New Year’s Eve
NEW YEARS EVE…
“Okay, I have an idea, and I hope you’ll say yes.”
I narrow my eyes at Jarvis. “What are you up to?”
I stare at him. “Seriously?”
“Don’t you think it would be fun? To see the turn of the millennium again? And this time we know the world won’t end.”
“I don’t know… I thought we were just going to stay in and watch the fireworks on TV.”
“We can do that any year. Come on. Please?”
Since Jarvis and I got back together, it’s been lovelier than I could ever have imagined.
He’s the sweet charismatic guy I’d caught glimpses of in the past, but now he’s that way twenty-four seven.
Well, as much as a regular human can be sweet and charismatic.
He still has his bad days like anyone else, but they pass quickly, and he returns to normal without retreating or running away.
In fact, he’s probably now more communicative than me.
Which has taken a little getting used to.
“Do you think we need a plan? I mean, I don’t want to go discovering anything else strange about your past and have it ruin our future.”
“I have nothing else to hide, I promise. Ask me anything about any single moment in time, and I will answer honestly.”
I look at my watch. “It’s almost 7pm. Does that mean you want to go soon?”
“Yes!”
“Should we just use a four-hour dose and go at around eight fifteen?”
“That’s exactly what I was thinking.”
“All right. Do you remember where you were in 1999?”
“I was at a party at a friend’s house in Shell Beach, but I can easily leave and meet you somewhere. What about you?”
I frown. “Ugh. I was at Frankie’s house, and we watched Strange Days before we went down to the boardwalk at the beach. There was a big celebration there.”
“And that’s when he…?”
“Yes. He proposed. At midnight. Actually, I think we should go back in time, and that way, at least in that timeline, I can turn him down. Make him pay for being such a douchebag.”
Jarvis laughs. “If you like, we can make out in front of him?”
I shake my head. “As fun as that sounds, I’d rather get away from him ASAP.”
“All right. Then do you want to head straight for Main Street? We could meet out the front of Beans and go from there.”
“Okay.”
I suddenly feel anxious. I’m going to have to see Frankie tonight, even if it’s only for a few minutes.
I’m not sure if I should be surprised, but I haven’t heard a peep from him since that afternoon at the bar.
He really moved on quickly, which I suppose was his MO all along.
I feel a bit betrayed that he had me believe he was a changed person, but at least his behaviour made it easy for me to get closure.
I look around the living room of what is now my house again. I moved back into the place at Coolum with Jarvis, and I sold my apartment in Shell Beach. My commute to the gallery each day is slightly longer, but I don’t mind. This place feels way more like home than the apartment ever did.
“Oh, I meant to tell you, I got another payment today,” Jarvis says.
“Really? Do you think Cameron is hoping it means you’ll drop the case against him?”
Soon after I confronted Nia about the accident, Jarvis started receiving payments for a few hundred dollars each month. It turned out that Cameron was only using a fraction of the money he’d taken from Jarvis on Nia, and Nia must have figured it out.
At first, Jarvis wasn’t sure if he wanted to do anything, but after we talked it over, he realised Cameron should face some consequences for the twenty years of blackmail.
Not to mention that Cameron wouldn’t have come clean unless Nia called him out.
Jarvis’s lawyer has been busy—tracking down Radford and the truck driver who caused Nia’s paraplegia, as well as reviewing the police reports of the accident that showed inconsistencies with where Nia and Radford had been found at the crash scene.
The lawyer even interviewed a friend of Nia’s from 1999 who confirmed Radford and Nia were dating before the accident.
I’m not sure what the consequences will be for both siblings, but the courts will eventually decide.
“Maybe. But it’s not going to work. Also, I haven’t spent any of the money, and I was thinking we could maybe use it for some sort of acting scholarship at the community centre.”
“I like that idea. So, it would be to pay for study?”
“And to fund someone’s expenses while they got established in the industry.”
“Aw, look at you, all philanthropic.”
He smiles, embarrassed. “I thought it would be nice to give back a little. Oh, and I was going to wait until we were back in 1999, but since we’re on the topic of money, I’ll tell you now. Florence’s brother was denied a cut of her will, so the castle is now all ours to do with what we please.”
“I still want to do what you suggested and keep it for a while longer.”
“Great. I’ll contact Ginny and Lee tomorrow to tell them our plans.”
Jarvis pours us each a glass of wine and holds up his. “Here’s to a fresh start. I can’t wait to see what the next year brings.”
I clink my glass against his. “Me too.”
***
Just after 8pm, we mix up two doses of the compound and head for the bedroom. We sit on the side of the bed, and I look at Jarvis uncertainly.
“Are you doubly sure you want to do this?”
“I am.”
“All right…”
We drink the compound at the same time and lie next to each other.
Jarvis grabs my hand. “I’ll see you soon.”
I close my eyes and wait.
After a moment, I open my eyes again and realise I’m no longer holding Jarvis’s hand.
I’m holding Frankie’s.
I quickly pull away, and he looks at me. “What?”
“Nothing. Sorry.” I see we’re sitting in Frankie’s living room, and we’re at least halfway through the movie.
“Did you want to go down to the beach after this?” he asks.
“Uh, I don’t know.” My stomach churns with nerves. “Actually, I don’t feel well. I think I’m going to go home and rest.”
He furrows his brow. “You’re sick?”
“I’m worried I might be getting a summer flu or something.”
“You could just rest here?”
“No, I don’t want to pass on any germs and make you sick too.”
“But…”
“Sorry. I really think it would be best if I went home.”
He sighs. “Fine. Get better soon. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
I jump up and see my handbag on the floor. I pick it up and hurry outside. I wonder how easy it will be to get to Main Street at this time of night on New Year’s Eve. I probably didn’t drive here since I knew I’d be drinking, and a quick look around proves me right.
There was no Uber in 1999, but the taxi number suddenly pops into my brain, and I dial it from my Nokia.
The line is engaged.
Frankie lived on the outskirts of town, and it’s too far to walk to the beach, so I head for the nearest bus stop.
There are quite a few people around, and I hear music playing from inside several houses I walk past… Mambo No. 5… Pretty Fly for a White Guy… and Believe by Cher.
I reach the bus stop and check the timetable pasted to a signpost. I assume the buses will be running as normal for at least a few more hours.
I look at my watch and see it’s after eight thirty. I hope Jarvis isn’t having any trouble figuring out how to get to Beans.
At eight forty-five, a crowded bus pulls up, but there’s just enough room for me to squeeze in.
The guy next to me is wearing Cool Water, and it reminds me of my old boss, Ashley. Seeing him again eight months ago feels almost as distant in the past as the original timeline. I can’t believe how much has changed.
And then I think about the reason I took the compound in the first place. Were Anna and Kurt right in their assumption that you always end up where you’re supposed to be?
I have no idea how I would have ended up back with Jarvis if I hadn’t found out what really happened to him all those years ago.
Would he have eventually reached out like he told Florence in that email?
And would Nia have ever come clean about what really happened with the accident?
I feel like it would have been a pretty small chance for everything to line up properly.
But then, was the compound part of the plan all along?
Was I supposed to talk to Kurt and Anna that day and have them give it to me?
Either way, I really do feel like I’ve ended up where I was supposed to.
Maybe not right here in this very moment in 1999, but definitely with the outcomes I’ve arrived at.
I get off the bus at Main Street and make my way toward Beans. I’ve never seen this many people around, and the path is so full, I can barely move.
But finally, I see the café, and I carve a path to the entry, looking around to see if Jarvis is already here.
It takes me a couple of minutes, and my heart starts to sink when I can’t find him, but then suddenly, a pair of arms wrap around my waist, and I know it’s him.
“Fancy seeing you here,” he says in my ear.
I turn to face him. “You made it!”
“I did. I was lucky someone caught a cab to the house where I found myself, so I just asked the driver to bring me here. This is insane, huh?”
“Is 1999 what you remember?” I ask.
“Yes and no. I obviously had a taste of what it was like when I was here in April, but I didn’t know it was real back then. Now, I can absorb it all.” He stops to listen to the music coming from the speakers at Beans. It’s Prince’s 1999.
“That’s a bit cliché, isn’t it?” he says, rolling his eyes.
“It is the turn of the millennium. A lot of these people think the world is going to end at midnight.”
“Well, we better make the most of it since this world will actually end for us just after midnight.”
I grab his hand and pull him out onto the street. “Let’s explore.”
We walk across to the other side of the street and cut through to the boardwalk along the beach. I think about the second time I came back here and met Jarvis at the community centre. And then I remember afterwards when I drove out to that pub.
“Hey, I know this is a strange question, but did you ever go to Murgon?”
He laughs. “What?”
“When I came back to 1999 before I came with you, I’m pretty sure I saw you with a guy driving a Jeep near Murgon. It would have been sometime in mid-April in the evening.”
He frowns. “I don’t think—” He cuts himself off. “Actually, I do remember having a friend who lived out that way, and we went hiking in the Bunya Mountains, so we probably stopped in Murgon to refuel and get snacks on the way.”
“I can’t believe I saw you in the middle of nowhere. I think that’s when I started to wonder whether there was more to our story than I realised.”
“I always thought there was more to our story. I was just too cowardly to act sooner.”
“I understand why you held off, though.”
“Speaking of snacks, why don’t we get some to eat on the beach? And some wine?”
“Sounds good.”
We reach a convenience store, and Jarvis points to the bottle shop next door. “How about you choose the wine, and I’ll meet you back here in a minute?”
“Okay.”
I head inside and scour the aisles. I see Passion Pop and shudder, remembering my last encounter with Frankie.
Ugh. I quickly move on and grab a bottle of Moet.
Tonight, I’m not going to worry about what happens to this timeline after I leave.
I’m going to take Prince’s advice and party like it’s the year it is. Or was.
I meet Jarvis again a few minutes later, and we go in search of a free patch of sand on the beach. Which is harder than I expected it to be. Speakers are set up on the sand, and a sign advertises fireworks at midnight.
Jarvis opens the wine bottle, and after realising we don’t have glasses, hands it to me to take the first swig. It somehow fits the vibe of the night.
The time goes quickly, and I feel like I’m finally where I’m meant to be—alongside Jarvis.
At five minutes to midnight, he grabs my hand and turns me to face him.
He pulls something from his pocket, and in the dark, I can barely make it out, but it looks like one of those lollypop rings with a large red diamond made from hard sugar.
“Since we won’t be able to take anything with us when we go back, I thought I’d start with this.” He holds out the lollypop an inch from my ring finger. “Will you marry me… again?”
I laugh, taken by surprise. “Seriously?”
“I’ve never been more serious about anything. I want to spend the rest of my life making you happy.” He looks at his watch. “I also want to be the first guy to propose. Not the second.”
I find it endearing that he thought ahead enough to make this happen.
“Yes, I’ll marry you again.”
He beams, sliding the plastic ring onto my finger and pulling my face to his.
He kisses me deeply, and I kiss him back. We don’t even stop as the countdown begins and the fireworks explode in the sky.
This is perfect.
I got my soulmate in the most roundabout way possible, but I’ve realised it was always meant to be like this.
The universe knew what it was doing.