  “Who knows? Carrie said she was going to focus the twins’ mothering on Harley now, where they were more needed.” Jamey remembered the conversation with Jade and Jasmine earlier. “Jade said he’d look like a soldier now, and Pops tried to make her feel better by saying that hair grows back.” He smiled. “Jasmine said to Pops, ‘yours hasn’t’.”

  “Poor Pops,” Tina added.

  “Oh, he laughed at that one. He’s secure in his partial baldness.” He’s going to your mother’s book club tomorrow. Apparently the men are invited.” Jamey raised one eyebrow and smirked.

  Tina smiled into her Japanese tea. A loose leaf floating upright reminded her of Mr. Takeshimi once saying it was a sign of good fortune. She hoped so.

  “Our parents have found friendship,” Jamey said softly.

  “Seems so,” she smiled. “Those two have been playing a lot of Scrabble and eating a lot of dinners together lately.”

  “Presumably to get Mr. Boo and Harry, the dog, together. When I asked Pops on the phone if he was having fun, he said, ‘Just two old folks flapping jaws, playing cards, watching movies. Liz helped me pass the time while we waited for Wyatt.’” Jamey knew that to be true, but he’d also heard a hint of something in his father’s voice that hadn’t been there months ago. Probably friendship with an attractive woman was something he’d wanted for years. It wouldn’t be bad for Elizabeth either. Tina had said it had been a lonely year for her mother, adjusting to widowhood. In a week filled with surprises, both horrible and wonderful, knowing that their parents were finding comfort in each other’s company was good information.

  As well as wanting to get home to Maui, Jamey needed thinking time, distance from everything he’d learned about the mother who’d left him. Time to assimilate the facts associated with his mother’s disappearance. And he didn’t want to upset Pops by suddenly opening his arms wide for his mother, not before he’d had a chance to a have a down and dirty talk with his father about the circumstances of her departure. A text came in from Leilani that said, Made a friend! We’re going for drinks tonight to talk about guys. I won’t tell her about my crush on a dive instructor named Jamey.

  He read the text aloud and Tina did one of those half smiles out one side of her mouth, the way she said he smiled all the time.

  “Good morning.” Annie called, crossing the street with Diego. They mounted the three stairs and crossed to the breakfast table. Annie gave Jamey a quick kiss on the cheek and reached for Kai. She lifted the baby, smelled his head, and smiled.

  Jamey stood to shake Diego’s hand. “Have you guys eaten yet?”

  Diego laughed. “We had our first breakfast at dawn, but we’re ready to go again, aren’t we, Honey?”

  Jamey looked down his nose at Annie. “I thought you didn’t come to town.”

  “Well, I did today,” she said smiling at the baby. Kai fidgeted on her lap and took hold of the tablecloth, ready to pull it and all the dishes and silverware off the table. Jamey reached over to free the cloth from the baby’s hands while Tina offered Kai a rattle.

  Annie gave Jamey a strange look, then spoke. “I keep thinking that you said Tina dreamed of me getting Wyatt out of the restaurant.” She turned to Tina. “So you jump dreams too?”

  Jamey nodded. “Tina’s the better dreamer now. What you haven’t heard, and this information is top secret because I don’t want the military coming for her, is that Tina somehow inherited dream jumping from me over a year ago.”

  Annie’s eyes were wide. “Oh! Your Uncle Don thought he might have passed it to you.”

  Jamey stared at his mother.

  She looked as shocked as he felt. “He shook your hand after a game of catch one day and told me he felt a jolt of something. It was after that you started to see things. Did Pops ever tell you this?”

  Jamey shook his head.

  “Maybe he didn’t know. It was me who was at the park that day with Don and the kids. You were almost four years old and said after the handshake that you felt all jiggly. Don asked if the shake was too hard and you said no. That night, I saw you in my dream, in a boat across a lake. I asked Don the next day about my dream and he suggested I ask you if you’d been there. You said you had a dream with me, and tried to row across the water to see me.”

  Jamey hung on every word.

  “Soon after, your Dad and I noticed strange things with you and realized that you’d inherited Don’s ability.” She blinked slowly. “Until now, I had forgotten about that jiggly handshake.”

  Tina sat forward, as if waiting for more information. Maybe something to tell her how to get rid of the ability.

  “Your father and I assumed it was hereditary,” Annie said. “I don’t think I figured out what happened until years later when I lived in
California. One of Diego’s nephews had a joy buzzer at a party and I thought about that day and wondered if Don had somehow passed on his ability to you.”

  Jamey spoke. “Tina’s grandmother had strange dreams, said they could share adventures.”

  “I never tested her claim, but she told me that,” Tina added.

  Annie shook her head and smiled at Tina. “Your secrets are safe with us. Just know that.”

  Jamey reached over to touch Annie’s arm. “We appreciate that.”

  “I’m so thankful that you and Tina, and Kai,” she added, smiling at the baby, “came to Granada.”

  No one spoke for a while.

  “Do you think that it was pre-ordained?” Annie asked. “That all this--Kevin, Rose, Wyatt and everyone, were destined to be a part of all this?”

  Jamey set down his mug of coffee. “I don’t know. We stopped trying to figure it out. It makes us crazy to try to determine the rules, if there are any.”

  Annie nodded at Diego. “Welcome to the family, Honey,” she teased.

  Jamey smiled at Diego. “I’m the only abnormal of the four kids. Everyone else is boringly normal.” He smiled at Tina. “Except me and you, Darlin’.” He thought for a moment. “I plan to tell my siblings all about you.” he said. “I’m not sure, but I’m betting you’ll get some phone calls.”

  Annie’s eyes looked misty. “I guess I could handle some phone calls.”

  “Maybe even a visit down here. Knowing Jenny, she’ll want to get on the first plane to Managua. How would you feel about that?” Jamey wasn’t sure.

  “I’ll have to give that some thought.” Annie’s words were small, wispy, like dandelion fuzz on a breeze. “I’m planning on spending about as much time in that therapist’s chair as I expect Rose will. I heard yesterday’s session was a good start for that girl. She admitted that she feels crazy sometimes.” Annie turned to Tina. “Thank you for this grandchild. He’s a blessing.” Annie rubbed her cheek on the top of Kai’s head and looked around the restaurant. “How do you get a cup of coffee in this joint?” She passed Diego the baby and left to go look for a waiter.

  All that day Jamey’s mood was light, his sense of himself rock solid. And all because of one little dream. Until he was discharged from the army and sure that Tina had no connection to Milton, Jamey couldn’t tell her about last night’s dream. It was damn difficult. Keeping another secret, telling another lie, kept Tina safe. He hated to do it, but he’d hate it more if they ended up in Afghanistan, especially now that they had a son to raise.

  The night before, it took a while for Jamey to fall off with thoughts rattling around in his head about Noble, Hank, Rose, Kevin and all the shit that had gone down recently. They’d brought Kai back to bed with them and both the baby and Tina had fallen asleep quickly. Kai’s little hand was clenched around Jamey’s thumb as his son lost consciousness while sucking. He loved this little dude with everything he had. Lying on his side, staring at his son, he felt himself slip into a dream. He tried to get out, but he’d arrived by the time he realized what happened. How did he jump Tina’s dream without touching her?

  He’d landed in their hotel room bed, exactly where he was when he fell into the dream. But he knew it was a jump. Beside him, Kai was awake and crying softly, waiting for Tina to offer him her breast. She pulled up her sleep shirt and said something to Kai that sounded like soft, sweet words, but they were unintelligible. Gibberish. The baby beside him grew more impatient until he latched on to the breast. Just then a feeling of relief took over the dream. “Tina?” She didn’t respond. Jamey looked around the room but there was nothing beyond the bed. Just darkness. This wasn’t Tina’s dream. This was Kai’s dream.

  At first Jamey was impressed and then realized he would be stuck here, unable to jump out until Tina woke in the morning. By that time Jamey would have been lying in this bed staring at his wife and son for what would be days down here. He could think of worse things to stare at, but still. “Tina?” he whispered again, hoping she was in the dream too. “Chocolate chip cookies?’

  Nothing.

  He slipped out of the bed but the floor was squishy feeling and he started sinking. Kai’s memories of this room didn’t go farther than the bed. In spite of his predicament, Jamey smiled to himself. Maybe when Kai finished nursing, Jamey could wake up Dream Tina for some dream sex. Would Kai remember it someday if they fooled around in the bed beside him during his dream? He couldn’t take a chance.

  He crawled across the bottom of the bed and up beside Tina where he tried to wake her by shaking her shoulder and whispering in her ear. Kai looked up and smiled through his milk-drenched mouth. “Hi Kai,” he said. “Daddy’s here in your dream. Daddy loves you.” Tina didn’t wake, and Kai went back to nursing.

  He’d never jumped a baby’s dream before. Even when Jade and Jasmine were babies he’d promised Carrie he wouldn’t try until they were older. He’d go lie down again and wait for Kai to wake. He straddled Tina and Kai, lost his balance, and fell on the bed harder than intended. Then he was pulled backwards and was out. Awake. Lying in the bed, but this time the room looked real. A door, dresser, overhead fan, doors to the balcony.

  He’d jumped out!

  Kai was sound asleep beside him, still making the occasional sucking noise. Kai wasn’t a jumper. Jamey couldn’t leave a jumper’s dream by himself. Jamey had just jumped in and out of a dream on his own.

  He smiled in the darkness of that Granada hotel room. Hot Damn! He was jumping again and it felt great.

  ***

  Their first few hours back on Maui, Tina and Jamey set about getting rid of everything that was ever associated with Noble and Hank.

  “Just in case, I don’t want to risk keeping their shit around here. Not with a baby to consider,” Tina said.

  After gathering everything in garbage bags and taking them out to Jamey’s truck, they let exhaustion take over and got into bed. “I hate the idea of polluting the ocean,” she said.

  “What’s worse, burning all that junk or dumping it over the side of the boat up north in the deepest part of the channel?” He took her hand in his. “It isn’t radioactive waste. It’s clothes and sports equipment in garbage bags that will sink. And we’re doing this to insure that no trace is left of two evil men who tried to kill you and Kai.” He felt her surrender. “I’m sure they’re gone, Darlin’, but this will be therapeutic for both of us, agreed?”

  “Agreed,” she said. Obi jumped up on the bed when they got settled. “Maybe I’ll even say a few words like fuck you, Santiago brothers.”

  Tina looked so serious, he tried to not smile at the words of hate coming from such a pretty mouth. Lately, she’d been swearing a lot and he couldn’t blame her, considering what she’d been through. “Couldn’t hurt.” Jamey turned on his side and stared at the profile of her beautiful face. If there was something he was sure of, it was that both Hank and Noble were gone from this world and from their dreams forever. Jamey pulled her in close and rubbed her soft arm.

  She looked up at him like she had something serious to say. “Remember how you’ve always wondered if writing that letter to my parents about Hank’s shady motives was the right thing to do, and if you hadn’t, Hank and I might still be married and happy?”

  He knew what was coming. “I do.”

  “It was the right thing to do. Don’t ever question that.”

  “Thanks for telling me. I kind of came to that conclusion when we found out Hank and Noble were trying to kill you in your dreams.” Obi had passed out against Jamey’s legs. Not Tina’s legs, but his, and he smiled at the realization. “Obi’s glad we’re home too. Funny, but he seemed the happiest to see Kai at the airport.”

  “He’s going to love it when Kai starts throwing a ball and running on the beach.” She swung her top leg over Jamey’s, pressing herself into his hip. Her finger circled his chest. “Let’s change the business name to include you. How about Jamey and Tina’s Dive Shop?”

  “Let’s keep
it Tina’s Dive Shop.” He grabbed her hand and kissed it. “I’m okay with the name. And, I’m perfectly fine running what used to be your business.” He smirked and Tina nudged him under the covers.

  “This is a partnership,” she said. “Personally, professionally, and psychically. You are the dream jumper. That’s something I do not want. You still hold that position. I’m Robin to your Batman. I’m the student to your professor.”

  “The Submissive to my Dom,” he joked, pulling her in against his erection.

  “If that’s your way of telling me you’re frisky, I have to warn you that I’m exhausted.”

  “Me too. Okay. Let’s have dream sex instead.” He could feel her smile against his bare chest.

  “I’ll imagine a bed like this with total privacy and enough energy to go all night,” she said slowly, a prelude to dozing off.

  “I’ll be there.” Even though he wanted to, he couldn’t tell her that he was the Dream Jumper again. That knowledge was like poison for them and she was better off not having to keep the secret until the army cut him free. Then he’d gladly spill the beans and take that weight off her shoulders. But this secret kept her safe. Her and Kai.

  ***

  The dream jump that night was a montage of several scenes until they arrived in a premonition that involved Milton.

  “Chocolate chip cookies,” Tina said.

  Jamey nodded. “Better with milk.” They stood by Milton’s hospital bed, talking to a woman who was obviously Milton’s wife. She looked lovingly at him, wore a wedding ring, and her expression was one of fatigue mixed with relief. Milton wore a wedding ring as well. The scene’s edges were fuzzy.

  The small woman spoke. “He’s got a long recovery, but now he has a chance,” she said. “I don’t know what I would have done if we’d lost him.”