Lost in Time(18)

He slept deeply that night. Either because he was weary to his bones or because he had a purpose now. And hope. Maybe because of both.

*

That morning, Sam showered, forced himself to eat every scrap of breakfast, and waited for the wall panel to slide in and reveal the visiting booth. When it did, he sat on the padded stool and waited. Butterflies filled his stomach. His palms began to sweat, and they didn’t stop, no matter how many times he wiped them on his pants.

Trying to look confident for her was only making Sam more nervous.

The door opened, and Adeline charged in and stopped abruptly, face confused as she studied the glass partition. Sam sensed that she had expected to be able to hug him. But the glass wall was more than that. It was a stark reminder that they were separated forever now. Because of Sam’s confession, they would never touch each other again. Never share a meal. Never stand outside in the sun together.

Adeline closed her eyes, and tears gushed out, and her voice was ragged and hurt as she said the word “Dad.”

Sam rose and put his hand on the glass. “I’m here…”

Sam heard his voice trailing off as his own emotions overtook him. He had mentally rehearsed all the things he wanted to say to her, but in that raw moment, it all crumbled like a sandcastle on the beach being hit by a crashing wave.

It was Adeline who composed herself first. She walked to the glass and placed her hand on the opposite side of Sam’s. The tears were still coming but her voice was steadier when she spoke.

“Are they treating you well?”

“Yeah.”

That seemed to steel Adeline. She wiped the tears away with one hand as the other fell away from the glass. She sat at the desk, opened a notebook, and fixed Sam with a serious look.

“They’re only giving me an hour. We should use it wisely.”

“Wisely for what?”

“Work.”

Sam laughed. “Work on what?”

“Figuring out who actually killed Nora.”

The smile faded from Sam’s face. “Adeline, I’ve thought a lot about that.”

“Good,” she mumbled, drawing lines on the page, ready to take notes. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking that it would be better for you to let this go.”

She glanced up. Her pen was still on the notebook.

“Since I saw you last, there have been some developments. What’s happening here is complicated. I think it’s better if—”

“I’m not going to let this go, Dad.”

“You have to, Adeline.”

“I can’t.”

“If you don’t, it will eat you up. That’s what scares me the most. It scares me more than Absolom. My fear is that when I’m gone, you’ll obsess over what happened. That you won’t move on with your life. I don’t want this to take your life too.”

“Scares you enough to confess?”

Sam clenched his jaw.

“I’m not dumb, Dad. I know that I’m the only reason you would do it. Me and Ryan. How do you think that makes me feel?”

Sam exhaled. “I’m begging you, Adeline. Move on. It’ll destroy you if you don’t.”

“No, Dad. It will give me strength.”

“Maybe at first. But when you stop making progress, that fire will turn to frustration and then bitterness and then it will rot you from the inside out. You’ll be a shell of who you were meant to be—all because of hate and resentment about what happened. If you don’t get free from it, it will take everything from you.”

“Well, good news: I don’t have anything left to take. Not after they beam you to the dinosaur age. We lost Mom. Now you.”

“Wrong. You have Ryan. And you have to let it go for his sake. You are all he has left. Don’t desert him, not for some quest of vengeance for me.”

Sam waited, hoping Adeline would see reason. When she said nothing, he pressed on. “This is my fate, Adeline. You have to accept it.”

“I don’t accept it. I never will.”

“These are the last hours we have together. I don’t want to spend them arguing with you. I want to spend them doing what I should have done more of: listening. I want you to tell me all your plans for the future.”

“I don’t have plans, Dad. I have a plan. One plan. Do you want to hear it?”

Sam exhaled, knowing where this was going.

“I’m going to figure out who killed Nora. I’m going to get them convicted. Then I’m going to get you back, Dad. You can either help me or desert me, but it won’t change anything. I’m going to finish this, if it takes the rest of my life.”

“Can we make a deal?”

Adeline squinted at him, then nodded once.

“Two years.”

She cocked her head. “For what?”

“I’ll tell you what I know on one condition.”

“Which is?”

“Starting today, you can spend two years of your life trying to right this wrong. Not a second or a minute or an hour more.”

Adeline fixed his gaze. “Sure.”

“I know that look. I’m serious, Adeline. Two years. No more.”

“I don’t like this deal.”

“It’s the only one you’re going to get. Because I made a deal too—a promise to your mother that I would do my very best to take care of you.”