Page 8 of Not You Again
“You like your pie with cheese, right?”
“Oh yes,” Carly said. In fact, she judged people who didn’t cover their pie with cheddar cheese.
“You got it.” Mom gave the puppy a scratch behind its ears.
The booths were all taken, but there was a table with a few open seats. “Mind if we join?” Carly asked, sitting down before the mayor could answer. She put the puppy on the seat next to her.
“Fluffy fluff face!” Mayor Franco cooed to the dog as an answer. She wasn’t Carly’s friend, exactly, but the mayor was everyone’s friend in the sense that she was a people-pleasing politician. She wore a kilt, a Shania Twain concert shirt and topped off the outfit with a raspberry beret. A far cry from the campaign posters Carly had spied around town where she was tucked into a pantsuit with a blowout and a smile.
Mom came over with a large portion of pie that went all the way to the edges of its clean white plate. Cheddar cheese melted in a happy layer on top and a big silver fork stuck out from the center. She set the plate in front of Carly and a slice of green apple on the seat next to the puppy.
“Who are you targeting for a good deed today?” Themayor dipped the tip of her index finger into Carly’s melting cheese and took a lick. “Have you met Rick Gaines? He’s part of the group trying to stop the loop. He seems like a guy in need of a friend, or something fluffy.” She winked at the puppy.
Carly broke off a corner of the pie with her fork and brought the enormous bite to her mouth. The cinnamon sugar, baked apples and buttery crust melted as she chewed.
“Saving the dog from the toddler is my good deed,” she said. She looked down at her lap, where the puppy had curled up. She scratched a spot behind its ear. Apple. She would call the little guy Apple.
The door squealed open and Shireen came into the restaurant, hand in hand with the infamous Dean. The fact that their names rhymed was completely absurd. Also absurd was Dean’s styled mullet. She watched as Dean pulled Shireen into him, placed a kiss on her head and held her there.
They looked like they were in love, and Carly felt a twinge of empathy for Adam. This was his ex and his best friend. Despite the fact that Adam was an asshat, this situation had to suck.
Carly shoved another bite of pie into her mouth and chewed. No, she wasn’t going to spend her day feeling sorry for Adam. She was going to try to forget that she’d even seen Shireen outside the funeral home walls, or that she’d talked to Adam in the first place. Her day in Julian would be as feeling-free as she could possibly muster. So long as she could convince herself that Adam didn’t deserve her feelings.
Chapter 4
Adam
Adam sat at the desk in his childhood bedroom and stared at a blank piece of paper. He liked to start his afternoons with a to-do list. The list gave him a sense of routine, and his tasks ranged from the mundane—like make himself lunch—to the extremely unique. More specifically, Adam wanted to solve a scientific phenomenon that only occurred during a total solar eclipse. Because if anyone was going to crack the mystery surrounding the eclipse, it would be the guy who got to watch it every day.
But at that moment, he couldn’t focus on the to-do list because something about the morning irked him. Not only had he been passive-aggressive with Shireen, but there was the interaction with Carly as well.
He didn’t know her. They’d be strangers, if not for the fact that he’d orchestrated her dad’s funeral. But she’d called him an asshole under her breath. And, well, it hurt his feelings. He wasn’t oblivious to the fact that he could be blunt and that could rub people the wrong way, but an asshole?
Was he? He knew he could’ve been kinder to Shireen. Okay, fine, he’d been a bit of a dick to Shireen. But the truth was he’d been on edge because Shireen was now officiallydating Dean, an unfortunate fact that his mom discovered when she’d gone into town to grab a bottle of wine. Apparently, she’d seen them holding hands and felt obligated to tell Adam because, he suspected, she wanted him to move on, too.
Which was why his cool, let’s-never-talk-about-the-past demeanor had cracked. He’d sounded pathetic, really. Adam didn’t blame Shireen for her dismissive reaction. But he couldn’t help himself. Here he was, banging his head against the wall to uncover scientific mysteries, and Shireen was dating Dean?
Adam glanced at the blank piece of paper.Write something, he commanded himself. But as he held the pen in his hand and waited for letters to appear, none came. He sat back in his chair with a huff. Okay, fine, he was having a block. An extremely unusual occurrence, but nothing he couldn’t fix with some strong coffee. As he pushed himself up and headed for the door, the concert poster for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs caught his eye. He’d always had a bit of athingfor the lead singer, Karen O. And Carly, he only now realized, had the same dark hair. God, what an unfortunate connection to make—his high school celebrity crush and the woman who spent her time analyzing wallpaper. He shuddered as the thought slipped through him.
“Mom?” he called out as he walked into the hall. His parents didn’t often just hang around the house, and it was likely they’d already left for a hike, or to feed the squirrels.
“Offspring?” his mom’s singsong voice called out. As he came into the kitchen, Adam spied her at the breakfast nook with his dad, who was painting green-and-white squares onto a board. While Adam had a passion for astronomy, Bill’s hobbies were more artistic.
“I sanded the board this morning, and your father is making it chess-worthy.” Sheila sipped from the mug of green teain her hands. “We should be able to play a game this evening, if you’d like a little friendly competition?”
“It’s no competition,” Bill said. “You always win.”
Sheila gave his arm a there-there pat. “Can’t help that I’m smart. The same way you can’t help that you’re handsome.”
Bill gave her a quick wink of acknowledgment, then went back to painting. Adam took in a deep breath. His parents could bea lot.
Adam turned away from them and toward the coffeemaker.
“Oh, let me make a fresh pot.” Sheila pushed herself up from the table.
Maybe it was the fact that he was in his childhood home, or that his mom wore theMath is Radicalsweatshirt from her high school teaching days, but Adam suddenly felt like he was sixteen again.
“Thanks, Mom.” He moved aside and watched as she grabbed a filter and scooped in grounds.
