Page 85 of Not You Again
“I’m not going to enjoy announcing that Rick is missing,” Adam said to Carly. “Everyone’s so happy.”
“It’s the right thing to do.” Carly wrapped her fingers through his. “He helped look for you when you vanished.”
Adam pursed his lips. “So, you kinda missed me, huh?”
She gave his hand a tight grip, and he mouthed an “ow,” as they continued to walk. “I missed you, yes. The way old people can miss a step and fall down the stairs. It was painful and unexpected.”
“I know you’re a screenwriter, but have you considered poetry? That was really something.” He bent down and pressed his lips to hers, and Carly loved how her mouth knew him so well, even after so many loops apart. She was about to reach up and pull on the end of his fiery red hair, when a voice interrupted them.
“Toonces came home!” Megan Rae explained inches from their faces. She held the cat to her chest as evidence. “Poor little gal must’ve escaped the Julian limits right before the loop started. But look!”
Carly gave a genuine smile and reached out to pet the cat. “This is the best news. Other than you returning.” She added the last bit for Adam’s sake.
Then a commotion from the crowd erupted.
“They came!” someone shouted. “They found me!”
Carly searched for the voice, but didn’t have to look far, as Rick took the stage. Her mouth fell open in a gasp. “Oh my God.”
“Good people of Julian,” Rick spoke into the megaphone. “I am here to inform you that last night, while on a missionwith my lady friend, I was once again contacted by the aliens. They took me into their ship and told me that I need to run for Mayor of Julian or they’ll return again and plunge us into an even longer loop.”
Carly looked to Adam, who had a frown so deep between his eyes she was sure it would be there permanently.
“Rick!” Heather’s voice came from the crowd and stopped Rick cold. He dropped the megaphone, hopped down from the stage and hurried toward her.
Mayor Franco had no problem picking the megaphone back up. “Aliens? That’s spooky! Maybe we can pass a law where two mayors can preside over Julian, hmm? I’d hate for another loop to start!”
“This loop is really weird.” Adam tightened his grip on Carly’s hand.
“I think we can call it a weird day, since we’re out of the loop,” Carly corrected him.
“Oh, right, where were we?” Adam tilted Carly’s chin up, brought her into him and kissed her again.
She let out a relieved sigh into his mouth. While he’d been gone, she’d all but resigned herself to a life without his hands or his mouth. Now that she was surrounded by his buttery scent, she wanted to clip this moment and keep it in a file in her brain so that whenever she felt lonely, she could reference this point where she was blissfully happy.
“What should we do after the kissing?” Adam muttered into her mouth. “Should we try to leave town?”
Carly wanted to be with Adam. She wanted to continue what they were starting. But before she could leave, she had to say goodbye.
“I have one last thing to do before we go.” She traced her thumb along Adam’s cheekbone and hoped he’d help her.
The space where Bruce was to be laid to rest was in a shaded part of the cemetery, surrounded by willow trees and a babbling brook. Bill lowered Bruce into the ground and Carly took a shuddering breath as the casket disappeared under a blanket of earth.
“Do you want some time with him?” Adam softly asked.
“I do,” Carly said. Adam kissed the top of her head, and when the world around her had gone quiet, she looked at the ground.
“Dad, this is a really beautiful spot. I see why you picked it. I mean, a babbling brook? Can’t find that in LA.” Carly sat next to his plot of earth and dug her hands into the dirt. “I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner. You told me you wanted to build something special—something of your own. I know you really did that here. I wish I’d come to celebrate with you.”
She picked up a handful of cool dirt and sprinkled it over the top of the mound. “The loop ended, by the way. I’m going to try and convince Adam to head back to Burbank so I can show him where I come from. But don’t worry, I’ll be back to visit.”
Carly had spent every loop restarting by her dad’s side. The idea of waking up tomorrow and not being next to him... that was hard to think about. She coughed on a sob and allowed tears to roll down her face. This was how she’d wanted to say goodbye to her dad—when she was ready. And as she stood up, dusted off her dress and kissed her palm then held it to the earth, she felt that he was saying goodbye to her, too.
“Talk to you soon, okay?” she told him before she walked away from the plot and back toward the funeral home.
Packing up her car didn’t take long. Carly had only brought a suitcase with her when she first came to Julian. But she didadd some of her dad’s movie memories to her bag. She’d have to come back to grab the rest, but for now—and the purposes of getting out—she had plenty.
“I’ll take that,” Adam said as he grabbed her suitcase and rolled it to the trunk of the car, where he placed it next to his own bag. He wore dark jeans, a blue cotton shirt and a leopard-print cardigan. He looked way cooler than any mortician had the right to be. But then again, if he got into Caltech, he wouldn’t be a mortician for long.
