“I have a bunch of pictures and videos from that party,” Aster says. “I think you might be in one of them.” She searches on her phone.
Aster finally holds out her phone to show me a picture. It’s definitely from that party. There are a lot of people around, but on the side of the picture, I’m there on a couch. I have that ridiculous hat on my lap.
And Cthulhu is next to me. My head is resting on his shoulder.
I don’t remember this, but I was quite out of it that night. I look closely at the picture. It’s the most ridiculous image I’ve ever seen. Dr. John H. Watson, sitting deep in her feelings, with Cthulhu.
But it was us. Me and Jay. Why didn’t he tell me about this? This happened, both in his timeline and in mine.
I wipe another tear falling down my cheek.
“You did meet him,” Gracie says softly. She, of course, knows that I fell in love with him too.
Jack smiles. “Jay was a great judge of people. He saw through phony crap better than any of us. I wish I remembered you from Halloween when we met at my party.”
I stare at Jack, realizing something. “You did.”
He raises a brow.
I nod. “Jack, youdidremember me! When I got to your party, you said, ‘Oh, it’s you. You looked better in a suit.’ And you said all this cryptic shit, calling me a water lily and saying Jay danced with the water lily. You also knew about Jay’s father. You said the swamp flows through Jay’s veins. I thought you were just stoned, but you actuallyknewall of this.”
Jack frowns. “I don’t remember that.”
“You’ve always said weird shit when you’re baked,” Aster says.
“Jack,” I say. “You told me on Sunday that your gut instincts are so good your mom calls you a fortune teller, right?”
He nods, but I can see that he’s embarrassed.
“What if ...” I’m about to sound like a complete idiot. This is so implausible that it’s almost laughable. But me and Jay talking daily for the last month is also implausible. And so is Jay in a Cthulhu mask finding me at a Halloween party. Yet it all happened. “What if you can tell your past self things? Just now, you said that you wished that back at your party you knew that it was me in the Dr. Watson costume at the Halloween party. What if that’s why you knew who I was back then? People always say they wish they could tell their past self things ... What if you actuallycan?”
Everyone at the table stares at me like I’ve lost my mind. Which, fair. But at least Gracie should know that the impossible is actually possible.
Jack blinks at me. “I can.”
“Can what?”
His eyes are still, like he can’t believe what he’s saying either. “I feel like I’ve always known I can do that. When I’m really drunk, I talk to my future self.”
Gracie exhales. “This is wild shit.”
Aster nods. “I’ve heard of this! This lady on Etsy does future-self readings! Jack, you can make a fortune if you sell this ability.”
Jack rolls his eyes. “I don’t need a fortune—I have several waiting for me. Plus, I can’t control it. It just ...happens.”
I shake my head, excited. “No, I think youcancontrol it. But you control it on the future side. Like, right now, you said you wished your past self knew something. And your past selfdidknow it. I think ...” I exhale. “Tell your past self all about Jay.”
He turns and looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. I don’t blame him. “What?”
“Tell your past self,” I say again. “On that night on your boat when you drank spiked Gatorade. Or before that. You said you were drunkin the afternoon, then sobered up. Tell that Jack that Stephen Everett is Jay’s father, and that Lance wants to kill Jay. Maybe Jay can ... I don’t know. Run away or something. Save himself.”
Everyone is looking at me like I’m nuts again, but I have to make Jack try. I’m grasping at straws here, but this is the only way I can get a message back to Jay. Jack is the only one who can do this.
Jack shakes his head. “I don’t even know how to do that,” he says. He doesn’t look as skeptical of me anymore, at least.
“Like you just did,” Gracie says. “Wish that you knew back then that Stephen is Jay’s father. Actually, wish that you’d shown Jay that picture of his mother with Stephen, and Lance and Taylor’s parents.”
I snort.Thisis the picture that Jack sent Jay. “You did! Remember when we met on the library steps after your party, you said it started with a picture on a text.”
