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Time loop or not, and despite what had happened with remembering Jack, Gemma was one thousand percent positive she had never met Raul before. She scanned her memory as deep as it went for any indication that they’d stumbled into a new iteration of something she’d already done to explain why he recognized her and came up empty.
And then it clicked.
“You know me from the viral video,” she said with a glimmer of hope like the sun turning a rain cloud’s edges gold.
His face split into the wide, brilliant smile she knew was in there. “Yeah!” He turned to Lila. “And that would make you Lila in L.A.!”
Lila’s scowl instantly flipped into the charming, appreciative smile she wore whenever she met a fan. “Indeed, it would.”
Raul laughed a jolly sound and spread his arms. “No shit! I love you!” He stopped and cleared his throat, his cheeks going rosy. “I mean, your content is great.” He shyly smoothed his hair with a hand, and Gemma realized that they had met afanof Lila’s.
Lila flushed and flirtatiously shrugged her chin into her shoulder. “Thank you.”
Yes, Gemma thought at the chance this man might help them.Flirt your butt off, Lila.
Raul continued smiling at them, mostly Lila, as he put the pieces together. “So wait, you’re here for the guy? The guy from the video?”
“Yes!”they said at the same time.
Lila stepped forward and put her hand on his arm. “He’s leaving, Raul. He’s getting on a plane, and Gemma is here trying to stop him before it’s too late. Can you please help us?”
Raul looked over his shoulder at the staring crowd and swiped his hair again, obviously reluctant. “Can’t you call him or something?”
“I don’t have his number,” Gemma confessed. “I know it sounds ridiculous, but we only met today, and I don’t have any contact information for him. I actually just learned his last name a few minutes ago. But what Idoknow is he’s getting on a plane to London, and it will be the biggest mistake of my life if I let him go.”
It came straight from her heart again, and the warm swell of it—the truth—made her dizzy in the best way. She couldn’t fight the smile on her face despite the dire situation.
Raul took another glance over his shoulder. “Damn. This story is even better than I thought.”
“Isn’t it, though?” Lila crooned. She rose up on her toes and squeezed his left biceps like she was testing a piece of fruit for ripeness. “That’s why we need you, Raul. Youhave tohelp us. Gemmahasto make it to Jack, and you’re our only hope.”
She was selling it so hard that even Gemma was buying it.
Raul took a tense breath and scanned the room. Most everyone had gone back to their own business of lugging suitcases and looking all-around miserable. In the thick of it all, would anyone notice if he helped them bypass the rules?
Gemma chewed her lip, acutely aware of how much timehad passed since she had looked at the flight directory and seen that Jack’s plane was going to take off in thirty minutes. They were down to the wire.
Raul looked at their pleading faces, mostly Lila’s, and made a decision.
He gently pushed her camera down and nodded his head to their left. “You’ll have to stop filming, but you can come with me.”
Gemma’s heart surged.
Lila squealed and flipped her camera to face herself. “I’ll be back, my loves. Don’t go anywhere!” She clicked off the video and deftly collapsed the little tripod like a telescope. “Where are we going?”
Raul discreetly shuffled them toward the hall behind the counter. The security lines frothed like a boiling pot as passengers removed shoes and belts and loaded bins. Gemma couldn’t believe they were actually side-skirting it all. What they were doing was most definitely illegal.
They arrived at a door withAUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLYscreaming at them in large block letters, and Raul paused with a hand on it.
Gemma counted the loss of a few more seconds as they waited.
“You don’t have any weapons, do you?” Raul said.
“Of course not!” Gemma blurted.
“Only the burning flame in her heart!” Lila chirped behind her.
Gemma would have rolled her eyes, but she could not deny the heat rippling from her chest into her every limb.
