I bumble towards the till to buy my new sunglasses, thoughts full of Penny. This is the first I’ve heard of a dissatisfaction with work and I vow to keep my beady eye on her while I’m away as much as I can.
What isupwith today?
Unsettling sensation that I’m living the past twenty-four hours all over again and a best mate who casually drops an existential crisis on me right when I’m leaving the country and feel powerless to help?
Naturally the beauty hall is calling my name and as I head over, the seedlings of an idea start to take root. As unlikely as this whole set-up is, it could present me with some unique opportunities. I’ve already predicted Callum Bang’s dreaded arrival, but what if I’m right about Hamish, too? What if he is going to turn up today, and what if I’m going to find my attempts to talk to him thwarted at every turn, just like … ‘yesterday’?
Have I been presented with a golden opportunity to change the course of my fate? I wonder.
What if I’ve been gifted a second chance at love with the one that got away?
I let those thoughts percolate, excitement building like bubbles in a champagne glass.
Sure, everything feels chaotic and a bit mad right now, but can I use this to my advantage? It’s possible that I know where Hamish will be, and this time around, I could make sure that we bump into each other. Could I, even, make him fall in love with me all over again?
Wait a minute, that sounds creepy and weird.
My fingers drum animatedly on the pot of salmon sperm face cream I have picked up on autopilot.
There’s no harm in using this little glitch to my benefit, right?
Suddenly, I’m breathlessly scrolling through a montage of all our best bits in my head. Could this actually be my opportunity to fill the Hamish-shaped hole that has been there since he left for Australia a decade ago? Is that why I’ve been given this second chance at today?
If we’re calling it that. I’m still on the fence. The logical explanation is that I simply had a dream last night that was weirdly accurate and now my brain’s got a bit confused. Or maybe I can see into the future.
Wait, is that it? Have I developed a psychic gift?
I’ve predicted my future at the exact moment when I have a chance to change my path. To bring back the one that got away. That house by the sea with Hamish and the dog? Our happy ever after? Suddenly, it feels tantalizingly within reach.
All I’ve got to do is make a few minor tweaks.
I’m taking in a long, shaky exhale when thoughts of Callum rudely interrupt my genius plan. He’ll likely be here any minute and I simply refuse to have him find me in this compromising situation. If Ihavebeen granted prior access to today, then I can at least use it to my advantage. A bit like living in my own version of an insider sale and getting my hands on members’ access before everyone else.
I replace the moisturizer and march with purpose towards a café.
There will be no salmon sperm encounter with Hades himself for me today.
Take that, strange circumstances!
I find a table, pull out my laptop and am pretending to work when Callum stalks over, looking even more disgruntled than last time I saw him. Which was … in the future? This exact time yesterday-slash-today? My head swims as I try to get to grips with this. I was confused enough by the time difference from here to Australia, and now I need to try and figure out what day it is inrelation to the day I feel like I’ve already lived that also appears to be today?
My brain is a bowl of alphabet soup.
No, stop it. I, Nina Moss, am nothing if not positive and upbeat. I’ll be fine. I haven’t travelled back in time because that’s not normal and I am a normal human being. I live in the real world, not on a movie set.This is stress.Perfectly understandable. I’ve just got to get through today and move on with my life. I take a shaky sip of coffee and try to look like an ordinary person as Callum pulls up at my table.
Wearing the same dark blue joggers and sweater of my dreams.
I remind myself not to fret.
‘There you are,’ he says, as if he’s been looking for ages. At least this is one hundred per cent an improvement on yesterday’s greeting.
‘Here I am.’ I crack a rallying smile for my own benefit. ‘You sound surprised.’
Callum pushes his hair off his forehead as he looks around.
‘No,’ he says, although it sounds more like a yes.
I find myself in the strange position of feeling comforted by my arch nemesis’s arrival. Things are marginally less unsettling with Callum here, which goes to show how shaky I must be feeling because we all know that he is such a condescending prick. Although I note that Callum seems a little less cocky this morning and I find myself oddly compelled to ask after him.
