Page 20 of The Backtrack
Adult Sam puffed out her cheeks. “I think youknowwhat’s going on here, sir.”
The man’s jaw tightened. “Both of you. Outside. Now.”
Sam’s eyebrows rose so far up they hurt, but Damon and Alt-Sam obediently stood from their seats and made their way toward the exit.
Damon ran a hand through his hair and glanced over to Alt-Sam, who shoved her hands into the pockets of her low-rise jeans. She shifted in her Converse sneakers as Damon pushed open the doors to the theater, and they both walked out into the night, hand in hand.
“We just got kicked out of a movie theater,” he said with a smile.
“It’s not funny.” Alt-Sam nudged him. “We didn’t even get to the prom scene.”
Damon playfully brought her in toward him and began to slow dance with her. “We can practice forourprom. My moves are way better than Edward’s.” Damon dipped Alt-Sam low and held her close.
“Prove it,” Alt-Sam said with a grin.
As Damon leaned in to kiss Alt-Sam, awhooshof air surrounded Sam, along with total blackness, and she was quickly yanked out of the moment.
As Sam landed back in her spot on the bed, her eyes shot open and she breathed in and out with a new heaviness. Whatever was happening was worse than confusing. It was disorienting. These weren’t real memories—at least not the way Sam remembered them. She and Damonhadgone to seeTwilighttogether—she’d been excited about the movie for months. But unlike Damon and Alt-Sam, they hadn’t been cozy at all. She’d loved the movie, but there had also been tension between them. The movie had come out over a year after she’d rejected Damon, so when Edward and Bella shared their own first kiss on screen, she’d felt like they were watching what they’d never have. She couldn’t speak to how Damon had interpreted the moment, but she inferred from the way he crossed his arms and avoided meeting her eyes that he was deep in thought, at a minimum.
Now, though, there was a different timeline where they were a couple. She and Damon were happy. And what exactly was she supposed to make of that?
8
When the bagpipes sounded that morning, Sam was not fast asleep. Quite the opposite—she was at the kitchen table and watched as old man Byron trudged through the sand in his kilt, admired the sunrise briefly and then began to play. A few minutes later Alligator Alice power-walked past and waved to Sam through the window.
“You’d think Alligator Alice and Byron would have had a conversation at least once, but I’ve never seen her stop for a chat.” Pearl moved to the coffeepot and flipped it on, so the slow and steady bead of filtering took over the room.
“Maybe they don’t need words.” Sam stood from the kitchen table. She opened the pantry and grabbed bread and a jar of peanut butter. “They have an unspoken language.”
Sam smeared thick scoops of peanut butter onto two slices of toast—one for her and one for Pearl—and then plated them. She brought the plates and two mugs of coffee to the table.
When Pearl sat, she winced.
“You okay?” Sam asked as she set the plate down in front of Pearl. “Want me to get the pain medicine?”
“I have some here.” Pearl reached into the pocket of her worn cotton robe and pulled out the prescription bottle. She popped open the lid and tapped a pill into her palm. She swallowed it down with a sip of coffee.
“I got a recommendation for a rehab specialist from Mr. Rocha. I put in a call to them, so I should be hearing back on when to schedule your first appointment.”
“Isn’t it a little early for details?” Pearl lifted the toast to her mouth. “At least let me get my wits about me.”
Sam sat across from Pearl and wrapped her hands around her warm mug of coffee. Who would drive Pearl to her appointments when Sam was back at work? Maybe Jessie could, or Damon. She’d have to figure that out, too, before she left.
“I can see your wheels turning. Always worrying. I’ll be fine, you know,” Pearl said through a bite.
“I know you will. You always are. Which is why I think we should consider postponing the move,” Sam said. “You just broke your wrist. It’s kind of a lot to move on top of that.”
“It took you over a decade to come back home,” Pearl said. “I don’t know if I have another decade in me. We need to do this while you’re here.”
Sam tried to hide the frown that creased her brows. The thought of Pearl not being around in ten years wasn’t possible. She was aging, yes, but she wasn’told. Her grandma would be here. In this house. That was just how it had to be. Tightness rose in her chest. Pearl was the only family Sam had. What would she be without this small lifeline?
“I’m not dead yet,” Pearl said. “Don’t look so put out.”
That worddeadmade Sam cringe. Of course she knew that death was part of life, but her brain wouldn’t even allow her to go there. “Can we talk about something else?” Sam asked.
“Sure. How about you tell me why you were up so late?”
Sam sat back in her chair. “You spying on me?”
