Page 42 of The Déjà Glitch

Gemma’s face warmed at the thought that she had thatkind of effect on him, and she couldn’t deny there had been a little earth-tilting for her too. “And what, you’d been asleep for the morning up until that point?”

He shrugged. “I mean yeah. My day is pretty routine, so nothing jumped out asthis is exactly what happened yesterdayfor the first hour until I found myself slamming into the best person who I could possibly hope to spill coffee on.”

“You’re doing the flattery thing again,” she said, and poked her food.

“Sorry. I can’t help it. But you’d be the same if you spent every day with you too.”

Gemma laughed. “I do spend every day with me. I’m not that exciting.”

“I beg to differ.”

She was nearing the end of her mimosa and wondered if a second would be permissible since she was off work for the rest of the day. The juicy bubbles had her head feeling light and curiously accepting of her whole situation. “What about yesterday?” she asked Jack. “And I don’t mean yesterday as in the previous iteration of this day, I mean therealyesterday, as in the day before all this started.”

Jack was halfway done with his sandwich. He looked up at her with an interested tilt of his head. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, what’s the last thing you remember before you got stuck in a spiral of spilling coffee on me every day?”

“You’re never going to let that go, are you?”

“Not until you buy me a new shirt, or we make it out of this day.”

He smiled and picked up his tea. “Let’s hope for the latter so the former isn’t necessary.”

She lifted her mimosa and clinked her glass to his.

“So?” she asked. “What happened to you yesterday?”

He stared down at his plate like he was concentrating. “Yesterday...” He blinked a few times, clearly struggling, and shook his head with a laugh. “That’s funny. I’ve never really thought about it. I must have... I mean, today is Thursday, so it would have been a normal Wednesday, but I’m not sure what...”

An odd feeling washed over Gemma. It felt very significant in an unsettling way.

“Can you not remember, Jack?”

His eyes snapped up to hers. He blinked a few more times and narrowed his gaze. “I mean, I must have gone to work. We’re midseason on the show, and I’ve been on set most days, but I can’t...” He let out an uncomfortable laugh, and a look of true concern filled his face.

Gemma reached for his hand, not wanting to see him upset.

He squeezed her hand with a tight, warm grip. “Gemma, have I been stuck too long to remember what came before?” The edge of worry in his voice grew sharp. He looked at her, desperately, like she would have the answer. “Can you remember yesterday?”

Gemma scanned her mind and didn’t have to look far. She had taken Rex to the groomer and talked to her mother on the phone about Patrick returning home. They had planned a trip to Phoenix to visit.

“Yes,” she told Jack. “But it’s only been one day in here for me from my perspective. You’ve been here much longer, so maybe that’s why?” She threw out the suggestion having no idea if it made any sense.

Jack held on to her hand, and for the first time, the bright optimism faded from his face. He looked frightened. “Gemma, what does this mean? I can’t remember what came before.”

She didn’t have an answer for him, but she was spared by his phone ringing.

He let go of her hand to reach for it and frowned. He let out a big sigh.

“What is it?”

He scrubbed his face with a hand. “The worst part of the day, other than when you leave me. Damn it. I lost track of time.” He switched his phone to silent and left it buzzing on the tabletop. Gemma recognized the upside-down name of the caller not because she knew Jack’s personal contacts, but because she had seen it on TV.

“You’re not going to answer that?”

“She’ll call back,” Jack said wearily. “Again and again and again...” He repeated the word with a swinging tempo and sighed.

They hadn’t discussed too much about his job, but she put the pieces together easily enough to know he was screening calls from an Emmy-winning director who was for all intents and purposes his boss like she was a persistent telemarketer.