While I Was Away(20)

Two feelings that always ceased to exist when he was around.

I'm lost in eternity, falling in love with a man who might be an angel, and I don't know what's right anymore.

“God, this place is beautiful,” she sighed as she sat up.

They spent a lot of time in the poppy field. Adele had no control over where she ended up, or even when she left a place. They'd spent half a lifetime in the castle, once. All the doors had disappeared and no amount of blinking could get them out. Then she'd sneezed and boom, they'd suddenly been back in her parents' house.

On one side of the field, the poppies came to an end and gave way to a cliff. She climbed to her feet and moved towards the precipice. It was a great, dramatic, outcropping of rock, overlooking a ravine that eventually opened into a valley full of streams, and in the distance she could see the old castle.

Adele stood at the very edge of the cliff and took several deep breaths. Sometimes she thought of jumping. Wondered if anything would happen, if she could hurt herself.

Like Groundhog's Day, only worse? Or better. It's so hard to tell sometimes. No one ever warned me that eternity would be so confusing.

“Don't do it.”

Jones stepped into her peripheral. He didn't turn to look at her, just held out her sweater. She smiled and took it, slipping it on as a chilly breeze passed over them.

“I wasn't going to,” she sighed.

“It's a long way down.”

“I won't jump!”

They were silent for a moment, both staring out over the landscape. Then Jones heaved a big sigh and sat down, letting his legs dangle over the side of the cliff. She followed suit, sitting close to him.

“Adele,” he started in a low voice. While he spoke, he reached over and grabbed her hand, holding it tightly in his lap. “I think ... I think it's time for you to go home.”

She held her breath for a second and stared at him. Her heart was beating so fast, she swore she could hear it. Like it was all around them.

“I get to go home? You're letting me go?” she asked, getting excited.

But Jones didn't look excited. In fact, he was frowning.

“You're free to go whenever you want. But you have to go,” he stressed.

“I think we've been over this a few million times,” she laughed. “I don't know how to go home. I don't even know where I am.”

“I know, Adele. But ... do you see that? Next to me?”

Adele leaned back, then gasped. There was a huge tree on the other side of Jones. It certainly hadn't been there a few moments ago, and besides that, the landscape never changed. Not at the beach, not at the town, and certainly not here in their field. So where had it come from?

It was a huge magnolia tree. The biggest she'd ever seen, with bright pink flowers blossoming on its branches. Most of the tree was flat on the ground, but a portion of it was growing over the cliff's edge, the roots creeping down the side and burrowing into the rock face. They caused the body of the tree to slant and sway towards the edge.

“I never noticed it before, where did it come from?” she asked. “It's gorgeous.”

“It's been here for a while, and its roots are taking hold. Pretty soon, it'll be a permanent part of this cliff, stretching all the way to the bottom,” he explained.

“Oh. Well, at least it'll be pretty. A nice change from all the red,” she said, gesturing to the poppies behind them.

“No. It's not nice. It'll be here forever, do you understand? Just that tree, and this cliff, and those poppies,” he stressed.

“And us,” she added. But he didn't agree with her. Didn't nod or open his mouth or do anything. Just continued staring at her.

Maybe that tree isn't so gorgeous.

Adele abruptly pulled free of his grip and jumped up. Jones didn't move as quickly, instead slowly sliding away from the cliff before climbing to his feet.

“Are you okay?” he asked. She shook her head.

“No. But that doesn't really matter. I never asked before, but why me? You said helping people is your job, you mentioned coworkers, but I never see them – are you the only one?” Adele questioned him.

“No, there's others.”

“How did you get assigned to me?”

“Luck of the draw.”

“Really?”

“It's as good a guess as any.”

She frowned. She'd come to believe that she and Jones had been meant to find each other. She felt such a deep connection to him – how could she not after several eternities together? He was the only one who knew the real her, saw the real her, anymore. So she refused to believe they'd ended up together by some lucky chance.

No, surely it had been fate.

“Do you have a girlfriend?”

She hadn't even thought the question in her head, it had just sprung out of her mouth fully formed. Adele cringed at how ridiculous she sounded, but from behind her, Jones let out a laugh.

“No. Why? You want to go on a date with me?” he teased.

“Well, you are literally the last man on earth to me,” she pointed out.

“Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence.”

She finally turned around to face him. He was standing closer than she'd realized, almost directly behind her. She frowned, then reached out and grabbed ahold of his hand.