Page 69 of Not You Again
My guy. She liked the sound of that. They were together, side by side, the universe above them, and inches apart from each other on the earth.
“It’stwotelescopes,” he said.
“Of course. Two.” She smirked.
“When I look up it feels like I can escape into the unknown,” Adam said.
“But you’re so type-A.” Carly elbowed him playfully. “Doesn’t it drive you crazy to not know what’s out there?”
“It’s the promise that I might be the one to solve what’s out there that excites me,” he said.
“Cheers,” she said and raised her glass. “To solving what’s out there.”
“To being with you,” Adam said. And they locked eyes.
The side of her mouth twitched, and she let out a heavy breath of gratitude. The next loop wasn’t guaranteed, but this moment with the man shereallyliked was. Carly leaned across and told him as much with a kiss.
Chapter 24
Adam
Day 251
The thing Adam hadn’t anticipated about losing someone was the few seconds when you forgot they were missing and life felt normal. Then, inevitably, the yank back to the realization that they were gone.
That jarring juxtaposition came when Adam reset and briefly felt Shireen in the office with him. But then, as his eyes adjusted, he saw that he was alone in the space.
Shireen was still missing.
“Adam?” Carly’s voice pierced through the air, and her footsteps pounded down the hallway. When she came to the office door, her face fell. “She’s not back.”
“No,” he replied. They’d tried looking for Shireen, telling the rest of the town, and trying to predict the future by going on as he normally had. Nothing about the last loop had worked to change the current one.
“Well, fuck.” Carly stomped her foot and gnawed at her bottom lip.
Adam found his mind and body were at war as of recent.Because while his gut clenched with anxiety over Shireen, he really longed to hold Carly. He stepped toward her and pulled her in, resting his chin on top of her head.
“What are we going to do?” he asked. “I can’t even think straight. My mind is going a mile a minute.”
“Well, the whole town knows to be on the lookout for Shireen, and we know Dean is going to be scouring Julian for her. We could join the search party, but I do think we just need something to take the edge off. A shot of whiskey?” she hedged.
“A lobotomy?” he countered.
“I don’t know any doctors other than Heather, so I think the easier option would be the whiskey.” Carly cleared her throat. “Seriously, though, I need a drink. Do you need a drink? I’ve never seen you drink, but do you? What about drugs? I just kind of need to release some of these nerves, because my head is about to explode. You probably don’t drink or do drugs or need anything to feel less freaked out, but I do, you know?”
She’d spoken so fast that she was practically panting at the end. Adam had an edible before, and he wasn’t opposed to drinking, especially if there was a local IPA available. His drug of choice had and always would be sugar. Still, a drink sounded nice. Maybe it would keep him from spinning. “Yeah, we need a break.” He grabbed her hand and tugged her in the direction of the front doors.
When they parked the hearse and walked toward the saloon-themed bar off Main Street, Adam shouldn’t have been totally surprised by the people staring at them. After the last town hall loop, a bright spotlight had been aimed their way. Still, the attention was a bit jarring.
“You going to be okay with this?” Carly asked. “I’mused to having attention on me, because I’m a friendly and likable person. But unless you’re in work mode, I know you prefer to hiss and scamper when anyone so much as looks at you.”
His mouth betrayed an amused smile. “You talk so much that I’m worried you’re dehydrated. That’s why we’re getting drinks. I’m sacrificing my own needs for yours.”
“So chivalrous. Come on, the booze won’t drink itself.” Carly blessedly tugged on his hand and led him into the bar.
The saloon-themed bar was a nod to Julian’s history as a gold-mining town, and it leaned heavily into the shtick. Adam pushed on the swinging saloon doors and they walked in to find a wall lined with cowboy hats, and fake gold-plated tables with enormous rocks spraypainted silver as centerpieces. The bar was filled with beers on tap, a selection of hard apple ciders and a stocked liquor display.
“Thank the whiskey gods,” Carly said as she walked behind the bar. “I’ve never been happier to be at a bar. I mean, I work as a bartender, so I don’t usually like to hang out at them. I prefer small gatherings, like a dinner party, or... well, yeah, really just those. And that’s when I’ll have a cocktail or something. But I don’t like sticky floors or that kind of moldy smell some bars have, you know?”
