Epilogue
Every Thursday at nine p.m. I pull out my communicator and spend a happy few hours with the other Bethanys.
The weirdness of talking to alternate versions of myself hasn’t worn off yet, but I’m starting to think of them as twins rather than other selves.
Each week, one of us takes their turn in describing all the tiny details of their life and we marvel at the ways we’re both the same but also different.
We share our hobbies and movie recommendations and life hacks that make the day-to-day easier to navigate.
And every week, I make sure they give me an update on their progress with reconciling with their Cescas.
I undertook my side of the bargain and I’m holding them to theirs.
I find Amina Samar on LinkedIn. In this world she’s working in a rather dull-sounding office job, which I can only imagine is driving her nuts.
I send her a message, telling her that Imagine is always on the lookout for gifted women and I’d love to meet her to discuss a potential opportunity.
Two weeks later she starts work with us.
She’s brilliant and everyone praises my eye for talent.
I haven’t told her yet about how I knew where to find her.
I think it might freak her out to be honest. I mean, we were friends in another universe does sound kind of messed up.
A month after I get back, Cesca picks me up for our weekly pancake pilgrimage. But then she takes a wrong turn, heading towards Croydon instead.
‘Err … where are we going?’ I ask.
‘It’s a surprise,’ she replies with a massive grin plastered across her face. She refuses to say any more.
We pull up outside the Second Chance Rescue Centre. ‘Is this … ?’
‘Yep.’
‘Why?’
‘Because I found her.’ If it was possible, her grin would have got even bigger.
‘Who?’
‘Come see.’ She practically pulls me inside the large single-storey building. ‘She’s called Suzy. She’s been in a foster home rather than here at the shelter.’
‘Cesca. I can’t get a dog,’ I tell her.
She stops and spins round to look me. ‘Suzy isn’t a dog.’
‘Oh. Ooohhh.’ Cesca’s right, Suzy isn’t a dog.
Large brown eyes meet mine as I crouch down to greet her. She smells of earth and leaves and a subtle hint of salmon. I touch her silky fur and her tail thumps on the ground.
‘Hi, Lily,’ I whisper.
She bows her head and tucks herself into me.
‘Oh, she likes you,’ the woman from the rescue centre remarks.
Lily chuffs happily as I hold her tighter. ‘Let’s take you home,’ I tell her.
And now there’s only one final thing left to do.
Lily pushes her soft snout into my hand as we stand in front of the door, giving me the strength to ring the bell.
He opens the door dressed in a perfectly ripped pair of jeans and the same grey washed-out T-shirt he’s rocked in so many other worlds.
‘Bethany Raven,’ he says and his lips hitch into a lopsided smile.
‘You don’t sound surprised to see me.’
‘A little birdie told me you’d be coming.’
I stare back at him. ‘Who?’
‘He made some further improvements in the communicator so it now works to talk with universes without their own receiver. It was a bit of a surprise when he started talking to me.’ He chuckles softly.
‘Thought I’d finally lost the plot entirely.
Anyway …’ He tilts his head slightly as if he’s finally seeing me.
‘He told me to tell you that Amina sends her love and she has everything under control.’
‘He knew I’d come to find you?’
‘He told me you promised. And then he made me promise that if you didn’t then I had to find you.’
‘Oh.’ I have a million questions to ask. ‘How is he? And his Bethany?’
‘He’s good. And she’s finally left that awful husband of hers.’
Relief floods my system. I hope she kicked him in the bollocks and then went after all his money. Bastard.
‘I think he might be developing a bit of a crush …’ Tyler says, somewhat enigmatically.
I hold up my right hand so he can see my crossed fingers. ‘Hopefully,’ I say.
‘So I guess I have quite a lot to catch up on. I’m feeling a little on the back foot here, seeing how you’ve spent a lot of time with the other Tylers and I still think of you as …’ He trails off.
‘The ice queen, yes, I’m fully aware.’
Confusion skitters across his face as if perhaps that isn’t what he meant. ‘Well, I have wine. So, how about you come inside.’ He moves to his right to give me space to pass. He smells of the same dark and woody aftershave and my heart skips as I step into his home.
I reach out to touch him as I pass, my fingers grazing the skin of his forearm.
A shiver runs up the back of my neck. My fingers.
I tamp down the desire to kiss him right there on his doorstep, the irony not lost on me that I’m finally in a world where I can kiss him, but given we barely know each other here it would still be wildly inappropriate.
Or would it? There’s a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth and a glint in his eye. I can only assume the other Tyler has been telling him things about me. And we have known each other in this universe for years, even if we did think we hated each other.
‘It was a misunderstanding,’ I blurt out. ‘I thought you blanked me that morning in the hotel and that’s why I never called.’
He takes a step towards me. ‘I would never have blanked you.’
‘Well, I know that now.’ I pause for a moment. ‘Can we start again?’
He takes another step, so close now I could reach out and touch him. Lily takes matters into her own paws and scampers round him, pulling my hand holding her lead around his waist. He catches me as I stumble. ‘Woah there, Raven,’ he whispers.
I look up to find his eyes locked on mine. I throw caution to the wind and stretch up to kiss him. His lips are soft as they meet mine.
He tastes of custard creams.
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