Page 40 of The Déjà Glitch

She smiled at him. “Do you want to find out what we’ve set in motion?”

He smiled back and nodded. “Definitely.”

CHAPTER

8

The first thingthey decided to set in motion was lunch. Neither of them had eaten anything since breakfast, and with all the running around and Gemma’s career-changing interview, she was starving.

They ended up in Koreatown at a restaurant inside a rooftop greenhouse with marble tables and all manner of plants suspended from the slatted ceiling. Natural light poured in from every angle. They sat in upholstered bucket chairs at a small, square table among a softly murmuring crowd of lunchgoers. Gemma had strategically let Jack sit with his back to the window filled with blue sky the same color as his brilliant eyes. She ordered a mimosa because the orange juice was fresh-squeezed and because Marsha had called to commend her on the interview and give her the rest of the day off.

Jack squeezed a lemon over his iced tea and sent a squirt of mist zesting the air between them.

“Have we ever been here together before?” she asked, eagerly awaiting her avocado toast.

Jack shook his head. “No. I’ve intentionally taken you someplace new each time we’ve gone out in hopes it makes a difference.”

“Where else have we gone?” she asked, simply curious. She wondered if they’d dined at restaurants that she’d never been to before and had no memory of.

“Well, before I knew you were vegetarian, we went to a barbecue place. That didn’t work out too well,” he said with a soft laugh. “In fact, that’s how I found out.”

She smiled at him. “So, do you have like a list of places to go in case I agree to a date on any given day?”

A flush curled into his face and he gave her a cheeky, boyish grin. “Mm-hmm.”

Gemma burst out laughing. “Well, I can’t fault your determination.”

“Tenacity is my middle name.”

“That is certified fact,” Gemma said, and sipped her drink as a thought struck her. “If I’ve never done the interview before, am I usually in a bad mood at lunch?”

Jack tried to hide a grimace and lightly hunched his shoulders. “You’re usually pretty bummed out, but I always enjoy your company no matter what.”

Something warm and soft spilled out inside her chest at the thought that he didn’t give up, even on her bad days. “That’s generous of you.”

He shrugged like any time with her was a gift.

“So,” Gemma said, “what do we usually talk about?”

“Let’s see.” He gazed up at the jungle hanging from the ceiling in potted planters. Vines and mosses reached downlike spindly green arms. “You usually tell me about Patrick coming home, you mention Nigel Black and your radio show, and you say it’s your best friend’s birthday.”

Gemma groaned at the banality. To her, that all would have been exciting for the first time, as it had been that morning, but she couldn’t imagine Jack feigning interest in the same details day in and out. “You must be so bored of me.”

He smiled at her and shook his head. His eyes turned soft and warm. “I don’t think that’s possible.”

Her face flushed as their server appeared balancing their lunch on her long, elegant arms. She was abundantly symmetrical and the requisite amount of gorgeous to be an L.A. waitress.

“Anything else?” she asked with a sweet smile aimed directly at Jack.

“No,” he said without taking his eyes off Gemma.

The waitress turned away and Gemma picked up her fork to distract from the flush burning her face.

“It’s not fair,” she said, and stabbed a tiny cherry tomato lounging on her toast.

“What’s not?” Jack asked, and poked a fork into a sweet potato wedge.

“For you to look at me like that. Like you’ve had a hundred-and-whatever days when I’ve only had one.” She waved her fork over her plate and did not meet his eyes while she spoke. Her lunch was thankfully distractingly delicious.

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