Page 62 of The Déjà Glitch

“This whole thing is ridiculous, Jack.” She pointed at the ground as if to signify the moment they were standing in and all her frustration because of it. “Every single thing that has happened since you spilled coffee on me has been absurd.”

He took a steadying breath for the both of them. “I know, okay?Believe me, I know.” He swiped a hand through his hair and gave her a pained, pressing look. “But I still think I’m right. I think we need each other, Gemma.” He glanced over his shoulder and then stepped closer to her. “Listen, it might not feel like my place to say anything, but I’ve known you for five months now, and I think... I think you’re unhappy too.” His eyes searched hers, pleading and sincere. Gemma swallowed a lump in her throat. “I think you feel stuck in your job. I think you’re lonely. I think what that asshole ex-boyfriend did to you that I didn’t even know about until today is still hurting you. And I think your dad—”

“Stop!” she blurted, and held up her hands. The lump in her throat was threatening to boil up into her eyes and spill over. She felt like he’d pushed every painful button she kept hidden at the same time. All at once she wanted to shove him away and fold herself into his arms. No one had seen her vulnerabilities in a long time—she hadn’t let anyone. And there he was, stripping her down in broad daylight.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I just think there might be things that are keeping you stuck—keepingusstuck—in this day, and I want to—”

She recoiled, and he stopped talking. “You think this is my fault?”

“No! That’s not what I meant. I only meant that I think we have to help each other.”

She folded her arms and glared at him. “I thought I was the key. Now I’m partially responsible?”

“Yes, I think so! But not in a bad way. Everything is different now. We changed it.” His eyes were bright and hopeful again, and temptation to believe him thudded in her chest.

But there were too many obstacles for her to throw her heart into the unknown and hope a stranger would catch it.

“I don’t think so, Jack. What if it’s been you and only you all along? Maybe a plane to Europe, to your new life, will fix this whole mess, and you don’t need me for anything.”

His face crumpled into hurt as if she had truly wounded him. “Gemma, you can’t say that.”

“Why not? How do you know it’s not the solution? Have you tried leaving?”

As soon as the words were out, part of her wished she could suck them back in.

Jack paused. The answer was obviouslyno, and thecontemplative look on his face made her feel as if her stomach had been thrown off a very high cliff. She’d just told him to leave, and despite her uncertainty, the thought frightened her.

But she couldn’t unring the bell.

Lila cleared her throat from beside them. They both turned to see her watching them, having finished her video. She held her smaller tripod down at her side and gave them a look that Gemma hoped didn’t mean she was about to provide an unsolicited romantic mediation service to mend their spat. Thankfully, she gave Gemma a cautious but encouraging smile and left the next move up to them.

Gemma decided to listen to the logic in her head saying that the day and her belief in something magical happening to her had been a mistake. Plus, she’d given Jack the green light to run away from it all. It was over. Maybe it was all for the better.

She turned to him and removed her arm from his grip. “Bye, Jack.”

She left him standing there amid the lights and the sunny day and went to help Lila pack up her equipment. To her relief, or maybe disappointment, he didn’t follow her.

•••

Gemma was stillwithout a car, so she found herself in Lila’s passenger seat as they battled traffic back to Silver Lake. Lila tapped her thumbs on the steering wheel and hummed along to the radio rather than pressing her about her conversation with Jack. She might not have heard it, but given the fact that Gemma had walked away at the end, it obviously had not gone favorably.

She sat lost in her thoughts, gazing out the window as they inched their way across the city.

First her father and then Jack. Actually, first Jack, and then her father, and then Jack again. What an unpleasant little emotional sandwich of an afternoon she’d had.

But at least she had severed the tie.

As she sat in traffic, Jack was probably realizing that moving to Europe was in fact the way out of the loop and he had wasted five months chasing after her for no reason. Forget the snag, forget the earth tilt. Forget their kiss. None of it mattered. All that mattered was his new life five thousand miles away, where he would write fantasy stories in the misty Highlands and wear thick sweaters and drink espresso in tiny cafés and never think of her again.

She angrily stewed at the same time she felt as if a rope were suddenly slipping from her hands and the end was going to disappear and take Jack with it before she could get a grip.

It was unfair, really. All of it. The guy showed up out of nowhere and she was supposed to let him turn his entire life on its head for her after a single day? And what about him telling her she was unhappy? How presumptuous.

She had to admit, though, the truth of what he’d said felt like it had slapped her in the face. To some extent, shewasstuck at work. She’d been wanting to move up but never took the opportunity.

Until he had encouraged her to do the interview.

She hated to admit it, but aside from hanging out with Lila and calling her mom, she buried her loneliness in books and TV and caring for Rex and the six months of the year she spent planning for her brother’s return.

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