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  “We going to take them back to yours?” Charlotte asked.

  “No,” he suddenly smiled wide and pitched his voice a fraction louder. Connie glanced about, quickly spotting someone approaching their car’s position. “You guys will love the state park. The views are great, perfect for a picnic,” he said. The person turned out to be a man who appeared to be in his thirties who passed their car without a backwards glance.

  “So, going to the state park?” Charlotte said.

  “Nah, city park. After all, turns out your mom here forgot to bring suitable shoes for a hike. Damned shame.” Kyle winked.

  “Why is the park empty?” Connie asked.

  “There’s a thing on at a local kid place up the road, with free entry. They had flyers up on the bulletin boards on base about it, even,” Kyle said. “Hon, pass me some of that chicken, will you?”

  Deciding it was safe enough to talk as long as she wasn’t loud enough for anyone to overhear if they walked past on their way to the playground, Lexie said, “It all started when Connie and I met up a few months ago.” She gave them a quick rundown of events, leaving nothing out, including driving to the airport, the strange shadow that fell over the car and the world having turned sepia, then finding themselves at the mall.

  “That’s…” Kyle looked at a loss for words. “Wow, just wow. Okay, I’d think we were being punked, except I know you two and you’re not the sort.”

  “Plus, we’ve met the dog,” Charlotte added. Nelson looked up, a piece of breaded, boneless breast dangling from his mouth. “I was going to marry Dave, really?” she wrinkled her forehead.

  “Yes, really. He’s a nice guy,” Lexie said. “You two were sweet together.”

  “And there was no Kyle?” Charlotte prodded.

  “Neither of you ever mentioned one. Dave’s roommate was some kid named Ranjit. You two used to rave about the big box of sweets his mother would send for Diwali that he’d share with you.”

  “Huh. I wonder what happened to me. Maybe I wasn’t born or something,” Kyle mused. “Kind of creepy to think about it, really.”

  “So, we’re what?” Connie asked. “In some parallel universe?”

  “Yeah, probably. I guess.” Lexie wished they were somewhere they could pump Nash and Nelson for information.

  “Well, I hope I got my ass back to the Academy.” Charlotte shook her head at her own rash stupidity.

  “Me, too,” Lexie said softly.

  “Well, we’re here now and unless someone knows the way to drive back, looks like we’re stuck here,” Connie said. “And, hey, there’s going to be a wedding!”

  Lexie brightened with unshed tears. “My baby girl is getting married!”

  Charlotte flung her arms around her mother’s neck. “Don’t cry, Mama! I’ll always be your little girl!”

  “So, where’s this shindig happening?” Connie asked.

  “Base chapel,” Kyle said.

  “Ohhhh, military wedding? Swords and all?” Connie beamed in approval.

  “Sure is,” Kyle grinned.

  “What about afterwards? You two aren’t stationed together, are you?” Lexie asked.

  “We already put in for joint orders and they’ve been approved. We’ll be due at Hickham next week. We’d left the honeymoon wide open since we didn’t know when we’d be ordered to go, if we were approved, or where. We’re glad we did, because now we can go early and honeymoon there on the islands.”

  “That’s fantastic. I always wanted to go to Hawaii. You know my Sam always wanted to go. He kept saying he was going to put in for Scofield, but then, he never got the chance.”

  “I’m sorry,” Kyle put a hand over Connie’s. “He had a thing for loud Hawaiian shirts, didn’t he? I recall Charlotte saying something about that once.”

  “Yeah,” Connie laughed. “The brighter the better. I still have them hanging in the closet back home. Wait a minute…”

  “What?” Kyle asked. The other two women turned to see what was the matter.

  “Charlotte, you’ve graduated and are serving at your posting.”

  “Yeah, since last year, why?”

  Lexie understood immediately. “Shit, we didn’t just move to the universe next to us…”

  “We also moved forward in time,” Connie finished. “You and Marla have only been away at school for two years.”

  “No, it’s been four years.” Charlotte asaid.

  “Yeah, I’ve been here for three now, so a change of station isn’t such a big deal,” Kyle said.

  “I wonder what else we’ve missed?”

  Connie’s eyes widened. “Or what a certain somebody has been up to!” she exclaimed, thinking of their fugitive.

  “But did he even jump here?” Kyle asked, thinking back on the story they’d related about the jumper.

  “I don’t know,” Connie admitted.

  “We best assume that he did, until we discover otherwise,” Lexie said, taking the last piece of chicken from the box.

  “Good plan,” Kyle said. “We’ll also keep our eyes open for any weird news stories that might relate.”

  “Or videos. Those don’t always make the news,” Charlotte said.

  “Okay, then. Uh, did we happen to say where we’d be staying?”

  “Yeah, The Angelo Inn on base,” Kyle replied.

  “I better make sure I mentioned the dog,” Connie said.

  “You do that,” Lexie said, finishing her chicken. She picked up her paper cup and took a sip of her soda. “You do that while we clear this away. There’s a trash can over there. We need to check in and then go see about getting something suitable to wear to the wedding and rehearsal.”

  “Back to the mall, then?” Connie asked.

  “We can check the PX first. They carry some nice designer wear. They might have something suitable and they’ll be closer.” She started gathering the empty food boxes, wrappers, and napkins, with Kyle’s help.

  Connie opened Safari on her phone, opening the bookmark for DoD Lodging.

  “The Angelo,” she muttered, typing it into the site’s search bar. “Bingo.”

  Chapter 25

  Get Around, Get Around, Gettin’ Around

  Connie was relieved to find that this Marla was exactly like her Marla, though she felt weird thinking of her that way. After the rehearsal dinner, she sidled up to Turner.“So, uh, this might sound like a weird question, but…”

  “You’re not going to ask me about the thing are you? I’ve told you guys repeatedly, I don’t wish to discuss it.”

  “We have Nash and Nelson with us,” she blurted.

  “Yeah, Daddy noticed when he knocked on your door and you answered. He saw the habitat. I still don’t wish to discuss it.”

  Satisfied now that Turner’s timeline still matched their own, bar the jump in time, she let it drop. “So, your date,” she prodded.

  “Just a friend from work,” he replied. “I went with her to her brother’s wedding last year as a favor so called in the marker.”

  “Just a friend?”

  “Yes, so don’t go making her uncomfortable.”

  “You might want to check that she knows that. She has eyes for you.”

  “What?” Connie smiled at the hopeful tone in his voice.

  “You two should go somewhere for a coffee and have a nice, long talk.”

  He threw her an exasperated look before rushing to rejoin his date when she reappeared from the restroom.

  “What was that about?” Lexie asked her, walking up.

  “I was trying to be subtle and find out about Turner and you know who.”

  “And?”

  “He’s here, somewhere.”

  Lexie sighed. “Great, so we still have to track him down.”

  “Yep. Oh, and Turner and his co-worker are friends only though they each secretly like each other.”

  “Really? Aw, I hope they work it out..”

  “Me, too.”

  “Stray out of it, Connie. I mean it,
no meddling. They’re adults and can figure things out for themselves.”

  “All I said was look, she has eyes for you and that they should go out for a long coffee and have a talk.”

  Lexie nodded. “Okay, that’s sound advice. Just stay out of it after this. We have no idea if messing with the timeline here will mess up something.”

  “Yeah, wish the guys had been able to shed more light on things other than say we’d gone to a reality next door to us, but up.” In fact, what Nash had likened it to was living in a condo. All the condos looked more or less alike, coming fully furnished. But the occupants added small personal touches, and sometimes changed pieces of furniture and painted the walls. In this case, he said it was if they’d gone to the upstairs neighbour directly above them. He was puzzled how they did it, because while their scientists knew about those dimensions, they were more direct parallels and they couldn’t travel to them on purpose.

  “Well, they couldn’t, so we’ll just have to muddle along best we can. Come on, everyone’s heading out.” She made for the front door.

  “Bye,” Marla called out, getting into a car with Charlotte. “See you at the wedding tomorrow!”

  “See you!” Connie called cheerfully back. “Look, Daddy’s already waiting for us to take him back.”

  “‘Bout time you showed up. You’ll have plenty of time to jaw at the reception tomorrow.”

  Connie and Lexie shared a look of fond exasperation as they got into the car. “Okay, Daddy, let’s go,” Lexie said as he got in, once Connie was safely ensconced in the back seat.

  “Good, because I promised I’d Skype over my new laptop tonight. We’re going to practice a new routine.”

  “A new Elvis routine?” Connie asked, interest evident in her voice. “You going to do a duet of some kind?”

  “Yes, we’re working on singing Wooden Heart with Priscilla joining in on the chorus. We thought we’d perform it at the weddings.”

  “Weddings?” Lexie asked.

  “Yes, you know, the Vegas style weddings we’re doing in Coronado. That reminds me, I have to call the realtor. The tenants want to buy the house and they called me. I want to know what the fair market value is before doing a deal.”

  “You’re selling the house?” Connie squeaked.

  “Well, yes. Don’t get me wrong, the rental income is great and all, but it’s a lot of hassle trying to manage that and get our business really going. If I sell, I can take that money and put it into the business as well as have some to live off of. Moving cross country wasn’t cheap, even if I am living in housing at Pendleton.”

  “You’re in base housing?” Lexie asked.

  “Yes, I am.”

  “So, you’re in San Diego, why exactly?” Connie asked.

  “Anyone would think you two have lost your damned minds or got amnesia or something. I told you when I put the house up for rent and moved. Laura had orders to go to Coronado, she got them a few days before the convention y’all met them at.”

  “Oh, yeah, sorry, I meant, why are you doing weddings in San Diego, instead of Vegas,” Connie tried to cover.

  “Are you insane? We’d lose more money than we’d make commuting weekends to Vegas for a handful of weddings. Not to mention, there’s an Elvis under every other rock there. No, we do them right there in San Diego.”

  “Makes sense,” Lexie mused, pulling into the lodge’s parking lot.

  “It’s about the only thing that does. You two are acting squirrely. You know they never caught that Priscilla who was doing the vampire act.”

  “Really?” Lexie asked, putting the car in park and shutting off the engine. “Kind of scary to think she’s still out there somewhere.”

  “Yeah, well, you’ll probably think I’m senile, but you’re the ones gallivanting around with talking animals. So, I’ll let you on one something one of my buddies heard on the down low.” Daddy lowered his voice. “They found another dead Elvis the next morning, as you know. But you may not know is, he fell and tore one side of his drapes down as he died. And there was a layer of ash all over everything on that side of the room. On the corpse, on the curtain, on the carpet, on the window glass, on the bed, and the nightstand. Everything.”

  “So, you’re saying it looks like she was a real vampire.”

  Daddy tapped the side of his nose.

  “Given what we’ve seen and heard, nothing surprises me anymore,” Lexie said.

  “You better knock on wood or the universe will pull a big ass stunt on you just to prove you wrong.”

  “Oh, Daddy, it’s done that plenty already.”

  “I was real glad to hear that you girls were giving your trip another go. It was a shame you had to stop after you finally got to Chicago. Still, everything’s worked out for the best.” Daddy got out of the car and looked down at the frame of the open door. “They did a real good job once you got them to pay to fix her. You’d never know some fool T-boned you. I’m just glad y’all were parked and inside ordering pizza to take back to your motel.”

  “Nelson’s pizza saved our lives,” Connie said hoarsely as she clambered out of the car. Daddy moved out of her way. She did not see the need to bring up that it was another Connie and Lexie it had happened to.

  “Sure did. Worth every second of his wise cracking self afterward, isn’t it?” he replied.

  “And we yelled at him about bugging us for it,” Lexie said, ashamed.

  “Yeah, well, he never let y’all forget it, so there’s that. Now ‘scuse me, I need to go Skype some folks.”

  Connie watched him go. “Speaking of leaving, I wonder what happened to this place’s Connie and Lexie?” she mused, then shrugged. “Probably at the airport in Chicago, where we were,” she decided.

  Chapter 26

  Going to the Chapel of Love

  Lexie bawled unashamedly as the Dixie Cups song began to play and her not so little girl walked down the aisle on Daddy Dade’s arm. Memories flooded her mind of a little girl playing dress up, wearing a princess costume with a handkerchief on her head. She’d said she was a bride and that she was going to marry a man just like her Daddy. He’d played wedding with her that day, playing that song. Last night the song hadn’t been played during the rehearsal, Charlotte having decided to save that for a surprise. It seemed she hadn’t forgotten that day either.

  “I can’t believe Daddy fit in his old dress uniform,” Connie whispered.

  Lexie sniffled as she got hold of herself. “He didn’t,” she replied hoarsely. “Laura went and bought him a new one before he got here. He told me last night at the dinner. He was saying he’d tried keto, but the pancakes and waffles at the IHop wouldn’t leave him alone .”

  “That sounds like Daddy, all right.”

  The music stopped and Daddy Dade released his granddaughter’s arm. She took another step and stood before the chaplain next to Kyle. The tears started up again as the chaplain began to speak. She heard Connie sniffling next to her as the couple said their vows, though they both laughed as Charlotte promised to love him even if he packed for TDY at three in the morning and that the bake sale goods would never come from the commissary.

  Then it was over and everyone was standing as the couple went down the aisle. They waited in the vestibule for everyone to congratulate them as they went out the door and stood en masse in front of the chapel. The chapel doors opened and Lexie and Connie both held their phones aloft to capture the moment as they exited the chapel, walking under an arch formed by the swords of an Air Force honor guard.

  “Brings back memories,” Connie said as she put her phone away and began throwing bird seed.

  “You got married by a justice of the peace in a public park,” Lexie reminded her.

  “Yes, I know. I was there. I meant your wedding. You and Charlie did the whole sword arch thing, at the main chapel on Bragg.”

  Lexie threw a handful of seeds. “Yeah, we did. One of the best days of my life,” she said.

  “Yeah,” Connie said. “
Think they’re watching this? I mean, wherever they are, whether or not we saw them as recently as we think we did.”

  “Yeah, I do. I’ve never really felt they were gone, you know?”

  “I do,” Connie said. “It’s why I could never bring myself to take his clothes out of the closet. Every time I opened that closet, I saw his shirts and stuff. I even washed and dried them once a month to keep the dust off them.”

  “I still have a pair of his boots,” Lexie whispered.

  The newlyweds drove off. Daddy Dade approached the pair. “Come on, you two. Stop being so damned maudlin and let’s get going. They’ve spent a nice bit of money on a spread at the O Club, you know.”

  Lexie laughed. “You sound like Nelson, going on about food.”

  “Yeah, well,” he said leading the way to their car, “my stomach was so nervous this morning that I couldn’t eat breakfast. Now I’m starving. I need to watch my blood sugar, you know. You might not need to, but I sure as hell do.”

  “I could eat,” Connie said. “What? Don’t look at me like that. Crying takes a lot out of a person. I need to refuel.”

  “Y’all are as bad as each other,” Lexie said, putting the empty organza bag that had held the bird seed into her purse and getting out her keys.

  “Don’t tell me you’re not hungry,” Daddy said.

  “I didn’t say that,” Lexie said. “But my stomach is still tied up in knots a bit.”

  “You probably just need to poop,” Daddy said. Connie giggled while Lexie simply stared at him. “Don’t be so juvenile, Connie. You get to be my age, you begin to realize just how important pooping is. Y’all used to know it. When the girls was babies, y’all were always talking about their poop.”

  “That’s true,” Connie laughed.

  “I do not need to poop,” Lexie replied in indignation. She climbed into the driver’s seat and slammed the door closed.