Page 14 of The Charlie Method

“You know,” I tell her, “the only reason I’m even paying attention in these meetings is for you, Madam President.”

“And I very much appreciate it.”

She comes up behind me, wrapping her arms around my shoulders to give me a tight hug. Then she smacks a kiss on my cheek and goes to wipe down the counters.

Do it now, when she’s in a good mood, an inner voice implores.Tell her you want to find your biological relatives.

Another opportunity has presented itself. We’re both calm and content—the perfect time to drop a bomb like the one I’m sitting on.

Do it.

Tell her.

“Come on,” Mom says, heading for the doorway. “Let’s go see if your sister and Kat still want to go for that walk.”

The opportunity once again slips through my fingers.

I chickened out again.

Disgusted with myself, I check my phone while she ducks out of the kitchen to find Ava. There’s a notification from my hookup app informing me I have a new match.

Curious, I tap it to discover I’ve matched with the owners of the two ludicrously ripped chests. I open the chat thread, assuming I’ll see a picture of a veiny penis or some lascivious line likeHey baby, show us your tits.

Instead, they throw me for a loop.

LARS & B:

Do you believe time travel is possible? And if the answer is no, how does it feel to be so monumentally wrong?

I bite my lip to stop a wave of laughter. I…was not expecting that. I actually have to think about it for a minute before formulating a response.

ME:

I think it’s possible, but I don’t believe you can change the past. Otherwise there’s no way to reconcile all the time-travel paradoxes. There’s this physicist, Novikov, who has a whole theory about it.

To my surprise, someone starts typing back immediately.

LARS & B:

Holy shit. You know about the Novikov self-consistency principle?

ME:

Who doesn’t? I feel like it’s just common sense.

LARS & B:

Will you marry me?

ME:

It depends. Who am I speaking to right now? Lars or B?

LARS & B:

It’s B. Lars is around here somewhere.

ME:

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