Page 61 of The Déjà Glitch

“She’s vain and self-obsessed, and it was all a mistake. I had forgotten about the breakup and the reason for it until I saw her today and she told me because I’ve been in here for so long.” He frowned at his explanation, and Gemma narrowed her eyes.

“That seems like a really convenient thing to forget, Jack.”

He held up his hands and blew out a breath. “I know. I know it looks bad, especially for her to show up like that, but I swear, I had forgotten. It was like I hadn’t seen her in five months until today, because she’s never shown up before.”

He’d said the same thing in the street by his house, and Gemma had been too angry to really think about it.

“How is that possible? You’ve never crossed paths with her until today?”

“Yes! That’s exactly it. I’ve been thinking about it, and Ithink it’s because you and I set different things in motion.Weare the anomaly now. Angelica has probably shown up at my house at that exact time every day for the past five months, but I’ve never been there before. I was there today because you and I went there on purpose. I think we were meant to run into her.”

Gemma frowned and crossed her arms again. “We weremeant to run into her? To what end?”

“So I could finally end things with her! Again!” He explained it like it all made perfect sense, like he had explained the temporal anomaly back in the coffee shop. And like then, he read the skepticism on her face. “Look, Gemma, I think we’ve set things in motion by diverging from the normal path. Things are happening now that have never happened before, and I think it’s a good thing.”

The temptation to believe him flitted near the center of Gemma’s brain like a hopeful little butterfly, but the reminder of the past few hours smashed it dead. She was, quite honestly, losing faith in some cosmic justification for the day’s events. If she had beenmeant tomeet Jack andmeant tovisit her father, why was it all going up in flames?

Her tone came out sharp. “How is me seeing you make out with your girlfriend a good thing?”

He closed his eyes and released a frustrated breath. By the time he opened his eyes, Gemma was gone again.

She moved closer to Lila, ready to leave the towering light maze and go home to Rex.

Jack reappeared and reached for her arm. His hand was warm and urgent against her skin. It sent a rush to her head that made her turn and look at him.

Sincerity painted his eyes the purest blue. “Gemma,Angelica and I are done. As soon as you left, I went and told her that. I’m never going to see her again. I swear to you, it’s over between us.”

She hadn’t been so emotionally vulnerable, so raw, in a long time. Allowing herself to believe him, to trust him, opened her back up in a way she wasn’t sure she was ready for.

Jack could see it on her face.

“Gemma, please. She doesn’t matter to me. Isn’t it a sign that I literally forgot about her? What happened between us isn’t important. It’syou, Gemma.Youare the center of everything. My whole universe has shifted to revolve around you. I’m literally stuck on you and only you. I need you. For more than one reason.”

His lips pulled into a soft smile that reminded Gemma with a jolt of the bar from the night before. The best kiss of her life.

She was tempted to kiss him again. Her heart was pounding out a rhythmicYes, but her head was screamingDanger. And there were things besides a persistent Bond Girl ex-girlfriend to consider.

“What about your job, Jack? You uprooted your whole life the day before you met me, and based on what your agent said on the phone, it sounds like a big deal.”

Jack let out a tense breath and squeezed his hands. “Yes, I know. That’s complicated and I still need to sort it out, but if Charlie got me out of one contract, he will get me out of another.”

The conversation she’d overheard between Jack and his agent was looping through her head when the gravity of what he had said suddenly hit her.

“Wait, what?”

He looked at her without much expression on his face other than the honesty in his eyes.

Gemma couldn’t believe what he was silently saying. “Jack, you’re going to give all that up? You’re going to have your agent undo the deal?”

He blinked once like it wasn’t even a question.

“That’s ridiculous.”

At the sight that she was about to turn to leave again, he suddenly sprang back to life. He reached out for her. “Is it, Gemma?”

“Completely, Jack,” she said without hesitation. The thought that he would even consider changing his life like that... And for her?

A rush of self-preservation overtook her, accompanied by what felt like pity for him.

---