Page 40 of Time After Time
“Yeah, everything’s okay,” I hurriedly replied before letting out a sigh.
“Are you sure? Did something happen?” Concern laced his voice.
I faced my reflection in the mirror, blinking rapidly as a shiver coursed through me, leaving a hollow sensation in its wake. “I think...” I paused, taking a deep breath to compose my voice against the rising emotional tide. “I just needed to hear your voice, to talk to you.”
Silence stretched on Sebastian’s end of the line, punctuated by distant sobs and the strains of the procession’s mournful piano music. “I needed to hear yours, too,” he finally answered. I nodded, forgetting he couldn’t see me through a phone call. “I’ll be there in about two hours, okay?”
“I will be waiting.”
Once we hung up, I sighed, hands resting on the bathroom counter and blinking rapidly, not wanting to cry in front of either Mr. Marley or Aria. It wasn’t fair to them, not when they were already going through so much. I turned on the faucet and splashed cold water on my face, rubbing it harshly with myhands. There was no towel, so I patted my face dry with toilet paper.
When I stepped back outside, I worried I could interrupt an important moment. But my worries faded when I saw Aria in my previous spot, now sitting next to her grandfather. They were wrapped in a shared blanket, their tears blending with the rain.
Sniffling, I settled in front of them and reached for one of the steaming cups.
As I took a sip, the heat spread through me, but no warmth invaded me as the familiar taste of cinnamon flooded my senses, and tears filled my eyes, recognising it as Mrs. Marley’s favourite Christmas drink.
“I’m ready to hear that story.” I gestured toward the picture resting now on Aria’s lap. A faint, bittersweet smile crossed Mr. Marley’s face as he sighed at the sky, eyes glistening and roaming the vast space as if he were expecting a sign fromher.
Mr. Marley shared his story. His tone was low, tranquil, but trembling. Time seemed to fade away as I listened intently, wishing I could know so much more and before I realised it, I had fallen into a much-needed sleep on the porch, wrapped in two large blankets.
“Gen,” Aria’s soft voice stirred me awake. I blinked my eyes open, glancing around the porch. Mr. Marley was gone.
“Granddad went to bed,” she continued. “I tried waking you up to come inside, but you were out cold.”
Aria sat beside me, bundled in her own blanket, her eyelids heavy with sleep. She’d stayed with me, too tired to leave.
“Sebastian’s here.”
At the mention of his name, I shot upright, nearly tangling myself in one of the blankets that pooled around my feet. Sebastian, already making his way toward the house, froze when he saw me.
I managed a small, uncertain smile, though I wasn’t sure if he noticed, then turned to Aria. “I can stay tonight if you don’t want to be alone.”
She offered a grateful smile and closed her eyes for a few moments before shaking her head. “No need.” When I didn’t move, she continued, “I appreciate you coming here. It was good for both of us, but I think now we need to be on our own for a bit.” She sniffed, her eyelids puffy. After hesitating for a moment, I stepped forward and engulfed her in a hug—one I knew she needed. She shook, clutching me tighter, before slowly pulling back.
“Hey.” Sebastian had closed the distance between us, now standing just inches away, his gaze locked on mine. His hand lifted, brushing a loose strand of hair from my cheek, but he didn’t tuck it behind my ear. Instead, he let it fall back, framing my face. “Should we head out?” he asked, his voice low, almost hesitant.
“What time is it?”
“Late,” he answered, and he was right. The sky was already lightening, the sun barely a breath away from rising. Neither of us, especially him, had got much sleep.
Without waiting for my response, he turned to Aria, his expression carefully guarded, though I caught the flicker of pity in his eyes. “You need anything?”
She shook her head again and stood up, the blanket still draped around her. “I need a good dose of sleep.”
Sebastian nodded in understanding. “Come with us to the beach tomorrow. Don’t stay cooped up here all day.” Before she could decline the offer, he continued, “Everyone in town will come to visit your grandfather. He’ll be fine. We’ll have our phones, and my mum will be here with him.” Aria hesitated, chewing her bottom lip, but then nodded, considering his words. “Good. See you then.” With a reassuring nod, Sebastian drapedhis arm around my shoulders, slipped the rest of the blankets off, and gently nudged me forward.
The squish of our trainers against the rain-soaked ground filled the silence as we started our walk home at a lazy pace. Sebastian had asked about Mr. Marley, so I told him how I’d found him. Talking about it made my throat tight, and I blinked back the tears before they could fall.
Just thinking about Mrs. Marley’s bright smile weighed me down. How could she have left us like that? Yesterday… she had seemed so alive, so carefree, and then, almost overnight, she was gone.
“Mrs. Bennet was deep in conversation with Mrs. Lauriel and Gonzales.” Sebastian’s hands were casually tucked into the front pockets of his denim shorts—a rare choice, since he usually preferred comfort over style. “They wouldn’t stop talking about Mrs. Marley’s health,” he added, throwing me a quick sidelong glance. With a sigh, he turned his gaze back to the road as we trudged along on our seemingly never-ending walk home. “Apparently, she’d been feeling off for months. She’d show up at the market sometimes, looking like she’d seen a ghost.”
His words caught me off guard. Mrs. Marley had seemed perfectly healthy during the days we spent with her, with no hint of anything being wrong.
I nudged a pebble out of my path with the toe of my trainer.
“I couldn’t shake it off, you know,” he confessed, staring up at the night sky. I shifted my attention to how the moonlight danced along his neck and jaw. “I never noticed anything off about Mrs. Marley, either.” A wave of relief washed over me at the thought that even Sebastian, who always seemed to notice everything, hadn’t picked up on anything unusual. “But after a while, it made sense.”
