Page 31 of Borrowed Time

“No, thank you,” I said politely. “My brother’s overcoat was the only item that seemed to be a real emergency. Thank you, Clara.”

She nodded, but several women entered the store then, their elaborately bustled dresses and feathered hats indicating they were of some social standing, and her attention went immediately to them.

That seemed to be our signal to leave, which was fine by me. As we went, I wondered if Clara worked on commission, or whether she was just hoping for a raise if she sold enough goods that month.

Either way, I supposed it wasn’t really my problem…and I guessed it wouldn’t be hers for very long, either, if she planned to get married soon. From what my mother had said about hererstwhile boarding house roomie, Clara seemed like someone eager to set up her own home so she wouldn’t have to work at the shop for any longer than was strictly necessary.

Seth and I walked along San Francisco Street toward the hotel. “Are we going back already?” I asked, a little surprised. After all, it was still several hours until we could eat dinner.

“Just so I can put the coat away,” he replied. “I won’t need it while the sun’s still up, so I didn’t see the point in dragging it everywhere.”

Fair enough. “And then we can go to the park afterward?”

“Sure,” he said. “Some extra fresh air is always a good thing.”

At that time of day, the hotel lobby wasn’t too crowded. In my own time, late afternoon was generally when people would be checking in, but it seemed as if they did things differently here in 1884. The two of us climbed the stairs and made our way to Seth’s room, where he unlocked the door and we went inside.

Once there, he hung up the overcoat in the wardrobe, then turned back toward me, expression almost diffident.

“There’s something I wanted to talk to you about, though,” he said, and I sent him a questioning look.

That kind of comment generally didn’t bode well.

He shoved his hands in his pockets, his gaze wanting to travel anywhere except my face. I stood and waited, since I could tell this was something he needed to get out…even as I experienced a faint flutter in my stomach that had nothing to do with the tight corset I was wearing.

“What if Jeremiah succeeds in teaching you how to control your talent?”

For a second or two, I only stared back at Seth, not sure what he was driving at.

“Wouldn’t that be a good thing?” I asked at last.

His mouth tightened. Not for the first time, I thought of how good it had felt to kiss those lips, to feel the dark stubble onhis chin brush against my cheek. Even as we were strolling the streets in Flagstaff, I’d noticed the way the other women were looking at him, some of them whispering amongst themselves, as if trying to determine who the handsome stranger was.

“Of course it will be good for you to be able to really use your gift,” he said. “But if you get it under control — if you don’t have to worry about it sending you someplace where you don’t want to go — then what happens to us?”

That same worry had tickled my own mind, although I’d done my best to push it away, since the idea that I’d be able to actually make my talent do what it was supposed to do seemed like a pipe dream at best. But still, if that day came, what would I do then?

“I don’t know,” I said slowly, since that was the only true answer I could give him. “I mean, I know a relationship with someone from a different time can work, because I have the perfect example in my parents. But it’s not completely the same, is it? My father didn’t have much reason to go back to his own time — he always told us that he felt as if his life didn’t have much direction, and that even though of course he would miss his family, he knew he was making the right decision in staying in a new century with my mother. Whereas you….”

“Whereas I have the store and my family and my clan,” he finished for me. “But aren’t you in kind of the same situation?”

Probably not exactly the same, just because, while I had been working at McAllister Mercantile, I was only an employee there, not a member of the family who owned the place. And yet, I also had family and friends who would miss me if I decided to make a life for myself in 1926.

That scenario didn’t even take into account the way we could be seriously messing with the timeline if I took up permanent residence in the past. Having my father come forward hadn’t been as big a deal, since he wouldn’t be changing anythingthat had already happened. His family must have thought he’d disappeared in Flagstaff, and maybe they’d sent someone to find out what had happened to him, and maybe they hadn’t. They might have decided it was far too dangerous to head into Wilcox territory when one of their own had already vanished there.

The logical thing…if Seth and I truly wanted to be together, no matter what…would be for him to come to the twenty-first century. Most likely, his family would think he’d run afoul of the bootleggers, an impression I was sure his jerk of a brother would do his best to reinforce.

But could I really ask Seth to give up so much?

“Maybe a similar situation, if not exactly the same,” I allowed. “And it’s a lot to ask of a person.”

He stepped closer to me and took my hands in his. For a moment, I thought he might bend to kiss me, but then I realized the drapes were wide open. Sure, it might have been difficult for someone on the street below to see what we were doing, but I could tell he didn’t want to take even that small risk.

“It’s probably better if we went forward in time,” he said, echoing my thoughts of just a moment earlier. “Having you living in the past would cause a lot of problems, wouldn’t it?”

About all I could do was tighten my fingers on his before gently letting them go. “I don’t know for sure,” I replied. “I mean, I’ve done more reading on time travel than a lot of people, just because of my parents and this so-called gift of mine, but still, even the experts don’t seem to have much of a consensus because it’s all theoretical.”

Seth smiled then, blue eyes warm as he gazed down into my face. “I wouldn’t exactly call it ‘theoretical,’ not when we’re both standing here in 1884.”

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