Page 62 of Not You Again
“The only woman here is this little lady, and she wants bubbles.” As if on cue, bubbles began to float out of the machine.
“Good luck?” the dad said as he closed the door and locked it behind them.
Carly scratched her head, but Adam was already heading down the steps and going to the house next door. “Wait up! I have short legs!” she called out as she hurried to catch up.
When Adam knocked at the next house, it wasn’t Heather who answered, but Rick. Carly stopped halfway up the pavers in confusion.
Rick, though, didn’t so much as pause when he said, “What the hell are you two doing here?”
“We’re looking for Dr. Song.” Adam’s hands found his hips and he rocked back on his heels. “Aren’t you supposed to be checking the perimeter?”
“The perimeter comes later.” Rick took the worn map from his pocket and slapped it against his thigh. “Heather and I are working on something much bigger. What do you want with her, anyways?”
There was too much to explain. Carly wasn’t interested in having this back-and-forth with Rick. “Can we come in? I really need to use the bathroom.”
Adam gave her a grateful look, and she offered a small smile in return. She had his back. They would figure this out together.
Rick opened the door and they stepped inside. “This house has a bidet, in case you’re into that kind of thing, which I am,” Rick said.
Carly ignored the wink he gave her, mouthed a thank-you, walked to the bathroom and locked the door behind her.
For the first time that loop, Carly finally exhaled. She hadn’t had a moment to herself since the reset. She’d been excited to spend the day with Adam. Yes, the loop was threatening to potentially kill them all, but shelikedAdam. Helikedher. That was something real she wanted to hold on to. And a scene had come to her as they left the orchard—a fall meet-cute at a ranch—that she was itching to put to paper.
But Shireen was still missing, and obviously they had to figure out what had happened. The past few hours were fueled by pure adrenaline, and seeing Adam upset had twisted Carly’s stomach into knots. She didn’t want him to know how scared she was, though. But alone in this bathroom, she could run the water, shove her face into the hand towel and scream, which is exactly what she did.
When she finished, she washed her hands and the feeling that she was spinning out of control off, then unlocked the door. She had to be strong for Adam. She would do this for him.
“How did you and Dr. Song start working together?” Adam asked.
“Probably the same way you and Movie Girl found each other,” Rick said.
Carly rolled her eyes atMovie Girl. If she was Movie Girl, Rick was Flamingo Man.
“We want the hell out of this loop,” Rick continued.
Then Heather’s voice came through. “Adam? I had a feeling we’d reconnect.”
When Dr. Song walked into the room she carried coffees, one for her and one for Rick. “I was looking for a clear field to examine the eclipse, and that’s when I ran into Rick and his map. We started talking and figured it couldn’t hurt to combine efforts. He has a history of Julian that I just don’t.”
“And she’s blowing my mind with the science stuff, let me tell you,” Rick chuckled.
“I do wonder if Rick’s bubble theory could have legs.” Heather sipped the coffee. “We’re retracing his last few loop steps to see if he possibly punctured something that’s releasing that negative mass we need to keep the wormhole open.”
Carly started to fidget. They’d spent half the day trying to find Dr. Song, and now here she was, but Adam hadn’t said a damn word. She decided to step in and do the heavy lifting for him. “I think it’s great that everyone loves to geek out on the eclipse, but we didn’t come here for that. We came to tell you something.”
Heather gestured toward the living room area, which had a large sectional sofa and two armchairs surrounding a brick fireplace. Carly took a seat, and Adam sat next to her; their legs briefly touching distracted her.
Rick sat in an armchair and said, “Go ahead, then, spit it out.”
Adam’s lips had thinned, and he took a deep breath before launching in. “Okay, so every time I reset, I’m in the funeral home. I’m always standing in my office with Shireen, my ex. When I reset in the room, I am always touching her shoulder. But she just never showed up. We don’t know where she is, actually.”
Dr. Song put the mug down on a side table and squinted at Adam. “She disappeared?”
“It seems so,” Carly said. Her leg anxiously bounced and Adam’s palm landed on her knee to soothe her. Some of the tension left just from his touch.
Rick leaned forward. “You’re sure?”
Adam nodded.
