Time and Again

interior of the cabin. Bored, she resorted to drawing caricatures.
    Jacob read incessantly, and he'd taken to scribbling in a spiral notebook he'd dug out of some drawer.
    When Sunny asked him if he was preparing for an experiment, he made noncommittal noises. When she pressed him, he simply pulled her into his lap and made her forget to ask questions.
    They lost power twice, and they made love as frequently as they argued. Which was often.
    Sunny was certain, when she caught herself making the bed for lack of anything better to occupy her time, that if they didn't do something they would both find themselves in a home for the gently deranged.
    Leaving the bed half-made, she sprinted to the top of the stairs. "J.T."
    He was currently trying to keep himself sane by building a city of cards. "What?"
    "Let's drive to Portland."
    Jacob's attention was fixed on a particularly intricate arrangement. He thought the structure was beginning to resemble the skyline on Omega II.
    "J.T."
    "Yeah." With fingers that were rock-steady, he added another card.
    "I guess it's too late," Sunny murmured, and sat down to the west of the city. "He's already gone around the bend."
    "Do we have any more of these?"
    She sighed at his dwindling stack of cards. "Nope."
    "I was thinking of a bridge."
    "Think shock therapy."
    "Or maybe a skybelt."
    "A what?"
    He caught himself and put another card in place. "Nothing. My mind was wandering."
    She snickered. "What's left of it."
    "You were saying?"
    "I was saying let's get out of Dodge."
    "I thought Medford was the closest town."
    She opened her mouth, closed it again. "Sometimes," she said at last, "I'm not sure if you belong on the same planet with the rest of us."
    "It's the right planet." A portion of his pasteboard roof fluttered. "Breathe the other way, will you?"
    "Jacob. If you could spare a moment of your valuable time."
    He glanced up then, and he had to smile. "You have the sexiest pout I've ever seen."
    "I don't pout." When she caught herself doing just that, she hissed between her teeth and blew down a building.
    "You've just murdered thousands of innocent people."
    "There's only one person I'm going to murder." Desperate, she grabbed a handful of his sweater. "J.T., if I don't get out of here I'm going to start bouncing off the walls."
    "Can you do that?"
    "Just watch me." She leaned closer. "Portland. People, traffic, restaurants."
    "When do you want to leave?"
    With a huff, she sat back again. "You were listening."
    "Of course I was listening. I always listen. When do you want to leave?"
    "A week ago. Now. I can be ready in ten minutes."
    She sprang up. Though Jacob winced when his city collapsed, he rose with her. "What about the snow?"
    "It hasn't snowed for three days. Besides, we have four-wheel drive. If we can get to Route 5, we're home free."
    The thought of getting out nearly made him forget his priorities. "And if Cal comes back?"
    She was all but dancing with impatience. "They're not due back for a couple of weeks. Anyway, they live here." Carelessly she stepped on his demolished city. "J.T., think carefully. Do you really want to see a grown woman turn into a raving lunatic?"
    "Maybe." Taking her by the hips, he pulled her intimately close. "I like it when you rave."
    "Then prepare to enjoy yourself."
    "I am." He dragged her to the floor.
    She argued-briefly. "I'm going," she said, undoing the buttons of her flannel shut.
    "Okay."
    "I mean it."
    "Right." He tugged the plain white undershirt over her head.
    She struggled but couldn't prevent her lips from curving. Giving up, she helped him off with his sweater.
    "And so are you."
    "As soon as you're finished raving," he promised, then closed his mouth over hers.
    ...
    Sunny threw a small bag into the back of the Land Rover. She'd taken time to grab a toothbrush, a hairbrush, her favorite camisole and a lipstick. "In case we have to stop on the way," she explained.
    "Why would we?"
    "I don't know how long it's going to take us to get out of the mountains." She settled in the driver's seat.
    "It's about five hours after that."
    Five hours. It took them five hours to get from one part of a single state to another. For the past few days he'd nearly forgotten how different things were.
    She shot him a look, eyes bright, lips curved. "Ready?"
    "Sure."
    It was difficult not to stare as she turned a small key and sent the combustion engine roaring. He could feel the vibration through the floorboards. A few small adjustments, he