Page 12 of Ideal Life

Talia quickly signed the acquisition documents. An hour later, Omni had also signed them, and she had the fully executed versions in her inbox.

Whew…

And finally, huzzah!

Then there were, as usual, the normal fires to put out that constituted much of any CEO’s day, but they were the same ones as Talia had dealt with the last time she did this day, so she handled them easily.

By early evening, though, she was exhausted. She realized she hadn’t slept more than an hour or so in the equivalent of two days. But there was still the big celebration party to get through, and then she’d finally get back to where she started.

She took a short nap on the purple couch in her office.

At 8 p.m., the alarm she’d set on her phone went off. She tossed a piece of gum in her mouth to dispel nap breath and walked out into the reception area, where she paused to admire the Ideal Life sign.

“You ready, boss?” Erin came up from the offices behind her.

“Almost,” Talia said. She was still dressed in her jeans, T-shirt, and hoodie. “I just need to swap out my hoodie for my blazer—”

“Already got you covered.” Erin handed over the navy jacket Talia kept on a hanger behind her office door. “I grabbed your heels, too.”

“You’re always a step ahead,” Talia said as she slipped into the blazer, kicked off her sneakers, and stepped into the pumps.

“I learned from the best,” Erin said, grinning.

Talia’s phone rang.

“Are you here?” she asked.

“Wow,” Sam said. “No preamble, no hello, straight to business.”

But this time, she wasn’t all nerves before the party.

“I’ll send Erin to let you in.”

A couple minutes later, the elevator doors opened, and Sam stepped out. Like the first time, Erin had gone on to the restaurant, so Talia and Sam were alone.

“Congratulations,” he said, about to envelop her in a big hug.

“Wait,” she said. “I had the craziest day, and I have to tell you about it.”

In her office with the door closed, Talia recapped everything that had happened after Sam left the party (which, to him, hadn’t happened yet). She told him about Laura Owusu, the San Francisco Chronicle reporter, and the bombshell of an Ideal Life–prompted murder. She told him about running away to this office and falling asleep, then waking up to the strange watch on her wrist. And then she recounted the rewinding and everything she had gotten the chance to redo.

“So… yeah. That was my last day. Or more, technically, because I did it twice?”

Talia folded her hands in her lap, not touching the watch but not blocking his view of it, and waited for Sam’s response. Her heart pounded against her ribs. He’d believe her, right? Sure, it was far-fetched, but this was Sam, and he knew how firmly based in data and science she normally was. Talia wasn’t the delusional sort.

The right corner of Sam’s mouth twitched. It was a nearly imperceptible tell that Talia knew meant he was caught off guard and trying to size up the situation.

She waited.

He didn’t say anything.

Talia tightened her interlaced fingers against one another.

Finally, he cleared his throat. “Can I take a look at the watch?”

“Of course.” In fact, Talia was eager for Sam’s opinion on it. He was one of the most brilliant people she knew—he’d double-majored in physics and philosophy in college—and he had long been her most reliable sounding board. She snapped open the silver clasp and handed the watch to him.

Sam turned it over in his hand, inspecting it closely. He spent several minutes squinting at the crown and its little arrows while being careful not to move the dial.