Amie wasn’t sure about that. She doubted there’d be a second (third? She was losing track) friend date if she suddenly ran out in the middle of it. She frowned at the memory of Ziya smiling sadly at her before suggesting they give it more time.
“Hey.”
David’s expression had morphed into what she’d internally dubbed his “dad face.”
“You’re the only one who knows what you can handle,” he said. “If you don’t think you can do tonight, that’s fine.”
Amie wasn’t sure if she knew what she could handle. Her experience that morning indicated that she was incapable of even a short walk to get breakfast. One line of police tape could send her running for the hills. She didn’t want Ziya to see her like that.
“Did you hear about Savannah?” she asked, needing a change of subject.
David had returned to his battery testing. “What poor soul was subjected to her foul misdeeds this time?”
“Um … God? Or Satan, I guess. Or no one. Depends who you ask.”
David looked at her. “What are you saying?”
“She’s dead?”
“Are you asking or telling?”
“I haven’t confirmed it with anyone official, but I’ve historically found baristas to be pretty reliable sources, so …”
She trailed off. David’s gaze had drifted past her face, eyes unfocused, face pinched.
“You okay?” Amie asked.
He blinked, then nodded. “Well … ding-dong, I guess.”
“That’s not very nice.”
“Shewasn’t very nice.” David reached over and rolled the batteries to his side of the table, having lost patience with Amie forgetting to pass them to him. “Just yesterday I had to stop her from tearing the head off of a grocery store employee.”
“Right,” Amie murmured knowingly. She hadn’t joined David on his weekly Monday morning trip to the grocery store on the last day of the time loop, but she had on previous days. Like clockwork (which was how almost everything worked in the time loop), Savannah would show up and begin chewing out the employee working at the flower counter.
Amie had quickly learned how to keep David from intervening. He and Savannah had a history of public spats, and she’d known that letting him enter the ring would have just added fuel to Savannah’s fire. This was confirmed any day Amiedidn’tjoin him on his trip to the store, as David would recount an explosive argument ended by a close brush with the store’s security.
“Do you know what happened?” David asked, interrupting Amie’s trip down memory cul-de-sac.
“My source said the cops are considering murder, but that could’ve just been someone jumping to conclusions.” She frowned. “It’s just … hard to wrap my head around.”
“Why, because you thought she was an immortal imp of hell with the sole mission of making people’s lives miserable?”
Amie rolled her eyes. “No.” She continued haltingly, this being her first time vocalizing these feelings. “I just never thought … I mean, when I was in the time loop, I thought a lot aboutwhyit was happening to me, sure. But I didn’t want to … I don’t know, mess anything up, I guess. It felt like something huge was at work, and I figured if I just kept my head down and rode it out, that one day I’d come out the other side.”
“And you did,” David said.
“And I did. But what if …” She trailed off, unable to bring herself to finish the sentence.
“You think you were put in the time loop to stop Savannah from being murdered,” David finished for her, his tone matter-of-fact.
Amie shrugged.
“Hm. Could be.”
“Could be?” Amie yelped. She’d been hoping for reassurance that she was jumping to conclusions, not validation.
“Well, I don’t know!” David seemed indignant that his response was taken so poorly. “It’s possible, but just as possible as a goddamntime loop, which most people would say isn’t very possible. So, yes, thatcould bean answer.”
