“Pretty sure you’re right about that much, sweetheart.”
“So what is this place? Tell me your theories.” I hand him back his almost empty beer bottle, but he gestures for me to keep it. Two more fresh ones have appeared on the table between us. Or maybe they were there all along.
“A rip in the space-time continuum? The multiverse? I don’t know if we’ll ever really know. Some things are just beyond explaining, I think.”
I take another swig. “How can you be so calm about this?”
He shrugs. “In my line of work, you often have to deal with the unexpected. Getting ruffled by every little thing doesn’t help anyone.”
“I don’t think this is some little thing,” I mumble, picking at the label on the beer bottle. It doesn’t have a brand name on it, just “beer” written in bubbly white letters.
He hesitates for a second, but then continues speaking. “I’ve also seen some things, at work mostly, but in life too, that are just beyond explanation. Maybe this is one of those things.”
Hmm. I don’t buy it, but I don’t have it in me to shoot down his argument, at least not at the moment.
Maybe having Ben here will turn out to be a good thing. I get to have a partner in crime, someone else to suffer through this unique torture we’ve been exposed to.
“So did Mimi give you your tasks?” I ask.
Ben’s eyes stray from mine, dancing across the front yard in avoidance. “She did.”
“Do you also have to find a career you’re passionate about, help the community, and find true love?” My nose wrinkles as I repeat my list of assignments, as I think about how impossible they all seem.
“Not exactly.” He shrugs again, though this one is stiffer, like he’s forcing himself to be casual. “I already have a career I’m passionate about, and I already help the community. So I mostly get to keep doing those things.”
That doesn’t seem quite fair. When I told Mimi I was passionate about my career, she shot me down, but Ben somehow gets to keep his? Sounds like some patriarchy bullshit to me.
“Do you at least have to try to fall in love in the process?” I study the side of his face, making note of the slight blush pinkening the tops of his ears and his cheekbones.
“Something like that.”
“Wow, Ben, we just met. No need to dump your entire life story on me all at once.”
He makes direct eye contact and I like that he doesn’t flinch from my sarcasm. “I wasn’t aware you were interested in the details of my life. I seem to recall you telling me we didn’t need to do the whole getting to know each other song and dance.”
“Yeah, well that was before we got trapped in Pleasantville with no internet access.”
A half smile tugs on the corner of his lips. “How are you faring not being able to check your email?”
“I’ve been better, Doc.” I study that smirk, wondering what might lie beneath it. “How are you faring? Being away from whatever it is that’s important to you?”
The smirk fades. “I’m not going to pretend I’m not worried, about my patients in particular, but I know what I need to do to get back to them and I’ve never been one to back down from a challenge.”
At least that’s something we have in common. I hold out my beer bottle. “Cheers then, I guess. To finding a way home.”
He clinks his bottle against mine. “To finding what we need.”
5
I don’t bother looking in the mirror when I wake up the next morning, knowing full well what’s going to greet me in the reflection. There are probably lots of people in the world who would love to wake up with their hair and makeup done each morning, but something about it doesn’t sit right with me. Possibly because it’s neither the hair nor the makeup I would choose for myself.
Speaking of choices, it’s time for my least favorite one of the day.
I stand in front of the closet, my hand on the doorknob. “I don’t suppose today you could give me something to wear that actually suits my personality.” I twist the knob, but don’t open the door just yet. “Please,” I add, for good measure.
Despite my very good manners, all I see when I open the door is pastels and floral prints.
I close it again with a sigh. “Look, I get what you’re trying to do here, but I’m going to work in a bookstore today. I don’t think a frilly dress is going to cut it.”
