She nods.
“So maybe we have to hold it and tell it what we want. Manifest getting back to NewYork, if you will.”
She blinks at me.
“Like a wish?”
“It seems like it’s worth a shot. Doesn’t it?”
She jumps off the couch and moves into the bedroom.
We finally have a lead. My pulse begins to climb as I wait for her return, and I take a few large sips of my wine. If she has this crystal, we could be home by morning. This whole thing could be over, and instead of focusing on getting home, we could focus on one another.
She walks back into the living room with her face turned downward and her shoulders slouched.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s not here,” she says, lifting the bag she’s holding.
“No?”
She digs in her purse. “I dropped my purse at the arena before the game. Maybe it fell out there?” She sits back on the couch and picks up her wine, taking a long sip. “Fuck, another dead end.”
“I don’t think so.”
“No?” Her eyes find mine. “If I don’t have the crystal, then I don’t think it’s how we got here.”
“I disagree.” I scoot a little closer to her and set my glass down. “What if your admission about being madly in love with me while you were in the cab?—”
“That’snotwhat I said in the cab.”
“That was the gist.”
She laughs. “Do you have a point?”
“What if you holding it in the cab is what started all of this, and now we just need to find another one to end it?”
She rubs the side of her hand across her forehead. “I think it could be worth a try.”
“Me too. Tomorrow we’ll go to Citrine Brews and buy a crystal.”
“Yeah, okay.” She nods, tears welling in her eyes. “That sounds good.”
“Why are you crying?”
“It just feels like we might actually have a chance of getting back for the first time since we got here.”
Taking her wine, I set it down and pull her into me.
Fuck, I really hope I’m right.
Chapter 26: That’s Comforting. I Guess?
Claire
December Twentieth
“Slow down,” Everett says, the two of us hurrying down the sidewalk toward the coffee and tea shop.
