“Oh, god.” Amie covered her face with her hands.
There was silence from David. Then, in a gentler tone:
“But that doesn’t mean it’s your fault. If the universe wanted you to become a crime-fighting superhero, it could’ve left a few more tools at your disposal other than a repeating day. At the very least, it could’ve left you a note saying something like, ‘Hey! Savannah’s getting murdered. Would appreciate it if you tried to save her. Thanks so much!’ ”
Amie peeked at him through her fingers. “You make it sound like the universe hired me as a pet sitter.”
David snorted. “We can’t know what the reason was,” he said. “If there evenwasa reason. All you can do now is move on with your life. Are you going to do that?”
Amie thought for a moment. She picked up her phone.
Amie: Tonight would be great! Would you be open to trying a different place?
She locked the phone and put it down before she could overanalyze her response.
David was staring at the voltmeter, eyebrows furrowed. The longer Amie looked at him, the more it seemed like he was staring straight through it.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” she finally asked.
“No,” he said, his eyes focusing on the device again. “I’m annoyed that none of these batteries are any good.”
Amie leaned across the table to look at the voltmeter. “The screen’s blank. Shouldn’t it at least be showing zeros or something?”
David threw his hands up. “I don’t know. I got it at an estate sale, and no one ever knows where the instructions are at those things. Got kicked out of one once for rummaging around in the kitchen drawers looking for a toaster manual.”
“Does it have batteries?” Amie asked.
She watched him stare at the device for another moment, thinking. Then he flipped it over and removed a panel from its back, revealing two empty spots for batteries.
David dropped the voltmeter with an irritated growl and stood. “I need a cup of tea.”
As he filled the kettle with water, Amie popped two batteries into the device.
“Well,” she said cheerfully, holding up the voltmeter to show him the line of zeros on the screen, “we know two of the batteries work!”
David grunted.
Amie stood outside of the restaurant, back pressed to the wall in a way she hoped looked casual and not like she was desperately trying to stay out of the way of the world.
The trip over had been easier than her morning bagel excursion. David was right—it helped not to have expectations for how things were meant to go. Still, she had stood very far from the curb as she waited for the bus to arrive, and caught herself anxiously gripping her legs multiple times throughout the ride.
Not too late to cancel.She shook the thought away as fast as it arrived.No. I want to do this.
What if you freak out?came the response to that.
I won’t,was her foolproof reply.
But what if—
The thought faded into the background as Amie caught sight of Ziya on the other side of the street. She was wearing the same orange dress that Amie had seen her wear multiple times before. Amie, for the sake of trying to change things up, had opted out of the brown sweater and skirt, instead donning a dark-green bodysuit and black palazzo pants.
She watched as Ziya approached the crosswalk, stopping behind a couple who were waiting for the walk signal. Glancing up and down the street, she slipped around the couple and stepped off the curb.
By the time Amie had fully processed what had happened, it was already over. A car zipped down the perpendicular street and rounded the corner. Someone yelled. Ziya leapt back onto the curb as the car jerked to a stop in the spot she had just evacuated.
“What the fuck are you doing?” the driver yelled at her. Clearly uninterested in receiving a response, he accelerated and sped away.
“There’s a fucking speed limit, you know!” Ziya yelled after the car. She smiled wryly as she said something to the couple on the curb, whose expressions morphed from horror to relieved amusement as they chuckled in response. The walk sign flashed on, and Ziya began her second attempt to cross the street.
