[2013] Life II Read online

  “Well, good luck with medical school,” Garfield said, sighing. “Dude, I always thought we’d go to UBC together.”

  We did, Max’s mind muttered. But that was in Life I.

  “Well, uh, I still hope you’ll come to UBC someday,” Garfield winced, shoving his hands in his pockets. Max sympathized. He knew Garfield had decided not to attend university—at least not yet. For now, he’d continue to work for his father. And this greatly bothered Max.

  The lives of others in my life aren’t unfolding as they should have, he thought, his eyes drawn again and again to Garfield’s face. Max could feel the dull pressure of confusion pounding at his temples.

  He brushed it out of his mind.

  Garfield extended his hand. “I’m gonna miss you. I’ll try to come and visit.” Then he and his mom climbed in her car and departed.

  Max stared blankly at the chugging auto until it disappeared out of sight.

  “Well,” Nathan grinned, placing his hands on his hips. “This is it.”

  “Yup,” Max said, realizing a major fork had been reached in his new future. He’d never lived in Calgary, nor gone to medical school. The path was laid. Nathan would be his guide here, in his new life. With Nathan’s smarts, old boys network, good money background, and feverish devotion to his medical career—hell, practically all of Nathan’s family consisted of doctors or doctors-to-be—Max was on track to make Life II the path he’d always wanted.

  They’d picked an airy, clean second floor apartment of a three-level brick building near the University of Calgary. Max wasn’t sure he wanted to re-live his college days for a second time. Living at home the past two years of his new life, strangely enough, had been okay; he’d enjoyed living with his family again, seeing it as one big family reunion without the constraints of the past. But this was different.

  This is why I’m here. This is going to be worth all my sweat and hard work.

  Their excitement breaking out, they climbed the stairs and took another quick tour of the apartment unit, now crowded with dozens of crammed boxes.

  My new home, Max thought.

  “Let’s party!” Nathan yelled, heading back to the front door, keys in hand.

  “Huh?”

  “We’re here now, man, c’mon, let’s not waste any time. The nightlife’s calling out to us. All the girls are waiting!”

  “Nathan—whoa, hold on, it’s only two o’clock.”

  Nathan lifted a brow. “So? Let’s go.”

  “Shouldn’t we unpack first?”

  His friend waved his left hand in a dismissive gesture. “Come on, Max, live in the moment. School doesn’t start until Tuesday.” He was already heading toward the stairs as he spoke.

  Max sighed to himself.

  I am too old for this. But then he quickly looked down at his supple body and reminded himself of his actual age.

  Live your new life the way you were meant to.

  Max felt goosebumps. He drew breath, cleared his throat, then ran after Nathan, their arms slung around each other’s necks like two drunken chums coming home from the neighborhood tavern as they descended the stairs.

  “What the hell!” Max grunted. “Par-tyyy!”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  September 9, 1989 at 10:23 a.m.

  “God, Nathan! Slow down, what’s the rush!?”

  The sound of a frantic female voice woke Max, intruding on his drunken stupor loudly and clearly. For a minute he didn’t even know where he was. He fumbled to move his hands around and decided he was sprawled out underneath a duvet on a bare mattress on the floor. Spit bubbled at the corners of his mouth. He rolled over and sniffed the air and picked up on the scent of bacon, eggs, and toast.

  Somebody’s cooking breakfast.

  Max heard Nathan’s brusque voice: “You’ve got to go. I’ve got stuff to do today.”

  “Seriously? You’re cooking breakfast for your roommate and not for me?” the girl shrieked.

  Nathan dropped a piece of toast and a slice of bacon on a paper plate and handed it to her. “Here you go,” he said, smirking.

  “You’re a pig, Nathan. I’m going to tell Amanda about this,” the girl grumbled. Max heard a scuffling noise that faded away, then the slamming of the front door.

  He groaned and tried to focus on where he was. Oh, right, the University of Calgary. Pre-med school. He was in his new apartment and hadn’t unpacked a thing. Within the bleak room, he gazed up at the ceiling, and then at his still-bare furniture, consisting of a bookcase, a study desk, and a floor lamp.

  His head pounded from the festivities of last night. They’d found a group of like-minded students, some of whom were also studying science and a few from the football team, and agreed to do a pub crawl. Big mistake, blearily thought Max. They followed the well-trodden path of the city’s most notorious pubs. Hours later, in a slobbery, drunken stagger, they’d stumbled back up the stairs, a girl majoring in English on Nathan’s arm whose breasts were tumbling out of her shirt. Did they actually visit fourteen pubs? Max couldn’t remember. His hair this morning felt like a burning bush.

  Max lifted himself up off his mattress and crawled across the floor for his bathrobe. Groggy and foggy didn’t even describe how he felt. He stumbled down the hall—startled when he saw his own face in the cracked hallway mirror—and slammed into the kitchen, following the trail of bacon and eggs.

  Nathan was in his underwear, making a gourmet breakfast. He flipped a few pancakes as Max walked in, rubbing his eyes with his knuckles.

  “Look what the cat dragged in,” Nathan called out sarcastically.

  Little by little a frozen grin surfaced on Max’s face. He jerked a thumb at the door. “Who was that?”

  “Who was what?”

  “I heard a girl.”

  “Oh. Her,” Nathan said with a shrug. “She was here. Now she’s gone. ‘Nuff said. Grab a plate and have a seat.”

  Max nodded blankly. He grabbed a greasy, unwashed dish out of the sink, then snatched up the carton of orange juice from the fridge. He mumbled to himself, wondering what to say.

  Should I say something now? It’s Life II; I want this to go smoothly. I shouldn’t rock the boat. But….

  Then Max stared back at his reflection in the hallway mirror, and shuddered. “You must’ve had about ten drinks last night,” he said, running a hand through his tangled hair.

  “So?”

  “So why don’t you feel like shit?”

  Nathan chuckled. “Come on, dude, eat,” he said, and pulled up a chair.

  This is still the beginning of Life II. Don’t upset the flow of time.

  Suddenly Max felt like a creep. Nathan was a key part of the dream of being a medical doctor. For God’s sake, he worked hard getting them this apartment, and cooked breakfast too.

  Still… there was something… not right.

  Max glanced across the table and sized up his roommate. Sure, Nathan still possessed those boyish charms that won over the girls in high school. No doubt he was going to put them to the test at university, as well. He was fit and athletic and his tussled blond hair only added to his mischievous aura.

  “Look, man,” Nathan said, as he gobbled up pancakes, “Let’s go over your planned schedule.”

  Max stumbled back to the couch, dug around, dragging out a rumbled copy of his schedule. He handed it over and watched as Nathan looked over it, nodding his head as he read. Suddenly he frowned. “Whoa, what’s this?” he asked, “You’re taking an arts course?”

  “Yeah, why not?”

  Nathan’s eyes widened. “Drawing?”

  Max nodded.

  “Why?”

  “What do you mean, why? It’s an elective.”

  “Damn it, I know that. But why art? Why not something like, you know, psychology? Something medical related?”

  “I have my reasons,” Max said, trying to stave back the emotions that always swelled within him whenever he thought about Angela and Brandon. He spun around, attempting to hi
de an awkward moment. He had longed to take art, so that he could render realistic drawings of his two vanquished children, before his memories faded away. He had made it into university, and it was now or never before pre-med started to burden him to the point where his few remaining precious minutes ran out, like a sinkful down the drain.

  Nathan didn’t seem to notice, but still pressed. “Listen, all our classes are the same, except for this dumb art course. If you’re worried about getting good grades…”

  “Dude, back off,” Max shot back, snatching away his schedule. “I just want to take art. That’s all.”

  Nathan squinted, as though he was thinking through his next move. “Ohhhhh-kay. Got it.” He nodded to himself, trying to justify his retreat.

  “Besides,” Max chuckled, “art could be good for anatomy.”

  Nathan suddenly beamed. “Anatomy! And that means naked chicks. Got it!” he winked, and patted Max on the back firmly. “Good. Good.”

  Here we go.

  Max took a deep breath. He looked at Nathan shamefacedly, embarrassed that he’d lied.

  A voice in the back of his brain said, Stop it. Stop freaking yourself out. But as he thought ahead, his heartbeat quickened. A new chapter in Life II was about to begin.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  January 16, 1990 at 11:09 a.m.

  “Do you have an Abigail Martin here?” Max asked the clerk behind the counter at the student housing office at the University of Guelph.

  The clerk checked his files. “She was here last year,” he replied. “But not this year.”

  Max’s heart skipped a beat. “Do you know where she is now?”

  “Nope.”

  Ugh. Max next tried his luck at the kinesiology department. Another counter, another clerk.

  “Do you have an Abigail Martin here?”

  The clerk eyed him unsympathetically. “We do not pass out private information.”

  “Okay, do you have the class schedule?”

  “All the class schedules are posted on the door.”

  “What door?”

  “The door of every kinesiology classroom.”

  Max felt a spark of hope. “Where are these classrooms?”

  The clerk whipped out a campus map. “Here,” she circled one of the buildings, “McNabb Building.”

  Max practically ran off with the paper. Outside it was freezing, and he was wearing a plain ski jacket and boots. He stormed and sloshed through the snow, losing his footing, as there had been a small blizzard the night before, and the university hadn’t yet cleared the paths. He’d taken the plane to Toronto, then the bus to Guelph, an hour ride. All the while one simple word rebounded over and over in his brain.

  Abby.

  She was one year older than him and had attended the University of Guelph before moving to Vancouver to pursue a job opportunity at a sports injury clinic. They’d met through a private party hosted by Max’s friends a few years after she’d moved.

  Abby.

  Max looked for McNabb Sciences Building, breaking into a run every time he saw a new building. He found the front entrance and ran inside. After searching the main floor, he realized there were no classrooms, just displays and directions. He hustled up the stairs to the second floor, scooting past the students strolling by.

  Abby.

  Abby…

  Max’s pulse quickened. He was about to see Abby seven years before they’d first met—and he wasn’t sure if that was the right thing to do. What if I’m too early? What if because I’ve screwed around with the timeline, that Abby’s changed her mind about pursuing a career on the other side of the country? Then she wouldn’t meet Max in Vancouver, and she wouldn’t go on to become the mother of Angela and Brandon. And that would mean… But Max couldn’t allow his mind to go there. And he could no longer hold back his impatience. The future was eating away at him. Besides, with the future not exactly unfolding as it should—his grandmother having died two years earlier than she did in Life I—and Selwyn still alive and kicking—did it really make a difference? The future was going to unfold the way it was going to unfold, now that he’d tampered with it, and he was just going to have to use his judgment.

  For Chrissake, he thought, just stop it, stop thinking about dead people, and the people you’ve left behind in Life I. Holy crap, Max, cut it out!

  “Hey bro, you okay?”

  Max was startled as he realized he’d bumped into another guy. “Sorry!” squeaked out of his throat and he jumped, turning his eyes back to the corridor. No, he confirmed as he broke into a running walk on the second floor, I’ve got to do it now. He was going to at least take a peek at Abby, as a 19-year-old sophomore.

  If he could find her.

  It might not be easy to find her.

  Max stopped by several classrooms. He scanned the schedules posted on each door. He peered into each room. No luck. Shit! He looked at his watch. It was nearly lunch. He’d have to find a bite to eat, maybe on a lucky hunch find Abby in the cafeteria, and if not then go back to searching.

  Time to find the cafeteria. He plowed back through the snow, still uncleared on the paths. He found it best to jump from one spot to another along the foot-trodden paths.

  Peering to one side, he spotted a female student strolling by herself under an open-air hallway. He did a double take. Wait, isn’t that…? There was no mistaking the high cheekbones, the arched eyebrows, the brown eyes, and the small mouth. Her dark brown hair was done in a brushed-back style, ending at her shoulders.

  Max plowed through a snowbank, tripped over his own two feet, and dashed up the icy sidewalk toward her.

  “Abby!” he cried out in excitement.

  She turned toward the sudden source of the sound, confusion dancing across her face.

  “Abby!!” Max cried out again. He ran straight to her with a huge smile. She stood still, tilting her head at him with a puzzled expression.

  Max’s eyes gleamed at her. All of the pain, hurt, arguments, and misunderstandings that compromised their years of marriage in Life I were suddenly shunted to the back of his mind as he took her in. She was young, pretty, and so full of life. His heart beat an extra beat as he stood near her for the “first” time, even though it was the millionth time. How had they lost their spark and desire for each other, and allowed it to be buried under the constant pounding of responsibilities, bills, mortgages, and parenting?

  Max felt himself blush, even in the biting cold. He tried desperately to assemble his thoughts. He marveled at how, without her glasses, Abby was truly beautiful. So natural. Almost delicate. Jeez…

  Abby stared at him, curious.

  Did she somehow recognize him?

  He didn’t know what to say. He knew her, but she didn’t know him. Should I reveal that I know her? Or pretend that I’m lost? Or ask her for a date? He’d thought of several approaches in the last few days, but none of them seemed quite right.

  But Abby was here now. He had to say something. She was standing in front of him.

  “Yes?” Abby searched his face. No, she doesn’t recognize me. Max went limp for a moment. Then his brain registered his good fortune.This was exactly what he’d hoped for. Awesome!

  Speechlessly Max stood before her trying to open the conversation.

  “Uh, I’m lost,” Max said, letting out a huffed breath. “Do you know where the McNabb Building is?”

  Abby squinted at Max, then pointed to the right. “It’s that way.”

  “Uh. Okay. Thanks, Abby,” Max said, knowing he had to break off eye contact now. But the emotion of meeting her again surprised him.

  Abby narrowed her eyes at him. “How do you know my name?”

  “Um,” Max blurted out, his mind racing. “Just lucky. Bye!” and off he ran in the direction that Abby had pointed.

  He whisked himself out of sight at the corner of the building, and breathed heavily for a few moments. He knew he had to wait a few seconds, to give himself a second chance to trail Abby.

 
; He dared himself to look around the corner. Abby was walking off in the direction she was headed originally, carrying her backpack. She strolled past another building and was about to disappear around the corner, so Max moved out of his hiding spot and trailed her. He watched her cross over to what appeared to be the student center. Have to hurry. If she goes inside it’ll be too easy to lose her. He fought off an irrational feeling of panic; if he lost sight of her for one second, he might never find her again.

  He forced himself to focus. Upon entering the student center, he saw her heading up concrete stairs. He followed carefully, always making sure she couldn’t look back easily and spot him. At the top of the stairs, he saw her entering the cafeteria. She took off her backpack, placed it beside her tray, and ordered food.

  Good, Max thought. She intended to have a full lunch, and should remain there for some time. He picked up a student magazine in a nearby rack and pretended to read it, burying his face in the pages.

  But Abby was never far from his thoughts. She was right here, across the room. Max kept his eyes scanning up from the magazine pages to fix on her. After he read the article, he cautiously walked into the cafeteria to make sure she was there. No sign of her. Holy crap. He desperately scanned the seating area from behind one of the partitions. There were dozens of students there, scattered among row upon row of tables. He had to look slowly for about half a minute until he spotted her. She was sitting at a large round table, with a cheeseburger and French fries and a large Coke in front of her. She was chatting with three guys and two girls seated at her table.

  Max studied the scene. What to do now? The food was going fast and he figured they’d all be leaving in another minute. He kept gazing at Abby, hoping she wouldn’t see him—she was facing slightly askew of him, and would only notice him if she moved her head sideways to the right.

  Max kept on observing the group, unable to think rationally. He kept prompting himself, think! Do something. Come on, Max! You’ve had twenty years to get ready for this moment! But he, helpless, watched as the group chatted among themselves.

  His nerves spiked when he saw one of the young men get up and leave the table. Would the rest of the group follow? But Max noticed that the dude did not pick up his tray. Wait and see. The guy also didn’t put on his jacket, so Max assumed he was coming back to the table. He was a slightly short, well-built guy who wore a simple blue T-shirt and jeans. Max watched as he re-entered the cafeteria, picked up a piece of cake, and put it on a small plate. Max knew the guy would soon walk up to the cashier to pay, so he quickly approached him.