Page 28 of Not You Again
Carly
Day 242
When Carly restarted the loop and found herself in the funeral home, along with her normal reset feelings of numb acceptance, there was also excitement because, as she’d discovered, there had been no change in the eclipse. It had remained only twenty seconds shorter.
Which meant that maybe her absurd theory—that her good deeds for Adam were somehow causing the shift—was the right one. When she stood from her chair she had a little bounce to her step. She couldn’t wait to reveal thatshenothehad figured out how to keep making the loop shorter. She was a bit manic about the whole thing, really.
“Oh, Adam,” Carly singsonged as Shireen zipped past the funeral service room on her way to the exit.
Carly could feel the smug expression on her lips—and honestly, she’d earned it. She wasn’t just an aspiring screenwriter stuck in this cow-filled abyss. She was an aspiring screenwriter who was going to break them out of the loopso she could finally hit Reply on the email from Marilyn Montgomery.
She practically skipped down the aisle of chairs, because she would finally be able to prove to Adam that she could bring just as much to the table.
Carly faltered a bit when she saw him, though. So tall. Such pointy cheekbones. Hair the color of fire. Her breath caught when he looked up and his brown eyes widened at the sight of her. “Hello,” she forced herself to say.
“Hello,” he replied, then cleared his throat. “Nice to, um, see you.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Oh...” She realized what was happening. “Yeah, sorry I didn’t say anything yesterday, but I had to test a theory, which was correct.”
“What theory?” He leveled her with a doubtful expression. “Ah, let me guess. You formed a coven?”
Her mouth opened in surprise. Was Adam... mocking her? “Um, excuse me, if I could form a coven I absolutely would. But that’s not what I was going to say, you coldhearted cow lover.”
“Can one be both coldhearted and a lover of cows? I think you’ve made a moooo-t point.” Adam bit his lip, as if suppressing a laugh.
To her amazement, she found his little pun charming. She eyed him, and he eyed her. Were they bantering with each other? What was... happening here?
When she didn’t immediately respond—too alarmed by Adam’s ability to crack jokes at her expense—he began to roll up the sleeves of his button-down shirt, and that was when she clocked the muscled forearm.
“So you didn’t start casting spells, then what’s this theory?” He interrupted her staring.
A little shiver coursed through and she worked fast to shake it off. “I realized that the eclipse had changed on the days when I did good deeds for you.”
He narrowed his eyes, and her body quickly cooled.
She tried again. “This last loop, I decided to test that by avoiding you all day. And as you probably noticed, the eclipse didn’t shorten. It stayed twenty seconds shorter.”
“Uh-huh,” he eventually said. “So you think we are closing the loop?”
“I think it’s more tied to my good deeds. I always had this hope that if I did enough of them, I’d get out of here. But on the days when I did nice things foryou,all of a sudden the eclipse shortened. Maybe that’s because you’re, like, usually so rude, so it gives my good deedsextrapowers? So, yes, there’s something going on here.” She gestured to the space between them, and while she hadn’t meant to suggest that there was somethingbetweenthem in the relationship sense, she realized she may have misspoken. “Do you have a better idea?”
A smirk ghosted across his lips. “Yes, I think I do. If we want to speed up the process, we need to look more closely at the shadow bands.”
She crossed her arms. “You know, I read that Peter Pan’s shadow is a metaphor for the part of himself that he’s lost. Are you feeling lost, Adam?”
Carly enjoyed the exasperated look Adam gave her.
“It’s not as weird as you’re making it sound,” he said. “I just think it’s interesting that this wildly unique scientific phenomenon happens at the same time we find ourselves in a time loop. It’s either connected, or the strangest coincidence I’ve ever heard of.”
But then Carly’s stomach loudly grumbled. She picked upa mint from the tin in the lobby, unwrapped it and popped it into her mouth. “Sorry, I always reset on the hungry side. This girl needs cheese. Mind if we go eat?”
Carly eagerly dipped her chicken tinga taco into a cup of queso as she handed a tinfoil-wrapped beef taco to Adam. She was grateful that Julian had a well-stocked taqueria that was on par with the delicious ones she’d grown up with in LA. But Adam stared at his like she’d just handed him a bomb and he had no idea how to defuse it. Everything Adam did seemed to involve hesitation—following Carly, eating his food.
But if Adam didn’t like tacos—unfathomable, except that Adam was not like most people—then he didn’t have to eat them. He could walk across the street to Moms and get pie, and maybe snag one with cheese on top for her.
“I realize we have competing theories, but the same goal of getting out,” Adam said as he gently unwrapped his lunch. “As long as we’re willing to help each other, it still makes sense to work as a team.”
“Absolutely.” Carly wiped her mouth with a napkin.
