Glimpse (The Tesla Effect Book 1) (26 page)

“We’re going to get food,” Malcolm said, and he and Bizzy left, too.

“I’m certainly not hanging out with you wall flowers,” Beckett said dismissively and made a straight line for a group of young men in tuxes that looked, collectively, like a Ralph Lauren
ad. Every last one of them turned to watch Beckett approach, and she was surrounded in just under twenty seconds.

“Well, that leaves us,” Finn said cheerfully.
He grabbed Tesla’s forearm and headed toward the nearest table with her in tow.

“I guess,” she said lightly.
She had sworn to try to match his cool, noncommittal tone.

“Are you okay now?” he asked quietly as they sat down. “Leaving the photos with Sam? You were kind of freaked out yesterday.”

At Dodie’s yesterday—was it only yesterday?—she had explained to Sam and Finn about the déjà vu she’d experienced when she looked at the photos on her phone, and her realization that these were the very same photographs that had arrived for her father’s birthday, in an album, only a few days ago. Photographs that no one remembered. She couldn’t get her mind around it. The photos were of Tesla and her family, eight years ago. She and Max were little kids then. Her mother had been alive. And none of them had remembered the photos when they’d arrived a few days ago, because they
hadn’t yet been taken
. It had all become just a little much, what with future events that were actually past events, and the past that now happened in the present when they jumped back in time.

“Yeah, I guess I’m okay with it,” she answered hesitantly. “I’m not really sure what choice I had.”

“Good,” Finn said. “We all agreed that what we do now can affect the past, which can then change the future, and that sort of obligates us to make what has already happened, happen.”

“Yeah, I know,” she said. “But doesn’t it bother you? I mean, this is a pretty simple, insignificant example of that. My dad got the photo album a few days ago in our present time, and since then
we’ve travelled back, and it turns out I took the photos, and so I left Sam the pictures, back in the past. I bought the album, gave him money and my future address and the date for him to ship them, from me. I even described the picture of my mother in her lab, the last one in the album, and asked him to take that picture and include it. That guarantees that the future event of my dad’s birthday—the one that happened a few days ago—will happen the same way it’s already happened.”

“It’s almost impossible to even talk about, isn’t it?” Finn asked. “At least in a way that doesn’t make us sound like morons.”

“Thanks,” Tesla said dryly.

Finn laughed. “You know what I mean.” They sat at one of the round tables and their chairs faced each other instead of the table.
Their knees almost touched.

“I like that thing around your neck,” Finn said suddenly, his eyes narrowed slightly as he studied her, his expression unreadable.
“It’s—rough. Utilitarian. Bizzy’s got talent—the contrast with your skin is—”

“I found you,” said a deep voice just beside them.

Sam towered over them and his black hair and eyes shone. His shoulders looked enormous, his white dinner jacket no less brilliant than the teeth he flashed when he smiled and held out his hand to her. “Dance?” he asked.

Tesla glanced at Finn, who shrugged, a clear indication that it didn’t matter to him one way or another. “Sure,” she said, stung. “I would love to dance.”

CHAPTER 29

They walked out onto the floor without a glance at Finn, who sat and watched them go, his expression unreadable. Tesla turned to Sam, who gently took her into his arms, one hand on the small of her back, the other holding her hand firmly in his own. On the beat he whisked them off, and Tesla gasped. “I don’t really know how to dance to this music,” she stammered.

Sam laughed. “It looks to me like you know how.”

It kind of did, Tesla realized. Sam was sure of the steps and knew how to guide her. She relaxed, then, and began to understand the pattern and the rhythm. Her confidence increased and she began to enjoy it, unconsciously aware of exactly how many inches separated her from the other couples that twirled around them on all sides.

“Too bad we don’t dance like this anymore,” she said.
Her dimples flashed as she smiled up at him.

“We can dance like this anytime—every time—you want to,” he said, mesmerized by her eyes. And just like that, he knew he could be reckless.

Tesla’s cheeks flushed pink. “I could get used to it.” She felt sophisticated, older, maybe even a little dangerous as Sam’s arm tightened around her waist. She’d felt in charge with the younger Sam, like she was the one who would or would not make things happen, and somehow that feeling lingered, even though this older Sam was anything but a pushover.
Be careful
, she thought.
That kind of attitude is trouble and you know it
.

“I didn’t know you would be here tonight, Sam,” she said quickly. “I haven’t seen you since before the jump.”

“I’ve been busy—I am in medical school, you know. And I’m here because all the science-related departments were invited. I’m certainly glad I decided to come—you look beautiful.”

They danced for a while in silence, and then Tesla said aloud what had bothered her since she and Finn had jumped back to the present last night. “Sam, why didn’t you tell me before I jumped that Finn would come too, and that I would give you those p
hotographs to send to my dad eight years later?”

Sam considered before he spoke. “Because what the three of us talked about at Dodie’s all those years ago—last night, for you and Finn—is true, and I think right. We have an obligation not to interfere, as much as we’re able to, at least. What would have happened if I’d told you? Would you have stopped Finn? Would you have taken no pictures, or different ones? Would you have decided not to send the album? So many choices, and all of them seem so small, but we can’t know the ripple effect they might create.”

Tesla missed a step, but Sam caught her when she stumbled and pulled her in close. She picked up the steps again, and he let her go.

“Finn and I were just talking about that,” she said. “I have so many questions about this—you’re right, the photo album isn’t important but other things are. I lie awake at night over some of them.
I wonder what I could change—what I could fix—with this ability to move around in time.”

“Your mother?” Sam asked as the music stopped, and they stopped.
The couples around them clapped and smiled, but Sam stood, his arm still around Tesla’s waist.

“My mother,” she said softly, so softly he barely heard her.

“Tesla,” he said, his voice somewhat strangled. When she looked up at him in surprise and noted with concern the inexplicably tortured look on his face, he immediately smiled at her. “Try to enjoy yourself,” he said.

She smiled a sad little smile and they made their way back to the table, where Lydia, Keisha, and Joley now sat with Finn.

“Tesla, you look lovely,” said Lydia as they approached the table.

“Thanks,” Tesla said, somewhat subdued.

Finn’s sharp eyes took in the change from the exuberance she’d displayed before she’d danced with Sam, and he didn’t like it. What he did like, however, was the discovery that as Sam had led Tesla out onto the dance floor he had not experienced that strange pull, the tightening in his chest he had begun to associate with her not being near him. Because that sounded like—well, like she had begun to mean more to him than he wanted. He had watched them dance, though, and while he didn’t especially like Sam, he had felt none of the pulse-quickening adrenaline rush he had before.

And that could mean only one thing: he was back, and with no annoying complications to contend with.

“You look great, too, Lydia,” Tesla said.

Startled out of his self-congratulatory thoughts, Finn really looked at his employer for the first time since they’d arrived. Lydia was dressed in a deep purple, full length sheath dress with some pale lavender, translucent material that floated all around her shoulders like some sort of gossamer wrap.
She wore her hair styled, a little tastefully applied makeup, and diamond drop earrings that twinkled with each movement of her head. She was actually pretty, he thought.

“Thank you, dear,” said Lydia with genuine warmth. “It’s always nice to have a reason to dress and present one’s best face to the world. One brief bit of business, however,” she said, her words suddenly clipped and determined. “The jpeg files you sent me earlier today are with the analysts, along with Finnegan’s notes. When they have anything concrete to tell us about the drawings and the text you photographed, they’ll let us know. Have you destroyed the originals, like I asked? We can’t have copies of what may be sensitive information on your phone.”

“Yes, I deleted them right after I talked to you,” Tesla said quickly, though that was not quite true.
Damn
, she thought.
I forgot. I’ll do it as soon as I get home tonight
. The phone Lydia had given her was still in her messenger bag at the house, but Tesla had been so tired after the jump, so glad to be home, that she’d just fallen into bed and slept until Jane woke her up and told her it was time to go to Lydia’s and get ready for the party.

“Why aren’t you going, Aunt Jane?” Tesla had asked.

Jane had shrugged. “I’m not really in the mood for a social event tonight. I’ll stay here with Max, and after he goes to bed I’ll go over the files again that we’ve compiled about your dad’s kidnapping.”

“I’ll stay home with you,” Tesla said immediately, and she meant it. “I can help with the files, and I’d much rather do that than go to a party. I’m worried about Dad.” Her voice broke a little on the last word.

Jane put her arm around Tesla’s shoulder. “I appreciate that, and I would accept if I thought it would help your dad. But I don’t think it will, and besides, he would want you to go. He was kind of excited about it—despite the whole tuxedo thing—and you can be his proxy tonight. He would be glad to know you were there to represent the family and have a little fun with your friends in the midst of this whole ordeal.”

Tesla bit her lip, not sure what to do. She didn’t care about the party and would skip it in a heartbeat if she could help find her dad. But if Jane was right, and there was nothing she could do tonight, she did not want to just sit around the house, pacing and worrying.
It sounded horrible. She’d much rather be distracted by the Institute party.

“Good,” Lydia was saying. “Thank you for taking care of that immediately.”

Tesla felt herself blush. She looked up and saw that Finn watched her closely.

“I’m going to get some food,” she announced abruptly, but Sam stepped in.

“Why don’t I go fix us both a plate, and get some punch. I’ll bring it back here and we can relax before we dance again.”

Before she could respond he had walked away, toward the long tables of food and drink.

“He’s well-trained,” said Finn, amused.

“It’s called manners,” Tesla snapped.
Finn laughed and pushed a chair out with his foot.

She hesitated a moment, then sat down.
She would only make herself look like a child if she refused. She needed to take a lesson from Finn—nothing ever got to him.

Bizzy and Malcolm wandered over, and they both sat down. “Good eats,” said Malcolm. “I may have to go back for seconds.”

“You mean thirds,” said Bizzy, her enormous, black-ringed eyes narrowed in laughter. “You can eat more than anyone I’ve ever known.”

“Thanks!” said Mal brightly.

The music had slowed to a deep, throbbing tempo, the melody carried by a saxophonist who had stepped to the front of the stage. The song had a slightly melancholy feel to it, not sad, exactly, but thoughtful and full of unspoken desire.

Malcolm cocked his head as he listened to the opening notes. “I do believe I could dance to this.”
He turned to Bizzy. “I can put my arms around your waist, and you can put your hands up around my neck. I can sort of shuffle back and forth, and try not to step on your ballet shoes. But I am not Sam, so let’s kill that dream right now.”

“Who could resist such a romantic invitation?” Bizzy laughed as she stood up and headed for the dance floor and Malcolm, who shot Tesla a thumbs-up, hurried after her.

“Oh my god,” Tesla said, laughing. “What an unlikely pair.”

“I think it’s sweet,” said Lydia.

Finn looked at Tesla, an exaggerated look of earnestness on his face. “I can shuffle my feet around and hold you awkwardly, but you’re on your own in terms of your shoes. Shall we join the children?”

She couldn’t help it. She knew Finn was likely to laugh at her at the first opportunity, but it was a party, and she was all dressed up, and…. And it was Finn, she admitted to herself. She got up, he took her hand, and they walked to the dance floor.

They turned and faced each other and Finn put his hands on Tesla’s waist, just as he said he would. But it was far from awkward. Tesla’s pulse raced, and she sensed that Finn drew in a breath and held it, just for a minute, when she stepped in close to him and put her good hand high on his shoulder, her fingertips just touching his neck above the collar of his white shirt.

“Sorry about the cast,” Tesla said as she adjusted her
turquoise-plastered arm on top of his.

“What cast?” Finn asked without a trace of mockery.

She felt the warmth of his hands through her dress. He held her lightly, his thumbs on the flat of her stomach, nothing but the soft, watery satin of her dress between his skin and hers.

They danced, but Tesla wasn’t certain they moved at all. With Sam, she had felt excitement, exhilaration. It was another thing entirely to dance with Finn. The world was reduced down to the deep, resonant notes of the saxophone, and Finnegan Ford’s eyes, his lips, and the curls against his neck, which had somehow become twined around her fingers.

He leaned down, slowly and deliberately, and touched her mouth with his, softly, intimately. She felt a rush of warmth envelope her as his hands tightened and pulled her in closer. She closed her eyes as his lips brushed feather-light across her cheek, and she felt his soft breath against her ear just before he whispered, “Why did you lie to Lydia about destroying the jpeg files from your dad’s office?”

The world righted itself, and Tesla’s face was guarded again. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said evenly as she stepped away from him and he was forced to drop his hands to his sides.
“Jack-ass,” she added as she turned away from him, pretending she’d been unaffected by his nearness, the slow, sexy music, his lips and his hands, his hands, those hands….

He cocked an eyebrow and grinned at her and she blushed because he could read her so well. He was impossible, infuriating. She walked back to the table, no idea whether he followed her or not. She didn’t care, she told herself.

“Sam, you’re back!” she said, more enthusiastically than she felt. She wondered if everyone at the table—including Beckett, who had reappeared sans her groupies—had seen their intimate embrace on the dance floor.

“I am,” Sam agreed, polite but a little remote.
Well, I guess he saw, at least
, she thought to herself.

“What’d you scavenge for us?” Finn asked, right next to her again, as he rubbed his hands together in greedy anticipation.

“I brought Tesla a variety. I wanted to make sure she got whatever she wanted,” Sam said stiffly.

Finn laughed.
“I’ll bet.” He scanned the room, his interest already elsewhere. “Oh. Hello,” he said suddenly, quietly, as he pulled his cuffs out from his coat sleeves and headed toward a tiny brunette in an alarmingly short red dress.

“He. Is. Awesome,” said Malcolm as he watched Finn make his move across the room.

“Hardly,” said Tesla, her voice brittle, as she crumbled a tiny puff pastry in her fingers. Suddenly she flashed a brilliant smile at Sam. “Would you like to dance again?”

“Sorry,” he said. “I promised this one to Beckett.” Beckett and the dress she’d poured herself into stood up in a graceful, fluid movement.
She took the hand Sam offered her and disappeared onto the crowded dance floor.

Tesla sat, miserable and co
nfused.

“It’s your own fault,” said Keisha cheerfully.

“What is?” said Tesla, her voice sharp.