Page 43 of Maybe Some Other Time

She took Gretchen’s hand as they ambled along the path.

Thank God she can’t see how anxious I am.

For all Thelma knew, Gretchen was nervous as well.

Things had happened between their first date and now.

A whole season, for one thing. Thelma had become more confident in this strange new era.

More independent. Things she thought she had before, living back in 1958.

Time travel really makes you realize how much you can’t control in your life.

She glanced at Gretchen as they entered a small grove of trees.

A grove. More like three trees clustered together with an oak, making it look bigger than it is.

What would Gretchen think of Thelma being a time traveler?

Would she believe it? The tales people told in group often included the FBI getting involved.

Marrying a time traveler was a big deal, after all.

The new spouse was taking on legal and sometimes financial responsibility for the chrononaut.

The FBI wanted to know who those people were and what they intended to do with their newly learned information.

Wouldn’t that be a burden to put on someone? Someone like Gretchen, who had been through enough in her life already?

“It was very sweet of you to come out tonight.” Thelma stood in front of Gretchen, holding both of her hands.

She’s only a little taller than me. Although Thelma couldn’t see the details of Gretchen’s face, she vaguely knew where everything was.

Eyes. Nose. Mouth. She had inspected each quite thoroughly by now…

although it had been a while. “I know you’re not religious.

Honestly, I’m not sure if I really am, either.

But this congregation has been very welcoming of me and… ”

“You don’t have to explain.” Gretchen squeezed both of Thelma’s hands. “It sounds like you grew up in a church. Maybe that kind of thing doesn’t really go away.”

“No, suppose not. But it’s important to me that faith and reality intertwine.

I don’t think I could be part of a church that doesn’t recognize who I really am anymore.

Back in my old life…” She squeezed those hands back.

“I didn’t have much of a choice. I had to carve out my own meaning within the confines of what everyone else did.

I didn’t even think about it!” A breeze picked up, chilling Thelma’s cheeks while her hands remained gripped within Gretchen’s.

She has such fine calluses. Wasn’t it funny that the woman she was falling for in the future had rougher hands than Bill ever did?

“It was just how I did it. How I raised my children. Who I’ll…

” She had to face it. On this night, right here, with someone who didn’t know the whole story.

“Whom I’ll never see again. Not as they were. ”

“Don’t say that. I’m sure you can see your kids again. What do you have to do to make that happen? Is it a lawyer? Hey, we’re doing a project right now for some bigshot lawyer in Calabasas. He’s gotta know someone who can help you get your kids back.”

Thelma shook her head. “One day, I’ll tell you the whole story.

But the important thing is that my children are gone, Gretch.

” She deeply inhaled, keeping the tears at bay.

I’ll never see my son crack a baseball, but also…

well, I’ll never have to see him go off to war.

” Robbie had gone off to college to put off being drafted into the Vietnam War, but his number came up as soon as he graduated.

According to the service records Thelma found in the attic, he only served a few months before being medically discharged.

She never found out more details. “And I’ll never be at my daughter’s wedding, but I also don’t have to see her struggles with infertility. ”

“That’s… specific, man.”

“I know most of the things I say sound strange and like they’re from another time.

” Thelma sniffed. “Please be patient with me. I’m often overwhelmed.

Even right now. I’ll be having the time of my life one moment, learning everything I can…

then I just crash. My therapist says I might be biting off more than I can chew right now, but what else is there to do?

I have to embrace this life I’m thrust into.

My husband’s gone. Sandy’s gone… my children… ”

“You’ve been through a lot, Thel.”

“Yes. I wouldn’t even know where to begin telling you all of it.”

“The little pieces you drop along the way are fine. More than enough.”

Thelma chuckled. “I don’t know why you’re here with me right now. Surely, in a city as big and modern as this one, there’s gotta be another lady who tickles your fancy.”

Gretchen took a moment to respond. “Guess there’s just something special about you. First time I saw you, I thought… damn. She’s pretty.”

“That’s it? I’m pretty?”

“Sorry, I’m not really great with words.”

“No. I hear it in your voice.” Sweet. Delicate.

Reverent. When Gretchen called a woman pretty, she meant it.

She feels it in her bones. Thelma had been called pretty before, by people who knew it was an easy way to compliment women who looked a certain way.

My mother once warned me that a man who has nothing to say but that I’m pretty is no man truly interested in me.

Which was why it was so easy to go along with Bill when they were dating.

Yes, he called her pretty—he also let her talk for hours about what she studied at school, her friends, and where she wanted to travel.

The fact that he could recall facts about me later…

“And you’re sweet, Gretch. I mean it in the sincerest way possible that you’re a simple woman, and I like that about you. ”

“I think you’re the first person to ever call me ‘simple’ and not mean it derisively.”

“Never! To be honest, I’d much rather be with someone who keeps it simple than someone who is…”

“Thel,” Gretchen reminded her, “it’s only our second date.”

“You’re right.” Thelma inched a little closer, her fingers spreading wide and entwining with Gretchen’s. “Guess I’m just excited that I finally get to spend some time with someone that lets me forget about the other… things… happening in my life…”

Gretchen leaned her face in. It took Thelma two seconds to realize her date wanted a kiss.

“I know you’re a big old flirt.” Thelma put her finger on Gretchen’s puckered lips. “And you said all those lovely sentiments the other day, but not in front of a house of God. Children are running around.”

Air blew against Thelma’s finger. “Technically, we’re behind the ‘house of God.’”

“A house is a house! He sees all, Gretch.”

“I’m sure he does.”

Thelma tut-tutted. “I didn’t hear a capital H in there.”

“How can you hear capitals in a sentence?”

“I just can.”

“Fine.” Gretchen cleared her throat. “I’m sure He does.”

Thelma grinned. “Thank you.”

“Look, am I getting a kiss tonight or not?”

With a snort warming up her face, Thelma squeezed one of Gretchen’s hands while dropping the other. “Of course. But not here. Let’s pack the car up and get out of here.”

“Where are we going?”

Thelma led the way back to the parking lot, their hands still held together. “You’ll see.”

She was proud of her confidence—especially since she didn’t know if the road still existed!

With the help of the GPS on Gretchen’s phone, Thelma braved the freeway and drove them farther north, to a secluded place near Hollywood that had been popular when dating both Sandy and Bill.

Every cool kid with someone to smooch came up around here.

Thelma did not doubt that “the Overlook,” as it had been called back then, had changed a lot in the modern world, if it even still existed.

GPS said it did. But, indeed, there were signs indicating that few people came here for the type of “privacy” that popped into Thelma’s head when she thought of “Lovers’ Lane. ”

Still, she parked the Impala in a prime spot and got out with Gretchen close behind. The light pollution was bright enough for her to watch her step as she neared the guardrail separating her from an impressive view of the city.

“Wow. I had no idea this was here.” Gretchen sat with her on the hood of the car, still warm. “And we didn’t have to hike a bunch in a closed park.”

“You make it sound like you know something about trespassing.”

“Even though I grew up in Van Nuys, I spent a lot of summers at my other aunt’s place up near Eureka.

Got me out of the city and away from the air, you know?

Spend some time near the beach.” Gretchen shifted on the hood of the Impala, making herself more comfortable.

“That’s where I made out with a girl for the first time. Out in some damn farmer’s field.”

“You’re kidding!” Thelma exclaimed. “Look at you! Getting frisky at, what, fifteen?”

“Fifteen? No way. More like seventeen.”

“Oh, well, excuse me.”

“Ironically enough, she was the daughter of my aunt’s neighbor. Very influential on me.”

“Did you do more than ‘make out?’”

“Well, now, that depends on your definition. Especially at seventeen.”

“Oh, my, at seventeen I barely knew what I wanted! That was for college.”

“Yeah, don’t worry, I didn’t get more action until twenty. But I rode that high for three years.”

Thelma almost rolled off her car, laughing.

“How about you? Where did you kiss your first girl?”

“Same time I first kissed anyone. College. Her dorm room.”

“Naughty, Thelma.”

“Wasn’t I, though? Of course, it didn’t feel naughty to me. I was quite in the moment and feeling like a young, free thing. I didn’t sense a shred of guilt until I was alone later. And only because of all the strange messages I was raised with. My culture was quite… prudish. And homophobic.”

“I’m sure it was. Sorry you had to deal with that.”

“It was what I knew. I never thought I’d live somewhere I could sit here with another woman and so openly think about kissing her.”

She wished she could see more of Gretchen’s profile in the dark, but what she did see when her date ran a hand through her hair and tittered was perfect. “Yeah?” Gretchen cleared her throat and redonned her confident posture. “So, you’re still thinking about kissing me?”

“I haven’t stopped.”

This time, when Gretchen came in with ready lips, Thelma was there to greet her.