Page 46 of Time Loops & Meet Cutes
“Daddy!” She starts bawling and runs after him.
“Okay, okay, I’ll do it during your nap.” He sits cross-legged on the mat and brings a few toys closer for her inspection.
“Am-ee,” she says.
I have no idea what that means, but Dalton reaches for a plastic wrench and sets it in front of her.
“Am-ee!” She smacks it against a yellow plastic toy, which starts singing the numbers.
I wonder how many times he hears that every day.
As we watch Lenora whack a plushie with her wrench, Dalton says, “Mona’s pregnant.”
“Oh my god!” I say. “Congratulations.” I give him a hug. “Do Mom and Dad know?”
He smiles. “We’re going to tell them next weekend.”
I mime zipping my lips. “How far along is she?”
“Thirteen weeks. At the end of the year, you’re going to be a big sister, aren’t you, Lenora?”
“Daddy! Up!”
He pulls her into his lap.
Eventually, she’s distracted enough that Dalton is able to disappear into the kitchen without her noticing, but when she realizes he’s gone—about four minutes later—she wails like she’s been grievously betrayed. She scampers off with her wrench and stuffed monkey in hand… and she trips on the edge of the tile floor, which is slightly higher than the parquet. I see it happen as if in slow motion, but I’m not close enough to stop it. Her head hits the leg of the coffee table, and she wails even louder.
Dalton is there in a flash, scooping her into his arms and examining her injury. No blood, but I suspect she’ll have a bruise.
“It’s okay,” he murmurs, and within two minutes, she’s running around again.
Next time, I promise myself, I’ll stop that accident from happening.
On the bus, I pull out my phone to text Cam. It’s not until I fail to find his contact info that it hits me.
Cam Huang doesn’t know who I am. The man who’s watched several movies with me, beaten me twice at bowling—and lost to me at mini-golf—doesn’t know who I am, even though he’s kissed me dozens of times.
If I text him right now, he’ll assume I have the wrong number.
I don’t know how I forgot. After all, this has been my life for quite a while. But it also happened when Dalton told me about Mona’s pregnancy: I failed to realize that as long as I’m stuck in this loop, I’ll never meet their new baby. I’ll never see Lenora get older.
I feel a keen sense of anguish.
Yes, I can try out different hair colors. I can eat expensive foods. I can even travel to New York and go up the Empire State Building.
But nothing can change, not really. Anything that happens is washed away at three in the morning, existing only in my and Avery’s memories.
And even then… everything is blurring together.
I head to Leaside Brewing rather than going straight home.
“Hey,” Cam says from behind the bar. “Have we met before? You look really, really familiar, but I can’t recall your name.”
I force myself not to wince.
“No.” I don’t introduce myself. “A pint of the Corktown, please.”
“Somehow, I knew you were going to order that.”
