Infinite(67)

This would have been the time for Roscoe to point out that he’d warned me about the dangers of being in this world, but he was gracious. His deep voice soothed me, the way it always did. “You’re my best friend, Dylan. I’ve said you could always call me for help, and I mean that. As for having faith in you, that goes without saying.”

“That means a lot.”

“So what happens now? What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know. He won. I lost. Now he’s gone, and here I am.” I pushed open the car door, because I needed to breathe in the fresh air. “Do you want to take a walk on the beach? Like in the old days? We may never have another opportunity to do that together.”

“If you like.”

We crossed to the sand and then to the rolling edge of the surf. It was a clear night under moon and stars, and the waves made white ribbons as they broke toward shore. We wandered north, not talking. Around us, I could see a few beach dwellers huddled under blankets, hoping to avoid the park security. When I looked over my shoulder, I saw the city skyline awash in light. Where we’d walked, the lake was already wiping our footsteps clean.

I stopped, confronting more memories.

“When we were about sixteen, we came out here on a summer afternoon,” I said. “We saw a little kid flailing in the water. His mother was distracted because her youngest was crying. The two of us plunged in and saved him. Did that happen here, too?”

“Yes, it did.”

“His mom bought both of us new bikes.”

“I remember.”

“I always felt good about what we did. The strange thing is, now I know there’s also a world out there where we didn’t save him. We failed, and he died.”

Roscoe put a hand on my shoulder. “I prefer to look at how hard God worked to put us on that beach at the exact moment when the boy was drowning. We almost missed the bus going down here—do you remember that? We were complaining because we were going to have to wait another twenty minutes for the next one. But as it turned out, the bus we wanted was running late. So we made it. If that hadn’t happened, we wouldn’t have been here to save that child.”

“Yes, but there’s also a world where we missed the bus,” I protested. “So what’s the point? There’s no meaning to any of it. There’s no plan.”

“Not at all. It simply means in a different world, there’s a different plan.”

A sad smile creased my face. “I’ve always envied the strength of your beliefs, Roscoe. I wish I shared them. If there’s been one good thing about being here, it’s seeing you again. I’m going to miss you.”

“Are you saying you have to go?”

“You were right all along. I don’t belong here.”

“Will you follow this other Dylan again? And stop him this time?”

“No, it’s time for me to go back to where I came from and face what I left behind. That’s what you said I should do, isn’t it? Say the word and go home. I was a fool to think I could change the world.”

Roscoe squatted in the sand and let it run through his fingers. Then he spoke to me softly. “Actually, I’ve changed my mind about that.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t think you’re ready to go home, Dylan. That’s not who you are. If you believe in what you’re doing, the worst thing you can do is give up. The fact that you failed doesn’t mean that you should quit. The friend I’ve known my whole life would never give up.”

“You really think I should try again? After everything that happened here? What if I make it worse wherever I go next?”

He shrugged and looked up at me. “What if you make it better?”

“I appreciate the vote of confidence, Roscoe, but even if you’re right, it’s a moot point. The only thing I can do is go back home. I have no way to go anywhere else. I can’t chase him, even if I wanted to.”

“Why not?”

“I have no way back into the portal without Eve Brier.”

He flinched at the sound of the name. “Eve Brier?”

“She’s the therapist who sent me here. The idea of trying to bridge the Many Worlds was her idea. But as far as I can tell, she doesn’t exist in this world. There’s no record of her anywhere.”

Roscoe dipped his hand in the cool water and shook his head. “God really does work hard to make things come together.”

“What do you mean?”

“I know her,” he replied.

“What?”

“Well, I don’t know if she’s your Eve Brier. She’s not a therapist, that’s for sure. But I do know an Eve Brier, and I’m not surprised you wouldn’t find any record of her online. She’s a drug addict. Homeless, has been for years. She comes into the parish sometimes when we’re preparing meals.”

“An addict?”

“Yes, she’s very smart, but she went off the rails a long time ago and never made it back. Actually, I think she was in medical school once upon a time. She got thrown out over theft of prescription drugs. It’s only gotten worse since then. She’s been hospitalized for overdoses multiple times.”

“That’s got to be her,” I told him. “How can I find her?”