Chapter 17 #2
She knew he would drive her, but what was the point? The guy had given her what was probably one of the more intense orgasms
of her life a short while ago, but was going to be with his parents and his ex . . . still wife. Whatever the hell Shireen
was.
“No, I’ll walk,” Carly said.
Adam began to head toward the parking lot. Something about him just slightly out of reach and leaving felt so much like when
her dad revealed his plans to move to Julian. Now Adam, who Carly liked very much, was giving her proof that he was no better.
She knew the comparison wasn’t fair—surely Adam wasn’t intentionally trying to hurt her—but what else was she to think? Carly
was like an exposed nerve that had just been poked; tears formed in her eyes. She didn’t want Adam to see her crying over
this, over him. Maybe in some little corner of his brain he did care for her, but this still didn’t feel great.
She wasn’t like Adam, though. She wasn’t going to just roll over and let a wormhole gobble her up. She was going to go into
town and try to do something about this situation. She’d do everything she could, and she knew exactly where to go.
The Julian Heritage Museum was in a Victorian home about a mile from the center of town with pink-and-purple trim and a large wraparound porch. The street where the museum stood was suburban, and the sun burned hot and bright in the sky above the home.
Carly had been to the “Dollhouse,” as the party was dubbed, on more than one occasion; she knew to knock on the door twice
and wait to be welcomed in. A series of locks undid themselves, and the old lady who ran the Dollhouse answered in an eighteenth-century
white dress with a blue ribbon sash at the center. Her look was completed with an intricate lace collar, blue hat with pristine
ivory feathers, a dainty lace umbrella, stockings and simple heels.
“May I help you?” the old woman asked.
“I seek revolution.” Carly recited the password she’d been taught.
She sought revolution, all right. She was about to launch an uprising in this town.
The woman nodded, opened the door and Carly walked through. Upon entering, there were nude magicians performing impressive
sleight-of-hand tricks without the help of sleeves. At least a dozen overly fluffy cats sunned themselves by the windows and
seemed oblivious to the energetic piano music being played on the square grand in the corner.
Carly began to walk down the hall, past a room with a tattoo artist and a line of customers waiting to be inked, another with
an in-progress séance, a closed door with a sign on the outside that read Enter the Galactic G Spot. But Carly wasn’t in need of sex, ghosts or pain. In that moment, she needed to find a particular someone.
When she stepped through the doors, the grass was littered with beanbag chairs, and against the wood fence were folding tables filled with food.
Carly scanned the tables, and then, in tiered perfection, she saw a cheese fountain.
Bubbling, flowing cheese so yellow there was no way it wouldn’t cause health issues in the future.
But according to Adam, she had no future!
Carly smiled as the first wave of joy she’d felt all day flooded through her. The person she needed hadn’t arrived, but this
cheese would solve her problems. This cheese would want nothing except for her to consume more. This cheese was her god now.
“Come here, you beautiful little dream.” She took a tortilla chip and as she was about to slide it into the gooey waterfall,
a voice interrupted her.
“Is that you, Carly Sue?”
Carly shielded her eyes with the chip to see Mayor Franco. Carly was pleased. The mayor was just the person she needed for
the next stage of her plan.
“My middle name is Florence,” Carly said.
“Carly Florence,” the mayor said as she tucked into a beanbag. “Nah, Carly Sue has a better ring to it.”
Carly gave her an amused look. “I was hoping you’d be here,” she said earnestly.
“Yeah, where the hell have you been anyway?” The mayor adjusted her gold bolero and fanned out the sequined jacket so that
it more resembled a cape. “Moms doesn’t feel as fun without you.”
“I’ve been distracted.” She cleared her throat. “I got swept up in trying to find a way out of the loop.”
“Rick got to you, huh?” Franco clicked her tongue. “He’s got some wild theories, I’ll tell you what. He once told me that
the reason mice try to come into our homes is because the aliens use them as spies. I mean, that would be smart of the aliens,
but I’m pretty sure that’s not true.” Mayor Franco cocked her head in a way that suggested she was considering the idea again.
Carly hesitated. Rick hadn’t gotten to her—Adam had gotten to her. And the sooner Carly told the truth, the sooner she’d find a way out of the loop. “How about we go into the crystal igloo and I’ll tell you about it?”
And so, it was inside the makeshift igloo, filled with colorful crystals, that Carly told Mayor Franco about Adam, the eclipse
and how they might be on the verge of being sucked into a wormhole. Adam hadn’t wanted to tell anyone else what they’d found,
but now Carly had told the person in town who would let everyone know.
Because while Adam might want to keep their information close, Carly didn’t want to vanish. She wanted to break out of the
loop. Once she did, she’d get back to her old life, and the email from Marilyn Montgomery, and she’d never think of Adam and
his wonderfully scratchy shadow of a beard again.
When she’d finished telling the mayor everything she knew, Carly felt safe with the knowledge that she was no longer alone,
even if Adam had wanted her to be.