Merritt was at the station when the bus from Vicksburg arrived. Emma was one of the first to come into the terminal. She saw him almost at once and approached.
“I wasn’t expecting to see you here…”
Merritt smiled. “I was hoping to find you.”
Emma moved closer and put down her suitcase. “What’s going on?”
Merritt shook his head and shrugged. “Which Emma…?”
“I was born in 1965… Just got back from 1880… You?”
“1960. It was November last night.”
Emma nodded. “Same for me… I guess we shifted somehow different this time.”
Merritt sensed her move slightly closer and she reached for his hand. He let her take it.
“Last night you and me decided we’re a couple… You wanted to kiss me…”
Merritt squeezed her hand. “First, last, only… Forever?”
Emma’s eyes bulged. “Oh… Merritt… Yes, and you said, ‘Forever sounds perfect.”
Merritt nodded his head. “What’s happening?”
Emma smiled and shrugged.
They took her suitcase back to the Peabody, then decided to walk around and find something to eat. They talked about the turn in relationships between them.
“What about you, Hannah, and me in 1880?”
“There have been changes… we’ve not done that for a while. Now, it’s just us two and we’re a lot closer. And last night… I guess we made it official. We are, as they say in 1880, courting.” She paused and then added, “Merrett, are we… the same… like you and Hannah thought? Are you the man I let kiss me last night?”
Merritt did not know. He was trying to answer when a voice called out.
“Merritt Gray? Emma Knox?”
They both turned to find a confused Tom Jenkins looking at them.
“Tom Jenkins,” Merritt said. “Theater business, right?”
“Yeah…” Tom shook his head. “I’m here to look at the Orpheum remodel. I had a strange letter waiting for me at the hotel. How did you know? What’s going on?”
Merritt and Emma explained about time traveling, and Merritt said, “This is our second time through July 4th. It was November 16 when we went to bed last night. I was in 2024.”
“I was in 1880 last night,” Emmm added.
“So, you came here to look at the remodel, and found some strange letter?”
“Yeah…” Tom looked at the Orpheum. “I have a couple of off-Broadway properties… and… Well, I have an idea for a different kind of theater I want to try, some day.”
Merritt shook his head. “Let me guess… Historical dramas… a venue with multiple stages each having a different historical vignette. The audience moves through the venue and interacts with the actors?”
Tom stared, dumbfounded. “How?”
“2024… It’s pretty successful. It opened this summer… I mean… summer of 2024… A version of Emma is one of your actors?”
“It worked? I mean… it will work?”
“Definitely. By 2024, you’re a successful theater manager and you have other businesses, too.”
“I can’t believe this is true…”
“You should try going to bed and waking up 144 years later… or earlier, for that matter…” Emma shrugged.
Merritt and Emma talked about their experiences. Tom asked a lot of questions.
Finally he got back to the letters. “Well, it fits with what happened to me… I had a strange letter waiting for me at the hotel. It was sent weeks before I decided to come to Memphis. So, maybe that fits all this time travel… stuff… But, in it was a letter for you… Here…”
Emma took the letter. “Greetings. The word you’re looking for is not ‘shifted.’ It is ‘split,’ or more accurately, ‘division.’ Be patient. You’ll figure out what to do.”
“Makes no sense to me,” Tom said.
“Yeah, makes no sense to me either,” Emma replied.
“I have no clue…” Merritt added.
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