Page 11 of Shifting Years (Whispering Hills #5)

I dropped Mike off at the town's edge, and Donna would soon follow in her own way, out of my life forever. Options raced through my mind, from subtle hints to blunt, civil ways to break it off. Nothing sounded like it would work. How could it? She was my girl with expectations and no reality.

My hands slid over my face.

Vietnam… that's the answer. Despite Mike's know-it-all insults, I didn't like war, but it's necessary. We'd go over there, bloody the Russkies' nose, and if I died, I wouldn't have any other problems. If I lived, I'd stay overseas.

Richie Valens' slow song Donna played in my head. I wish I could forget that tune and she'd forget about me.

I drove to the brick house with two tall trees and a short shadowy figure stood a few houses away. Their hard muscles tensed from the approaching police car, then relaxed. I parked and hurried out, whisper-screaming, "What in the hell are you doing here, Mike?"

"I don't know man."

"That's not an answer." God, I sound like my father.

He slid his hands into his pockets and gestured to Donna's home. "I told myself I'd tell her. You have this need to protect me, and it feels like I should save you from her anger like I was needed here."

Rage should have filled me. He nearly spilled a life-changing secret. Instead, I held him close without thinking and kissed his head. Reality set in, and I stepped back, my fingers brushing over his arm. In another life, I could hold him forever.

He continued. "Then I decided I didn't know what to do." He smiled slightly. "There are no books about us… well, besides the kind policemen flush down the toilet."

He had broken-heart eyes and I'd see it twice this evening. "Go, Mike, it's over," I said gently. "Go find someone who's crazy about you. That's my wish. I hope he wants you so much he'll never let you go."

He frowned as if disagreeing. "I think I'll head south to Dallas or New York.

Both are horrible summer towns, and I feel like being miserable in the heat.

" He turned and thoughts of us imagining a life together melted away.

"For what it's worth, I'm glad I saw you one more time, even if you're an uptight square.

" He smiled at the last part and reached into his backpack.

Soon a small white paper tab with a cartoon mouse in an airtight plastic bag rested in my hand.

"LSD," I said slowly.

"Take it one day and put on some real music like The Doors, Byrds, or Beatles. None of that twangy country stuff you like." He smiled at the tab. "Don't throw it away because something tells me you'll need it. Call it ESP or a hunch. If you can't do it soon, keep it sealed and in a dark place."

He turned, hurrying to beat the sundown deadline, or so I wouldn't see his tears.

I fisted my hand around the LSD tab. In another life, we could be together. The sixties weren't kind to gay people, and I doubt the seventies will be better. Maybe the eighties.

I shuffled down the sidewalk, passing houses until I reached Donna's.

Two tall trees in their yard would have held a banner for a wedding, but it'll never come.

The large oak door jerked open before I could knock.

Donna stood in the doorway, a headband holding her blonde hair back.

The light was dim, but the narrow-eyed look wasn't something I'd ever seen before.

"Hi. Can we go somewhere? Just you and me?"

The honey-sweet voice was gone, replaced by a hoarseness as if she had been coughing. "You hardly ever ask to be alone with me! What's so special now?"

She always asked me to touch her more, and manners said I should rest my hand on her shoulder. Yet, now it seemed wrong. She got tired of waiting or knew I wasn't into the wedding. She's not mine and never was, so it was time to make it official.

"I'm signing up early. You deserve someone who won't be away." My chest tightened. I did love her so much, but not in that way. More than a friend or sister, but short of a wife.

Donna, the girl who went along with everything, hissed, "That's not it, because I saw you… watched you with him. "

She couldn't have seen us in the forest, the alley, or the abandoned store but…

"Outside my house, right now." Her jaw trembled. "It makes sense. Everything does now, because you touch him like you don't touch me." She stabbed a finger in my direction. "You didn't kiss him on the lips just now, but I know you have. All you have to do is hold him and it's so obvious."

Her voice rose. "Who are you? You did everything you wouldn't do with me."

After a hard swallow, I nodded. Men had surrounded us in the bar, demanding we prove we weren't the police. Yet, we did more together alone, and I'd wear this guilt until my final days. I did all the things she listed.

"I'm sorry."

She repeated my words as a scream. "That's all you got? I imagined our special day because I wanted a life with you and you never wanted one with me. I'm a fool in love with someone I never knew. Even now, I don't know you!"

The wind howled with her screams. "I don't know you, and I never did." She shook more as if having a fit or jolted with electricity. "I don't know you, Todd."

Those five words repeated like a skipping record as the wind rose and whipped around like a tornado, knocking branches from the dual trees.

I huddled over her, shielding her from the worst as they slammed and poked into my back and neck.

To the right, their front window shattered but the sound muffled in the train-engine level noise.

As suddenly as the storm came, it left.

Donna slipped out of my arms and her parents rushed out.

Her mom had short blonde hair and wore a plaid dress.

Her dad had thick glasses like my father and still had his brown work suit.

They were a short couple and generally good-natured, but not today.

I was on the sidewalk, grabbing their screaming daughter.

"Who are you?" she yelled while glancing at freshly snapped branches and broken glass. Her blue eyes grew wide with terror. "Mom, Dad! There's a strange boy here."

Her parents glanced at each other and a familiar police car siren blared once. Donna's mother brushed her daughter's blonde hair back. "Sweetie, that's Todd! Your fiancé."

We never made it official, but wedding plans were obvious to everyone, except the groom and now the bride.

"I never met this boy before in my life. I don't know him."

My dad must have followed. He squeezed my shoulder and yanked me back. The lawman with political ambitions hissed in my ear, "Did you give her anything?" I shook my head no, and he turned to her, checking for injuries and examining her eyes.

After confirming I hadn't hurt Donna and checking the scratches on my back, he yanked me aside. A white, blaring ambulance arrived and soon took her away. Donna's parents glared with a cold stare, accusing me of something they couldn't understand.

We drove home in silence, and my father led me to the bedroom. "Get your stuff. You're an adult and the law says I'm done." Mom would have said something, but she was away 'visiting relatives' again.

He pulled several crisp twenties from his wallet. It wasn't generosity but to ensure I'd leave. "Go to the station and find a recruiter in another town. They'll make a man out of you, and not the other kind."

I didn't think I could see more disappointment in his light-blue eyes, but I did. "There's one reason you didn't report anything in those bars."

"At least someone wants to be around me. Say goodbye to Mom. You know, your wife. "

I expected a punch, but he insisted I leave in twenty minutes. To my relief, he'd check on Donna. Another man might have fought more, but what was the point? It might lead to a fistfight and hitting the sheriff was beyond stupid.

As promised, I was at a station, alone, and with no Mike. I thought he might be here, but I missed him. Something inside said I had the chance for something long-lasting, and I wouldn't find it for years.

After verifying nobody saw him and that he hadn't been jailed, I stared at a map of the United States. He wasn't here, but his spirit could go with me. All my plans led to nothing. It was time to go and do something Todd would want, but what?

I had the answer: to be away from my father and have Donna forget about me.

I got my wish.

***

"Did you do that?" Kim made a popping motion near his head.

I swallowed, thinking of the debates over the years. "Every wolf gets an extra power, right?"

Mike handed him a sugar cube for his tea before he asked for it. "I know what people need."

"What do I need?"

"To listen," I answered. Mike shrugged as if to say I wasn't wrong. "I don't know if I caused Donna's memory loss. There have been coincidences through the years and sometimes I got my wish but in a twisted way. There's no other obvious power."

"Wolves tend to get their other gift when they're older and it's got a specific, narrow use," argued Mike. "No shifter has Tina and Dawn's ability."

"I don't make wishes anymore," I said and turned to Mike. "I wished you would find someone who never wanted to let you go. Even Vietnam—" Sweltering jungle heat came with a blinding headache. A dank swamp smell from thousands of miles away returned.

"Rodriquez, Cooper, Bobby—"

"Breathe, Love," whispered Mike as he eased me to the ground. My Omega patted my back. I forced images of young eighteen-year-old boys in green uniforms away. We were kids. Babies.

I concentrated on breathing and Mike's grip.

"This is where most pups ask what's next," said Mike. "Well, time went on. It was a hot summer, and the sixties disappeared forever. Charles Manson and his followers made sure of that."

Now it was my turn to squeeze back. That decade was special to him, and it ended in blood and war. All the social changes they thought they'd see never happened.

Mike's eyes shone while he remembered.

"I hitchhiked around the country," I said to change the subject.

"He was trying to be like me," said my Omega with a slight smile. "We kind of reversed."

"Like politics?"

"No." Mike said the next part carefully. "Todd, uh, lost a girl. I found one I could love and her girlfriend."

***