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Her ex’s name crashed into their conversation like an asteroid. Gemma didn’t talk about him, and reminders of him, even a year after the implosion that damaged more than only her heart, still sent her staggering.
“Sorry,” Lila said, reading it on her face. “It’s the truth, but forget I brought him up. Please, continue telling me about this mystery man lucky enough to get a kiss from you.”
Gemma took a breath, ready to get to the truly wild part. “That’s the thing. I don’t think it actually happened.”
Lila’s perfectly sculpted brows flattened. “So, what? He spills coffee on you and then gaslights you into thinking you know each other?”
“Pretty much.”
She twisted her lips, and Gemma could see her trying to salvage the potential for a happily-ever-after. “Well, is he the kind of guy you would want to kiss? I mean, maybe he confused you for someone else and it’s a fortunate misunderstanding,alsoan excellent meet-cute.” She reached out and booped her with a finger.
Gemma shook her head. “No, he didn’t. I swear I’ve never seen him, but he knows things about me, Lila.”
She recoiled. “Ew. Stalker.”
“That’s what I thought too, but not only does he know things about me, he...”
She paused to consider bailing out at the last second. She hadn’t yet mentioned any of the truly unbelievable parts of the story and could still spare herself the look ofdisbelieving concern about to cross Lila’s pretty, grapefruit-scented face.
But telling her best friend the truth was the reason she had come here. If anyone was going to listen to her, it was the woman she shared clothes with and who used to snuggle in her twin bed when she got homesick at college.
She took a breath and dove in headfirst.
“He also knows things about today that haven’t happened yet, to me at least, because he says we’ve been living this day over and over, but only he can remember it, and that I’m the key to breaking the cycle.”
She waited for some kind of extreme reaction. Lila was going to gasp, growl like a mama bear concerned for her safety, check her temperature to make sure she wasn’t fever dreaming, or maybe even burst out laughing.
But none of that happened.
She narrowed her eyes and then stood, holding out her hand. “Come on.”
Gemma slipped hers into it, always willing to trust her. “Where are we going?”
Lila began pulling her toward her bedroom. “We’re getting you a clean shirt and then we’re going to see Aunt Clara.”
Gemma planted her feet firmly in the shaggy white rug that remained white because Lila had no pets. “Oh no, Lila. I’m not going to Clara’s.”
Her protests did not deter her in the least. “Yes, you are. She has the Sight and will know what to do.”
Visions of Lila’s eccentric aunt holed up in her cramped Hollywood shop draped in shawls and beads and smellingof eye-watering incense momentarily made Gemma regret involving Lila at all.
“The only thing Clara has the sight for is duping tourists out of fifty bucks.”
Lila glared at her over her shoulder as they entered her bedroom, another spread of boho-chic things that the internet loved. The blue velvetPivot!chair sat in the corner beneath a hanging trapeze of rope planters. A tapestry covered one wall. A pile of accent pillows buried her bed. Gemma noted that the décor was only a stone’s throw from looking like Aunt Clara’s psychic cave, something she would have to monitor closely lest Lila reach a point of no return.
Lila loved her oddball aunt. She had spent summers in high school working in her shop and sometimes leaned into mysticism when other explanations failed. But that did not mean Gemma believed in any of it.
She sat on the bed as Lila went to her stuffed-to-the-gills closet to retrieve a clean shirt.
Lila came back with a tasteful sleeveless purple blouse dotted in tiny black velvet spots. The gold buttons on the low neck gave it a rock-’n’-roll edge. “Well, my dear, you just told me something rather odd, and if there’s one person I know who can help explain odd, it’s Aunt Clara, so that’s where we’re going. Here.” She shoved the shirt at her and turned for her bathroom. “Give me ten minutes.”
Gemma was left changing into the shirt and wondering what she was getting herself into.
•••
“You know, yourdesperation to find me a boyfriend has reached concerning levels. I basically tell you this guy hasno grasp on reality, and you drag me to a psychic to convince me otherwise,” Gemma said as they approached Clara’s shop.
Lila had donned an enormous sunhat and sunglasses that hid the majority of her face. Gemma knew it was not to disguise herself because they were entering an establishment of questionable reputation in one of the seedier parts of Hollywood, but because she hadn’t had time to put on the full face of makeup that she always left the house wearing.
