Stepping into the Sky: Jump When Ready, Book 3 by David Pandolfe

wishes?”
    A moment later, Rose turned the key in the ignition and
backed down the driveway. Everything was going to be fine now. She was being
silly, she knew, but she’d read stories in Readers Digest about women
having premonitions. “Intuition” was the word they often used but it amounted
to the same thing. There’d been one really sad story about a woman who’d
imagined seeing her son standing in her bedroom one morning months after he’d
been sent to Korea. He’d just appeared there suddenly, wearing his uniform,
staring back at her and not saying a word. The next day, the woman learned
that—
    “Rose!”
    A horn blasted and tires squealed. Rose stomped on the
brake, realizing only now that she’d backed into the street without looking.
    “What’s gotten into you today?”
    “I… I don’t know.” She looked into the rearview mirror
and saw the other car. Whoever it was had veered off the road to avoid hitting
her.
    Joseph turned to look. “They’re fine. Just keep going.”
    “Shouldn’t we… I mean, I should apologize. Don’t you
think?”
    Joseph stared at her, his eyes cold. “They shouldn’t be
here.”
    Rose understood why he’d be angry. After all, she’d
almost caused an accident. Still, it seemed rude to just drive off without
saying anything. Rose opened the door to get out of the car and Joseph grabbed
her arm.
    “You don’t know them,” he said.
    Rose had never seen that kind of darkness in his eyes
before. Nothing even close and it scared her. “Honey, you’re hurting me.” She
yanked her arm free and walked toward the street. What was wrong with him?
Maybe he’d stayed up half the night with his friends. He was probably just
tired.
    The other driver got out of his car and Rose knew right
off that she’d never seen him in the neighborhood before. Part of her
understood Joseph’s reaction now. There weren’t any cut-through roads in this
part of town. On the Cliffs, everyone knew each other. What was he doing here?
A young woman got out too. Chinese? Japanese? Rose had no idea but she’d
definitely never seen her around either. Still, Rose told herself not to be a
snob. Maybe they had no business being here but that didn’t mean she shouldn’t
acknowledge her mistake.
    “I’m so sorry,” Rose said. “I wasn’t watching where I was
going. I just backed right out of the driveway.”
    Whoever he was, he hesitated, as if confused about
something. Then he smiled. “I don’t know. That might have been me. We were
talking. I probably should have been paying better attention.”
    Rose took a closer look at him. He looked to be about
Joseph’s age. His brown eyes showed no concern over what had just happened.
Almost happened, Rose reminded herself, trying to get past her own
embarrassment. She noticed his hair, that it was thick and dark and that he
wore it a little longer, more in the fashion she’d been wondering about earlier
for Joseph.
    He smiled again, watching her, waiting for her to say
something.
    Rose’s face grew warm and she realized she’d been
staring. “Not at all. I’m so sorry. I was distracted.”
    He took a step closer and offered his hand. “I’m Henry.”
He gestured to the girl next to him. “This is Nikki.”
    Nikki offered her hand and Rose noticed the ring
immediately. In the past she might not have, but these days she recognized a
finely cut diamond when she saw one.
    Nikki shook Rose’s hand, her face lighting up in a smile.
“Henry and I just moved in down the street.”
    Down the street? Nothing changed here, ever. It hadn’t
for as long as Rose could remember.
    “The Tudor,” Nikki said. “Kind of an old clunker but
we’re thinking we can pull it up.”
    Rose remembered it then, a house that had become so
familiar that she’d forgotten about it even being there. It had belonged to an
old couple, the Morgans. She’d known them once, she realized. But hadn’t they
died long ago?
    Suddenly, Joseph stood beside her. He stepped