Page 8 of Before the Summer He Found Her

The rest of him is a golden blur.

Despite all my grief, for the briefest of instants, he brings me a sliver of joy. Even though I don’t know him, and he’s probably some dead guy visiting me, what happened is phenomenal.

Out of this world.

I try to hold on to that sputter of joy his presence brings as my world continues to crumble.

CHAPTER FOUR

EZRA

Present

Right after she clicks onto our weekly one-on-one virtual meeting, Channah lets out a deep huff, eyes tinted with amusement.

“Enjoy yourfunweekend?” she asks. “Regal me with all your stories. I’m dying to know.”

I’m immediately struck by the perkiness of her eyes and smile, my mind flashing to the Channah of the past. Er, at least, what I was told was her past. I recall the woman with the dark eyes, hunched over and feeling like death.

Is it possible Sasha’s device isn’t a time viewer at all, and I visited a Channah that doesn’t exist? Or perhaps Sasha’s device only shows a pretend, alternate reality? Technology has come far these days. Has Sasha mistaken a game for reality? I still can’t fathom the idea that it’s real, even if my gut tells me it is.

I force a smile, not wanting Channah to somehow sense the truth of my thoughts. “Oh, I had an absolute blast sifting through the QA audit. Do you know that unalarming sites know how to dance? They had me up well past my bedtime partying hard.”

She lets out a loud, singleha. Covering her mouth, a soft blush creeps up on her cheeks so deep I can see it even through our video connection.

“Sorry,” she says, “I so did not mean to laugh that loud or hard.”

She’s embarrassed, and it’s adorable, and against my better judgement, the whole thing makes me smile. My cheeks warm.

“Tell me about your fun weekend since mine was so uneventful,” I say, moving on to clear my head. Choosing to omit any mention of the party from Saturday. Somehow, telling her about it feels all kinds of wrong.

“I’m happy to report I spent the weekend catching up on my shows, and I rewatched all of the KelvinverseStar Trekmovies. Because, priorities.”

“Now, that sounds like fun.”

“Oh, it was, indeed. Not without me itching to check my computer every hour, but I did as you asked.”

“Believe me, I know the feeling. And I’m proud of you for your level of restraint.”

We’re both smiling, and a pregnant pause consumes us. We’ve fallen into these awkward moments before during our weekly one-on-ones, but this time, for me anyway, there’s a concrete reason. A dull pain gnaws at my insides as I recognize Channah did not mention talking to or visiting friends or family. I try to assuage myself that means nothing. After all, she’s speaking to her boss. But the vision of her from Saturday hangs at the forefront of my mind.

I feel her loneliness of that vision in my heart.

And I hurt for her.

Perhaps it’s for this reason that I bring up something far from ordinary between two people who work together. Because the rest of the weekend I could not get her agony out of my mind, and I need to know the truth.

“Can I ask you something random?” I prod. “Something I’ve been thinking about after an, er, odd experience this last weekend. I’d like to get a non-biased person’s perspective.”

Good. Hopefully convincing enough.

“Oh, yeah!” she says. “Of course. What’s up?”

Now, how exactly do I broach this without sounding like a lunatic?

“Er… this will sound quite random,” I say, “but, umm, have you ever experienced anything so bizarre you can’t put it into words?”

She laughs softly. “Bizarre? You’ll have to be more specific. I’ve experienced a lot of weird things in my life.”

---