Page 66 of Not You Again
“Megan, I’m so sorry, but keep putting that food out,” Adam said. “Toonces will be back soon.”
“Keep us posted.” Carly gave Megan a helpful nod.
Adam pulled Carly into him as they continued the rest of the way to the car. And tucking her close felt easy. Easier than anything else he’d done the whole loop. “I just realized we haven’t eaten all day, huh? Are you hungry? It’s about dinnertime at the Rhodes house.”
“Iamhungry, but what about Shireen?” Carly asked, but rubbed her stomach.
“Something Megan said resonated with me. ‘The best way to predict the future is to create it.’ Maybe in order for Shireen to come back, we just have to act like she’ll reset with us tomorrow. Maybe, if I can let go of this anxiety, it’ll make room for her to return to the loop.” What Adam was suggesting wasn’t scientific, but he still sensed there was something to it.
Carly glanced back to the crowd. “We’ve kind of done all we can here,” she said. “We can keep looking for her tonight,but a home-cooked meal from Bill and Sheila sounds good. We need to eat.” Carly craned her neck to look up at him, and he couldn’t help but bend down to meet her with a kiss.
How would he have made it through any of this day without her here?
He knew that just outside their bubble of two, an information bomb had been released on the town that would have a ripple effect. But he couldn’t control how anyone reacted, or what they all did. What he could control was this moment with Carly, and how he made her feel. And he wanted her to feel like she was home with him.
Chapter 23
Carly
The sun had set, but the sky retained a warm orange glow as they parked in front of Adam’s house. Not quite night, not quite afternoon. Carly loved this point of the day in Julian, when the air cooled but hadn’t lost all its light.
Maybe it was the view, her intense hunger, or the blur of the day, but she didn’t notice Adam get out of the car until he’d opened the door for her. He held out his hand and she took it.
When Adam unlocked the front door of his parents’ house and opened it wide, they were immediately met by a singsong chorus from the kitchen.
“Dinner’s ready!” Bill shouted.
“But we finished the wine!” Sheila called out.
“Maybe don’t mention Dean, or Shireen, or most of the day,” Adam said in a low voice. “I just don’t want them to worry any more than they already are.”
“Okay.” Carly’s eyes shifted around to the framed family photos, the squirrel figurines. Adam’s parents were welcoming them into their home, offering dinner. Something about lying—even a little white lie—felt off. “But I thought you were being honest with them?”
Before Adam could respond, Bill came in wearing an apron and brandishing a whisk. “Come, eat!”
And so they did. Adam and Carly joined his parents to eat around the small breakfast nook that overlooked the forest. There were mashed potatoes and a roast chicken and some kind of rosemary bread that smelled freshly baked. The whole thing felt normal in a way Carly hadn’t realized she needed. While time was literally standing still in Julian, here, in a home that time had preserved, maybe there was something to be said for consistency.
“Nice that we’re still all here, huh?” Sheila took a sip of wine. “I’m afraid to ask, but anything new with the eclipse?”
Carly’s eyes went wide as she looked to Adam. He’d told her not to say anything, but would he be able to look at his parents and lie?
“No, the time stayed the same today,” Adam said, which was the truth.
“Oh, well, that’s good news, isn’t it?” Sheila perked up and looked from Bill to Adam. Adam gave a tight nod and shoved a bite of potato into his mouth. Turns out, he’d found a lie loophole.
“What does your scientist friend think of all this?” Bill waved his fork around the air for emphasis.
Adam stopped chewing, wiped his mouth with the cloth napkin and wouldn’t meet his parents’ eyes. Something in the room had shifted, but Carly wasn’t certain what. There was a tension between Adam and Bill, though, so she tried to ease it.
“Adam and I haven’t given up on finding a way out of the loop,” she said.
“You’ve turned my son into an optimist.” Bill gave her a weak smile. Then he refocused on Adam. “Your mother and I were talking about this as well. We’d really love the opportunity to speak to this expert you met. We could bouncesome ideas off her. Just get a better understanding of what’s happening here.”
“I think we’d feel better with more information,” Sheila said.
Carly understood this need of wanting all the details of a situation. She’d felt that way when Adam first told her the eclipse was shortening. She’d gotten those answers from Adam, though. But she wondered what exactly Adam told them about the eclipse.
“Dr. Song wouldn’t be looking at the eclipse at all if it weren’t for me,” Adam said. “I’m the first person who noticed the changes.”
