Page 73 of Time After Time
“Sylvie, this is ridiculous,”I sighed, leaning my elbow against the car window, my hand pressed against my clenched fist, the leg of my sunglasses digging into the sweaty side of my face. It was too hot, and it seemed Dani hadn’t bothered to mention that his car—whatever was wrong with it—also had a bust AC. “We’ve been out here for half an hour. We’ve driven all over Golden Sands, checked with Mr. Marley, I even checked our secret spot, and he’s nowhere. It’s hot, I’m tired, let’s just?—”
“There he is!”
My heart started pounding in a scary, uneven rhythm, hammering against my ears and tightening my throat. I shoved my sunglasses up onto my head and squinted hard, trying to spot Sebastian until I caught sight of his brace before I saw him.
“He just came out of the pharmacy.”
“Probably went to grab his painkillers.”
“Yeah, but where’s he going now?”
Sylvie parked the car and jumped out in one quick motion, keeping her eyes fixed on him while using the door as cover. I scrambled to follow, wide-eyed, as she soundlessly shut the door behind her, clearly set on following him. The second I closed the passenger door, I heard the car lock, but there was no time to think about it. Sylvie was already running toward the square, ducking behind a store to stay out of Sebastian’s sight.
“Sylvi—” I whispered, but she shushed me sharply. My heart pounded louder in my ears as I glanced between her and the diminishing figure of Sebastian ahead.
“This is crazy. We need to go back.”
“Gen, you’re just as curious as I am,” she whispered back, her eyes flashing with mischief. “I’m invested now. I need to know why he’s lying to the people he cares about most.”
With that and nothing more, Sylvie started moving, slipping from tree to building to behind a dumpster, shadowing Sebastian. I trailed behind her, a hollow feeling settling deep in my stomach, confused about why he would lie about his whereabouts. But beneath that, a heavier, sharper anxiety took hold. This felt wrong. Following him like this, spying as if he had done something terrible. Part of me wanted to stop, turn around, go home, and call him later to tell him I knew he had lied. To say it with quiet confusion, not anger. Wondering, not accusing. Every stepexceptthis one felt right, yet I found myself unable to speak up. Unable to tell my sister that what we were doing was wrong.
I nearly had a heart attack when Sebastian suddenly turned around, glancing over his shoulder. He headed toward where we were hiding, and Sylvie reacted fast, grabbing my hand and dragging me to sit on a bench next to Mr. McCall. She snatched up two newspapers and held them up to shield our faces, makingthe whole situation feel even more surreal. This was probably one of the worst ways to hide—films had taught everyone that.
Mr. McCall gave us a look like we had lost our minds, but thankfully, just shook his head and went back to his usual routine, selling the town’s newspaper from his favourite bench.
Sebastian slipped into the bookstore. A few minutes later, he came out empty-handed, which wasn’t surprising. He had a habit of doing that—wandering in, checking the shelves, leaving, and coming back days later to actually buy the books he wanted. That was why he always asked Cynthia to set aside certain editions, promising he’d return for them as soon as he could.
“Where do you think he’s going now?” Sylvie whispered as Sebastian glanced around once more, then headed to the end of the street, slipping through the narrow passageway between two stores and leaving the town square.
My sister immediately stood up and hurried after him, jogging a little, afraid we would lose sight of him. Our feet moved quickly, but not nearly as fast as my heart pounded inside my chest, racing through my mind and every part of my body. Anxiety prickled through me with sharp, relentless pulses.
“How did he even fit through this tiny space?” Sylvie grunted, twisting her body sideways to squeeze through without hurting herself. “He could have just walked around the store.”
“We could have too,” I muttered, gritting my teeth as I followed right behind her, moving as fast as we could and hoping that once we got through, we’d still be able to see where Sebastian had gone.
“Or perhaps you could have stayed home and not followed me.” The voice startled me. Sebastian was waiting at the end of the passageway, leaning against the back wall of one of the stores, his right arm resting against his chest in its brace and his left hand planted on his hip.Shit. “Why am I being followed, or should I say spied on, by the St. James sisters?” I had neverseen Sebastian look so serious, a deep displeasure etched across his face, his eyebrows fighting the urge to furrow. And the worst part? Even though he was addressing both of us, and his gaze flicked between me and Sylvie, I could tell the anger—the disappointment—was mostly directed at me.
My heart slammed against my ribs as if trying to escape, and my throat went dry, thick with the sudden sting of guilt. It was like standing on the edge of a crack, the ground shifting beneath my feet, and knowing that one wrong step could shatter everything between us. I wanted to speak, to fix it, but the words caught in my chest.
“Just seeing if Gen would make a good private investigator,” Sylvie said with a wide, careless grin, folding her arms across her chest like she didn’t have a care in the world.
“Neither of you could pull that off. I can assure you that,” Sebastian said flatly.
“Sebastian, I—” I started, my voice barely above a whisper.
“Why were you following me?”
“Because you lied to your mum, Robert, and her.” Sylvie scoffed.
“So you decided to follow me instead of, I don’t know, calling me or waiting until we saw each other to ask about it?”
His gaze locked onto mine, unwavering and intense, burning into me in a way that made me want to shrink into myself. The weight of his stare made my chest tighten. I hated he was upset, and even more, I hated it was because of my actions.
“I just…” My voice faltered, trembling under the pressure of his stare. His eyes were so dark I had to blink twice to make sure the person in front of me was really Sebastian Ventura. “I just found it strange, and I got a little worried. You left your phone at your mum’s house, and… and I was worried. You never lie. You never hide anything from me and?—”
He scoffed, shaking his head. The timing of that motion made my heart feel like it was being squeezed, like a lemon. Did he hide other things from me?
“Is that a good enough reason to follow me? To invade my privacy? To do whatever it is you both were trying to do with this? Because if I haven’t told you or anyone, it’s probably because I’m not ready to.”
