Chapter 14
Adam
Adam reset in the office. Shireen pulled away from him. They exchanged a resigned look, and then she left the room. Business
as usual, really.
Except today would be Adam’s chance to shine. He felt bad for Carly, seeing as the evidence hadn’t favored her wild idea.
But still, how would the two of them cause a shift in time and space? Her notion had no logic. His theory that the shadow
bands had caused a perfect ripple in time and trapped them all still had potential. Heck, depending on the data he collected
throughout the day, there might even be a new option to consider.
As such, Adam walked out of the office and into the hallway with vigor. Today would be a fact-seeking mission, and he knew
just the place to start.
“Oh, Carly.” He singsonged her name. “I have an idea of how to pursue the ‘Adam Knows Best’ Theory. That’s a working title,
of course. Open to suggestions,” he said.
Carly cautiously walked out of the funeral service room and into the hallway. She stood to face him, almost squarely. Her fists balled at her sides. “You can do this, Carly,” she said to herself.
He watched her closely. As was the case with most of his Carly interactions, this one was baffling.
Then she took a deep breath and began to march toward him. “Carly?” he asked with some alarm as she showed no signs of slowing.
She stopped mere inches from him, so close he could see the constellation of freckles dotting the bridge of her nose. Carly
looked up and he looked down at her.
“Ummm,” Adam tried again.
“I need to do something, for science, and I need you to trust me.” Her hands reached up and landed on the sides of his face,
squeezing onto him like he was a basketball.
“Okay,” he nervously replied.
“The kiss will be brief, and it won’t mean anything. I just need to try this.” Her eyes widened, and he was certain his had,
too.
“A kiss?” he asked.
“A small one. Okay?” She waited for him to agree, but he was stunned into silence. Maybe he nodded. He wasn’t sure, but before
he had much time to protest, she said, “Three, two, one, blastoff.”
Carly hopped onto her tiptoes, pulled Adam toward her and kissed him. The kiss was painful, in that she pressed way too hard
against his lips, and he gasped in shock, which somehow caused her to bite down on his lower lip. And then she released him,
and he reeled backward, nearly tripping over his own feet. His hand instinctively went to his lips and pressed against them.
“What was that?” he said, rubbing at the bitten part. Unlike the fake kiss they’d done in front of Shireen, there was no thumb
and no audience.
“I figured out why my theory didn’t work the last loop.” She adjusted her glasses, which drew his attention to her eyes.
He momentarily got lost in them. His focus returned, though. “Because it’s not based in scientific fact?”
“It is based in evidence, though, which is a kind of fact?”
“Fair.” He had to give her that one.
She started to walk toward the front door and motioned for him to follow. “I realized that one of the key things that happened
with the loops that shortened was physical connection—touch—of some kind between us. The last loop, no touching and no change.”
“So you’re suggesting that the loop is changing only when you and I touch each other?” Adam held the door open for her and
she walked through. “You’re really grasping at straws. You see that, right?”
“I do, yes,” she said.
“And why not just hold my hand?” he pressed on. “Why a full kiss?”
“The first time we—the stage kiss—when that happened, I experienced this kind of jolt. I don’t know how to describe it. But
like, a little flurry, and I just think that was a signal of like, a charge or something, that caused the change, if that
makes sense?” Her hands fidgeted at her sides, and he wondered if talking about this made her nervous. That was . . . interesting.
But he didn’t say that out loud because, well, he’d felt a little flutter, too. Though, he was mostly sure the flutter came
from someone attractive touching him.
Attractive, hot, cute and irrational. These were all words to describe Carly.
“Anyways, we’ll see if I’m right in a few hours. It’s all in the name of ending the loop, right? And in the meantime, we can
go do whatever science stuff you want.” She had the nerve to smile.
“Whatever science stuff I want?” he parroted back. “You just kissed me, and now you think we can just pivot to me?”
“Why not?” she asked.
He rubbed his temple with a knuckle in annoyance. “You don’t even know what I want to do to test my theory. Maybe what you
just did compromised any results I might have today.”
“Oh,” she said through a cringe. “Did I compromise them?”
“No,” he admitted. “But you could’ve.”
Carly rolled her eyes.
“Going forward, we need to discuss these things. No more surprise . . . anythings.” His eyes flitted over the length of her,
and he realized that while the kiss had been jarring and eye-opening for him, maybe it wasn’t for Carly, who simply stood
as if nothing had happened. That could only be because the kiss was platonic.
“That’s fair.” She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and erased any trace of his lips.
Right, it was just a fake kiss to test a bogus theory. He needed to get himself together. He tried for sarcasm as he said,
“Don’t sound too excited about my science stuff.”
“I can’t help it. Science makes me extremely excited,” she said in a flat, deadpan voice.
He could do this. He could move on from the fact that he’d just been kissed and go about the day normally. He was pursuing
facts.
“We have what we need for timekeeping.” Adam lifted his wrist and gestured to the watch. “But what I want to do is record
the shadow bands on a camera so we can measure the length of them. My theory is that the shadow bands had an unexpected nuance
that caused a ripple in time itself. Therefore, if I can find a way to stop the shadow bands—which occur right before the
eclipse—then the loop will stop as well.”
“I mean, I have to admit that what you’ve just said is a little confusing but also sounds very legit. How do we measure these things?” Carly asked.
She was funny, which didn’t help his finding her hot thing. He cleared his throat, and the thought, as he said, “My dad has
a super-fancy camera from when he went through his photography stage. I can grab that for the eclipse this evening.”
“Your dad?” she hedged. “Does that mean I get to meet the man who made this vision?”
Adam shook his head. “There will be no meeting. We will park the car, I’ll get the camera and then we’ll be off.”
“Okay.” She smiled and he noticed the hint of a dimple in one cheek. Had that always been there?
Before Adam could get his wits back, Carly turned and walked ahead of him toward the hearse. There was something about her
chipper mood that made him ill at ease, but he pushed that all down, because today was the day he was going to prove himself
right.
As he parked in front of his parents’ house, his dad’s voice sailed across the air, and Adam sensed that all was not going
to go according to plan.
“Adam, honey?” his dad tried again.
Apparently, instincts were a thing that mattered. He’d always relied more on the evidence in front of him, but now his gut
clenched in dread.
“Oh my God, was that your dad?” Carly grabbed Adam’s arm. “I love it when old men use the word honey. It’s just somehow sweeter, don’t you think?”
Then Bill rounded the corner from where the herb garden was, and Adam could already see exactly how this would go: Bill would introduce himself, Sheila would hear the commotion and come outside and invite Carly in.
Within moments, Carly would be offered a room in their home, his dad would paint her into the family portrait and she’d be written into his parents’ living wills.
Adam abruptly started the car again. “We’re out of here,” he said.
“What? Are we seriously not even going to say hi? Your dad looks worried now.” Carly gestured to where Bill stood, gardening
hat in his hands and scratching his head in confusion.
Adam gritted his teeth. “No hellos, no waves, not even a distant nod.”
Carly didn’t like that answer, apparently, because she rolled down the car window and loudly shouted, “Hi, Mr. Rhodes!”
“Uh, Adam’s friend?” Bill asked back.
“That’s me!” Carly’s voice oozed with an overly sweet tone. “Nice to meet you!”
“Nice to meet you, too!” his dad hollered back.
“We’ll be back later,” Adam sharply called out. Then, in a lower voice only meant for Carly, he said, “Stop being so naughty.”
As the words left his mouth, his soul also left his body. Had he just called Carly naughty? And had she noticed? He chanced a glance in her direction, but she seemed to be avoiding his gaze entirely.
Then she turned to him, grabbed his hand and looked him right in the eyes as she said, “I’m going to be extra obnoxious, just
because you said that,” which confirmed she had, in fact, noticed.
Adam felt his whole face burn with embarrassment. What should he have to be so humiliated about, though? All he’d done was
suggest she was naughty. Okay, yeah, he was embarrassed.
Even thinking the word sent a jolt to his dick, which he wrestled back as she got out of the car. He watched her approach Bill, offer a handshake and instead be met with a hug. Her eyes bulged then eased as she hugged his dad back.
Now it was only a matter of time before—
“Sheila!” Bill loudly shouted out. “Carly is here!”
As if ferried in by magic, Sheila appeared and hugged Carly, too. He almost felt like he was watching a happy family reconnect
after years of being apart. Then all three of them turned to eye the hearse, and he knew his time was up.
Adam let out a long-suffering sigh, killed the engine and got out of the car.
While Adam had intended for this to be a swift errand to get a camera, his parents made quick work of getting to know Carly.
They gave her a tour of the house, made her a tea, got her snacks and sat her down at the breakfast nook.