Page 59 of Not You Again
He began to lean toward her mouth, but then remembered the very troubling fact that Shireen hadn’t restarted with him. “Wait, Carly.” He took hold of her hand, which had begun to reach for his bel, once again. “Shireen is gone,” he said.
Carly took a step back. “Okay,” she said in a tone that suggested she wasn’t totally following.
He tried again. “Shireen isgone. As in, she isn’there. She didn’t restart with us.” And then the reality punched him in the gut. She hadn’t restarted with them. That was... a problem.
“Shireen is gone?” Carly asked.
“Gone,” he repeated.
How was it possible that she’d just vanished? Peopledidn’tjust stop the loop. Everyone, as far as he knew, restarted in the same spot.
Carly’s eyes widened. “Oh my God,” she said. “What if Shireen somehow got out? Like, maybe she slipped through the wormhole? What if other people are missing, too?”
It stood to reason that if Shireen’s loop had changed, other people’s had as well. That was possible, Adam told himself. He wonderedwhereShireen was if not at the funeral home. Was she in a waiting room somewhere? Was she okay? What if shehadgone through the wormhole? Could she ever come back?
“Adam,” Carly said.
He managed to break out of his thoughts and look at her.
“You have that same look as when we saw Shireen and Dean in town,” she said. “I know you don’t like to talk about things, but you can talk to me. You can tell me what you’re thinking and, maybe by doing that, I can help. Because my ADHD brain will create well over a hundred different scenariosof what could be behind door number Adam, but chances are none of them will be correct.”
She rubbed her hand up and down his arm and, to his shock, he began to speak.
“Missing,” he said. “That was a scary word to hear. I don’t want to be with Shireen anymore, but I also certainly don’t want her to go missing.”
“Of course you don’t,” Carly said. “Shireen is going to be okay.”
“But what if she isn’t?” He was terrified, because if Shireen was missing... who could be next?
“Why don’t we go into town.” Carly grabbed a hold of Adam’s hand and started to lead him toward the front door. “Maybe Shireen just restarted somewhere else, like at your old house. And we need to see if anyone else is missing, right?”
“Right,” he said. “Missing.”
“Notmissing.” Carly waved a hand in front of her own face to try to clear the word from the air. “I’m sure she’s fine. Seriously. Let’s just go into town and find out if anyone has seen her, okay?”
When they parked at the top of Main Street, Adam fisted a hand through his hair. He hadn’t pictured spending the day this way. He’d wanted to make the most of his time with Carly, but now they were searching for his ex-wife.
And he was scared of what they might find, because he had a sinking feeling that Shireen hadn’t restarted somewhere else. His loop resets were so intricately tied with Shireen that he felt connected to her, even when they weren’t together. And this reset he couldn’t physically or emotionally feel her—their connection seemed severed.
“We’re going to figure this out,” Carly said as she unbuckled her seat belt. “Trust me.”
And he found that he did. So he got out of the car, too.
They were only an hour into the loop as they walked down Main Street. What were they looking for, exactly? People screaming for help? Missing Persons signs being tacked up? Adam wasn’t sure.
All appeared to be normal as they made their way down the sidewalk. Well,normalin that enormous bags of flour were being poured out in the middle of the street and people were making snow angels in the white powder.
“Is it possible that only Shireen is missing?” Carly asked.
“Maybe others are, too, but no one has noticed,” he hedged.
“Totally. But since no one else seems to be ringing the alarm, perhaps we can assume it’s just Shireen. And if it’s just Shireen, maybe she restarted with Dean?”
That would certainly make Adam feel better, if it were true. Though it would be equally confusing to find a reason as to why. “That’s possible,” he acquiesced.
“We could go find Dean so we can rule it out?” She spoke so gently and with such care that it almost broke his heart in half.
“Carly, you don’t have to do this with me.” Even his hands were unsure in this situation as he reached for her, but then pulled back. “I think it’s a lot to expect you to help find my ex. I wouldn’t want to put you in that position.”
