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Gemma nodded, and Lila’s eyes bulged.
“If he’s spent that much time trying to get you to remember him, then I’d say he’s worth a shot.”
Gemma shook her head, feeling herself sway but still skeptical. “We’ve also apparently been on eight dates, three of which have been attending your birthday party together.”
Lila pulled one of those frown-smiles where her mouth turned down, but she nodded in approval. “I like it.”
Gemma narrowed her eyes. “You don’t remember that at all?”
“I do not,” she said, like it was no bother it made zero sense whatsoever.
“This is all so strange, Lila.”
Lila reached up for the towel on her head to undo it. Her hair tumbled around her shoulders in damp, dark waves. “I told you, strange doesn’t have to mean bad. And think of itfrom his perspective: he spends every day chasing the woman of his dreams, and every day she can’t remember who he is. Maybe he’s the man of your dreams, and you just haven’t realized it yet.”
Lila’s hopeless romantic optimism was contagious, Gemma had to admit. It made her realize that not only was Jack trapped in a day, but he was also trapped in abadday for him. According to his math, he’d had about five months to develop feelings for her, and she had to wonder whether if she had been aware of those five months as well, she would have been as desperately chasing after him. Based on the pull she felt toward him, the dizzying flashes of their kiss—the fact that she had kissed him at all—she could not definitively say that she would not be doing the same thing.
Lila pinched a hunk of her hair and sniffed the ends. “Oof.This stuff stinks. Please tell me you’re going to give this guy a chance and not leave me stuck here to wash my hair with this horrible shampoo for a one-hundred-and-forty-eighth time.”
Gemma laughed, and Lila joined her, leaning over so their shoulders bounced together.
“Smell it! I’m serious! Don’t doom me to this fate, I beg you!” She shoved her wet hair at Gemma’s nose, and they fell over giggling.
•••
Gemma left Lila’sto head to work, finally. She might have been living in the most warped fairy tale she’d ever heard of, but she still had a life to attend to. Not to mention, she had no contact information for Jack, even if she wanted toreach out. But she had the feeling they’d find their way back to each other eventually, especially since he’d already admitted to following her once.
She was driving toward the radio studio, a humble suite inside a corporate building in Hollywood, when her brother called again.
She pressed the button on her steering wheel to answer. “Hello?”
“Hey, Gem.” He sounded weary. Any flight he got on by now would have put him on the West Coast well into the evening.
Still, Gemma had hope.
“How’s it looking?”
“Not good. All the direct flights are full. I had another standby look promising, but people keep showing up at the last second. It’s like I’m not destined to make it home today.” He huffed a defeated-sounding laugh, and Gemma swallowed hard.
“Don’t say that. You can still get on a plane.”
“I’m not betting on it.”
Gemma gazed out at the busy street around her, traffic and pedestrians moving through another L.A. day. She wondered what Dr. Woods would say about Patrick being stuck on the East Coast. Was he snagged on something of his own? Or was his experience a consequence of Gemma being stuck?
“Patrick, has today seemed strange to you? Have you had any sense of déjà vu at all?”
She held her breath while she waited for him to answer.
“Well, I’ve walked about fifty laps around this terminaland can’t tell you which gate is which anymore, and I’ve seen the same people waiting for flights over and over, but other than that, no. Why?”
She mulled over his answer and felt guilty for condemning him to a crowded airport as prison. It seemed a lot worse than Lila’s smelly shampoo situation. And yet, she didn’t want to worry him from so far away.We’re stuck in a temporal anomalyseemed more like a face-to-face conversation.
“It’s been a weird day, that’s all.”
“You’re telling me. I woke up on a different continent, remember? Well, I think technically that was yesterday. Or was that tomorrow for you? I have no idea; I’ve lost track of time.”
“You and me both,” Gemma muttered, wondering if she and her brother had had the exact same conversation one hundred and forty-six times before.
