“Do I seem like a whole different person?” They had released each other from the handshake, Ziya’s fingers coming to rest on Amie’s wrist.
“I don’t know,” Ziya said, lifting her chin. “Not completely different. But you seem alittledifferent.” She studied Amie’s face, brows furrowing. “Do you think you’ve changed?”
Amieknewshe’d changed. It was ironic, considering the unchanging nature of the time loop, but she doubted that anyone could live through the same day for two years without coming out the other side a changed person.
“I think I’m a little different,” she agreed. “I just don’t know if it’s agooddifferent. Or different enough.”
“Different enough for what?”
Different enough for you to be happy with me.“I … I don’t know.” Amie took a sip of her drink to give herself time to collect her thoughts before she said anything too incriminating. “You’re a little different too. I mean, here you are, breaking your ‘no repeats’ rule.”
Ziya chuckled. “Yeah, well, this was a special circumstance. An exception.” She withdrew her hand, to Amie’s great disappointment.
“We’ll just have to find a suspect to talk to at that dosa place,” Amie said. She was rewarded with another laugh from Ziya.
They chatted for another thirty minutes, occasionally sneaking peeks past the chalkboard to check on Raina. As the sky grew darker, tall lamps flickered on, brightening the rooftop. A perimeter of string lights contributed very little to the illumination, but did a lot of heavy lifting for the general ambiance.
“Ooh, bathroom trip,” Ziya said, leaning back in her seat as she looked across the roof. “It’s Raina and two other girls.”
They both ducked their heads as the women walked behind them toward the bathrooms.
“I’ll get her attention when she comes back,” Amie said, straightening. Her drink was long gone, and though she appreciated having a clear mind, her nerves were jangling in a way that made her want something stronger than a watermelon mocktail. After a few minutes, she felt the need to occupy her mind by listing her objectives while counting on her fingers. “Okay, game plan. I need to find out if she talked to the police about David, how she feels about Madeline buying the bookshop, what’s her relationship to Benny—”
Ziya put a hand on Amie’s. “You need to have a normal conversation. If you try interrogating her point by point, she’s gonna get scared off.”
“I wasn’t going tointerrogateher,” Amie protested. “I just need the bullet points to know what I’m supposed to say.”
“You already know what you’re supposed to say.” Ziya once again committed the unforgivable sin of removing her hand from Amie’s. “Go with your gut. If she starts to seem suspicious, I’ll give her a compliment shower.”
“Your compliment shower distraction tactic isn’t as subtle as you think it is,” Amie said wryly. “I was very aware of it any time you used it to avoid taking out the trash.”
“The point isn’tsubtlety. The point isdistraction. And did I ever end up taking out the trash?”
“No.”
“And why was that?”
Amie fought a smile. “Because of the compliment shower.”
“Exactly,” Ziya said, smug. “I should really get the compliment shower trademarked. ‘Hello, Sharks—’ ”
“Here she comes!” Amie whispered urgently, nearly toppling out of her chair with how fast she sat up. She lifted a hand to wave at Raina as the woman reemerged onto the rooftop.
“Hey!” Raina called, a huge smile splitting her face. She abandoned her friends, who spared only a passing glance as they returned to their table.
Raina’s cheeks were flushed pink as she hugged Amie, who had not been expecting a hug and therefore spent the duration of it with her arms pinned to her sides.
“So good to see you again!” Raina exclaimed, releasing Amie. She narrowed her eyes playfully. “Are you following me?”
Barking out a laugh, Amie said, “No! No, of course not. I’m not following you. No.”
Ziya cut in. “Hi, I’m Ziya. I love your top. Ooh, and your shoes! So cute.”
Amie winced inwardly as Raina responded with enthusiasm. She hadn’t taken long to need saving.
“You’re Amie’s girlfriend, right?” Raina was asking as Amie tuned back into the conversation. “I work at Shelf Starter. I remember you two coming by a few times.”
Amie and Ziya immediately spoke over each other with different variations of “no, we broke up.”
