Page 52

Deadline

Marsh appears in her apartment again. She tenses her body, ready to reach out and grab the dresser for balance, but she’s not beside the dresser this time, but rather in the doorway of her bedroom, and her hand swipes empty air. She pitches forward and trips over a bundle of something hard and heavy at knee height, dropping the briefcase.

“What the...” she groans, sitting up and rubbing her hip.

SharpTruth513: I think we did it

SharpTruth513: I think we got you back further

[Automatic security filters have deleted this account]

Maybe Ezra is right, she sees as she gingerly stands.

It’s afternoon, not night. Toppled over in a heap in front of her are two big pieces of luggage, full of rumpled beach clothes.

If all this is here, it must mean that she’s jumped back to the day that she, Ren, and Harper returned from Tahiti. Their actual first day in Hong Kong—earlier even than when the original Hong Kong episode began in his office the next morning.

“Whoa there.” Ren laughs as he comes into the room behind her. “I didn’t realize you wanted to start unpacking the instant we got home. Don’t you want some lunch?”

“I’m not hungry,” Marsh says.

On their bookshelf, the decorative lamp disappears for an instant, the room suddenly a little darker, and then reappears again. So fast, she can’t be certain it was real or just her blinking.

“That’s okay! I’m not really hungry, either,” Ren says. He kisses her hand and keeps hold of it sweetly. “Would you mind if I did some work at the kitchen table for an hour or two, then? I have a new article I’m really, really excited about.”

“Do you,” Marsh replies, unable to muster false surprise.

Ren nods vigorously. “I can’t talk about it yet, but it’s going to be big,” he says. “Life-changing big!”

But midway through his excited monologue, he pauses, then wrinkles his nose for a moment. He makes a face, then sucks a little breath of air in through his mouth.

Then he yawns.

He’s sleepy, Marsh realizes.

“Sorry,” Ren says. “Might need a nap first, actually.”

Her eyes narrow.

“Didn’t you sleep the whole way on the plane?” she asks.

His easygoing expression begins to fade.

SagwaGold: Busted

“Uh,” he falters. Immediately, his eyes shoot to his nightstand.

She drops his hand.

SharpTruth514: No, something’s off

[Automatic security filters have deleted this account]

SharpTruth515: Not nightstand

SharpTruth515: Suitca—

[Automatic security filters have deleted this account]

Marsh barely catches the words before they’re gone, but it’s enough. Instead of walking over to the bed, she slowly bends to look in Ren’s suitcase.

“Marsh—” Ren starts, his eyes wide, but she ignores him. She shoves her hand into the mess of clothes.

Buried in the middle is a hard, curved shape.

She pulls out the bottle of pills.

Of course. She groans, squeezing the jar in her hand. Even though she jumped back, it wasn’t enough.

He’s already taking them.

“I can explain,” Ren says, defensive.

But Marsh puts a hand up as something else occurs to her. She turns and looks at the nightstand, then back at Ren.

“Were you trying to mislead me?” she finally asks.

But how could that be possible?

How did Ren know that she knew about the pills in the first place?

She never revealed she did in the original episode. The only time she confronted him was just moments ago—and they’re now even earlier than that. That scene now never happened.

“This isn’t what you think it is,” he insists desperately. “Please just listen to me!”

Marsh shakes her head. But instead of yelling at him for hiding this from her, Marsh just tosses the bottle onto the bed and grabs her briefcase from the floor.

“Where are you going?” Ren asks, startled.

“Back,” she says, but she’s not talking to him.